Welcome Letter from Hôtel Magique Founder - Milou Neelen
In this letter, Bali-based founder Milou Neelen shares how an imaginary hotel created in a tiny apartment slowly evolved into Hôtel Magique—a boutique creative universe.
A Boutique Dream
I was born in a small city in The Netherlands. From a young age, I was always making things—drawing, painting, writing, exploring anything creative. At sixteen, I moved to Amsterdam to study graphic design. During that time, I painted at night while studying and working during the day, exploring themes and materials that brought some of my many ideas to life.
Travel became a goal, but with little budget, I’d wander into hotel lobbies for a coffee or browse souvenir shops to take home a small reminder of my visit. At certain hotels, I noticed I would experience an overwhelming sense of curiosity. A childlike curiosity about guests and doorman stories, the interiors hidden behind closed doors, what it would feel like to spend time there daily, and even imagined hotel souvenirs I wished existed.
Back in my tiny apartment, after finding beautiful Japanese momi paper during a trip to San Francisco, I created an artwork to make my home feel like a hotel, to help me tap into that same feeling, and painted Hôtel Magique – Open Crazy Late.
Magique quotes started coming to mind: You Are Magique, Je T'Aime Magique, and Never Underestimate the Power of Magique. What started with a single painting slowly expanded beyond the walls of my tiny apartment.
The 'Big Apple' Heart Logo
When I started imagining a name for this world I was building, I had already fallen in love with the words Hôtel Magique. The fun twist of using a name that sounded like a real hotel, but wasn’t. A place that didn’t exist, but could.
With a deep love for paper and print, I ordered print samples, translated the magique quotes into hand painted artworks for art prints and greeting cards, figured out how to built the webshop, and designed the branding, imagining Hôtel Magique into real life.
Soon after launching the brand in Amsterdam during A Magique Brunch, it quickly gained traction.
Not long after the launch in 2016, my print partner, who was running the NYC Marathon for Run For Life, asked if I’d design a limited edition print to support the cause. One artwork featured an apple heart-shaped runner. I kept coming back to that character. It felt like the perfect symbol, combining my favourite city in the world, New York, with love, magique, and the allure of hotel life.
The Power of Magique
After receiving my first online order from New York, I came across a picture of this customer at the NYC Women’s March, holding up Hôtel Magique postcards with the words You Are Magique. That moment made me realise those words could mean something different to everyone, yet still create the same feeling.
A reminder of magique.
The Art of Hospitality
Hôtel Magique has taken many shapes over the years: from art prints and global collaborations to artist calls, physical spaces, and dreams of a real hotel.
I would have never imagined that this imaginary hotel would eventually travel across the world through so many different expressions. What began as a vision inside a tiny apartment has now found its way into thousands of homes, spaces, and lives around the world.
Along the way, I realised that hospitality doesn't only live inside hotels. It can live inside a brand, a garden, a shop, a story, an object, or a piece of art. Hospitality is the feeling of being welcomed—into a place, an idea, or even back into yourself.
That discovery slowly shifted my work beyond products and towards creating environments that invite curiosity, imagination, connection, and wonder. I learned that the feeling I once thought could only be found in hotels wasn't tied to a place only, it was something that can be created in many different ways.
Magique Ahead
To me, magique means a universal sense of wonder, curiosity, and possibility we often find in nature, in art, and in human connection. I believe it’s always there, and within us all—even when life feels too busy or overwhelming.
That belief has shaped Hôtel Magique from the very beginning. What started with words, prints, and souvenirs gradually grew into a fascination for atmosphere, hospitality, and the way certain places can change how we feel.
Over time, I realised that what fascinated me wasn't hotels themselves—it was the conditions they could create: a feeling of curiosity, possibility, and openness where imagination, wonder, and connection naturally re-emerge.
That's what I hope Hôtel Magique continues to create.
Thank you for being part of this journey.
You are Magique.
— Milou Neelen, Founder of Hôtel Magique
