For KLEO Seminyak, the first JdV by Hyatt hotel in Southeast Asia, Alexander de la Haye and the team at ADELAHAYE set out to create a lifestyle property that truly belongs to its neighbourhood, known for its vibrant nightlife, boutique culture, and diverse restaurant scene. Rather than adopting a conventional resort mindset, the vision was to design a hotel that immerses itself in the rhythm of Seminyak, drawing energy from surrounding bars, cafés, shops, galleries, and nightlife. From the beginning, the ambition was to move away from stereotypical Balinese design cues and predictable beach aesthetics, replacing them with a more sophisticated yet playful expression of contemporary Bali and, more specifically, the personality of Seminyak itself.

The name Kleo became the creative compass for the entire project. ADELAHAYE developed a fictional character, Kleo, whose personality captures the eclectic spirit of Seminyak and the international wanderlust that has shaped the area for the past two decades. She is worldly, expressive, social, curious, effortlessly stylish, culturally attuned, and just mischievous enough to feel unexpected. Through her character, the brand gains attitude, cohesion, and a clear point of view that guides everything from visual identity to architecture and interior design. Kleo serves as the emotional reference for how the hotel should feel and how guests should experience it.

Guided by this narrative, ADELAHAYE deliberately stepped away from familiar Bali hotel tropes. Instead of relying on repetitive motifs or expected beach chic formulas, the team created a design language rooted in mid century optimism, abstract artistic expression, and colourful tropical minimalism. The visual identity uses expressive yet refined typography, an urban industrial logotype, and a bold contrasting colour palette. Tactile layering, a distinctive house pattern, and reportage style photography rich with grain and posterisation create a brand that feels modern, warm, and authentic.

This philosophy extends into the interior design, which focuses on using locally sourced Indonesian materials interpreted through a mid century lens. Custom lighting, coloured glass, fluted details, and soft curves help to balance the more industrial lines of the existing building. Bold tiling and bespoke colour palettes introduce a modern Riviera spirit on the rooftop and evolve into a more artistic and curated aesthetic throughout the public areas. Expressive moments appear in the vinyl listening lounge, the lobby, retail corners, the gym, and other social spaces, each with its own character yet unified by the Kleo narrative. A standout feature is the set of elevators, mirrored and finished with Indonesian tile motifs reimagined in a contemporary mid century style. Lush indoor and outdoor planting adds an almost biophilic feeling, grounding the property in the climate, the street, and the surrounding neighbourhood.

KLEO Seminyak stands as a rare example of a project where the brand narrative, visual identity, interior design, and architectural expression remain aligned from concept to completion. It is a hotel shaped not by clichés but by a thoughtful understanding of place and personality, delivered through a design process that treats story as structure. The result is a cohesive, character rich property that has already earned strong reviews for its originality, atmosphere, and authenticity, demonstrating ADELAHAYE’s ability to translate a brand story into a fully realised built environment with clarity and creative conviction.