I feel like one of the best designs was Illumina by ediootti, even though at some points it was a bit dull. If they mixed it up with some of the elements we have now, I think it could work well. Here's a quick mock up I made:
http://bit.ly/15yy2fe
The room and the name do not match but it's just to give an idea of what I think could work. I think the friend bar is a pretty neat feature, it gives easy access to chatting or following friends. The top bar has all the essential icons (question mark being report + help, could be an exclamation mark too). Events are not there but could be added. Log out would be under "You".
Room info would be very simple, just appear on the side like that, it still has all the stuff you need to know. And you would also be able to click it away to the side.
The small round things under the chat area would be color options for the bubbles (I wish they'd just take them out all together but no can do). I'd also like the option to shout/say/whisper to return - it would help new players use the different chatting methods without surprises (accidentally pushing shift and shouting).
Minimail and chat would be combined within the console somehow, which also needs a makeover really...
Just my ideas. I don't use the COM-hotel so if anyone likes this and wants to forward it to staff, feel free to do so.

