Almost three years in and we’re still talking about it: the pandemic brought about a huge change in the hospitality industry, but nothing was more evident than its capacity to accelerate trends that had been gathering momentum for many years prior.
It felt quite strange when, for the first time, I saw the station name ‘Battersea’ appear on a dot-matrix signboard on a platform of the Northern Line a year ago. For some time I’d been reading in newspapers about the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station but I had no idea that this neighbourhood would also become home to one of the newest Underground stations in London.
With the pandemic over, everyone has been clamoring to get out and explore the world once more. In fact, we’d argue, in a take-a-candy-from-a-baby-then-it-cries sort of way, people are even more enthused about travel than they were in 2019, and we foresee this mindset persisting well into the decade ahead.
The population in Europe is continuously aging. A declining birth rate combined with a higher life expectancy (women: 83 years; men: 78 years)1) are the main reasons for this development. According to the European Commission, people aged 65+ will represent 30 % of the total population in Europe while they currently represent 20 %2). Besides the increasing challenges in the labour market (the last birth cohorts of baby boomers are retiring within the next few years), we also need to think of attractive and dignified living solutions for seniors. At one point all people must ask themselves how, where and with whom they want to live when they retire. Usually, the answer is quite clear. People want to stay in their apartment or house where – in most cases – they have been living for many years. Nevertheless, many factors can make it challenging for seniors to stay in their familiar environment. Besides the potential need for assistance (with the household, groceries etc.), loneliness – for example, due to divorce or loss of a partner – is a severe issue considered to be a hidden pandemic as per the World Health Organisation.
The Emory Conference Center Hotel, located just six miles from downtown Atlanta and nestled within a 26-acre forest preserve, recently underwent a $20 million re-imagining that leaned heavily into its idyllic natural setting.
Tiny wooden houses but also secluded refuges, cabins are used in Scandinavian countries to retreat in nature with as little as a layer of glass to separate living space from the natural habitat. The rise of proximity discovery, as well as the quest for minimalistic luxury and the craving to reconnect to nature, have all contributed to making this archetype appealing to many. Heima reinterprets cabin living, by overseeing the development and management of eco-resorts built in pristine locations and composed of isolated cabins immersed in the wilderness.
The most successful hospitality businesses understand that a great first impression is key. Sometimes it’s even what people remember most, or what entices them to visit again. So in a sea of competition, how can hotel developers create a memorable experience from the moment guests arrive to the second they depart?
What are the forces that will shape the Hotel landscape in the 2030s?
Landscape Architect: Frederick Law Olmsted was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture. Olmsted was famous for co-designing many well-known urban parks with his partner Calvert Vaux. Olmsted and Vaux’s most famous achievement was Central Park in New York City which resulted in many other urban park designs, including Prospect Park in what is now the Borough of Brooklyn in New York City and Cadwalader Park in Trenton. Olmsted was called by Charles Eliot Norton “the greatest artist that America has yet produced”. His ‘A Journey in the Sea-board Slave States’ was originally published in 1856 and arose from journeys in the south which Olmsted, a passionate abolitionist had undertaken in 1853-1854.
At least once a year, every hotel needs to update its photos. And if you decide to change your photographer or are looking for a new one, it can be a stressful affair. So how do you choose the right one and what to look out for?
Digital nomads are those who have the unique ability to work from anywhere. While we often imagine the traditional digital nomad working from an exotic tropical destination, a new form of digital nomadism is emerging—one where people are not wandering far from home. Today, we see a wave of digital nomads whose lifestyles don’t necessarily allow them to work from paradise. Instead, they’re setting up at a coffee shop down the street or a community park with access to WiFi. With the rise of the “work from anywhere” movement, fewer people will return to the office in favor of working from home permanently and becoming digital nomads themselves.
For those with an eye for history, the Forte name reminds one of Baron Forte, the Italian-born, Scottish hotelier that created the Forte brand and the multiple hospitality businesses he helped create. Currently, his son Sir Rocco Forte, together with sister Olga Polizzi, own and operate Rocco Forte Hotels, with 15 properties primarily in Europe (and a few soon to come).
Through the pandemic, we are seeing several interesting industry trends gain momentum, as well as new trends emerging as it relates to the management and positioning of boutique and luxury hotels. Remington is a third-party operator with 85 hotels currently under management or development. Of our 85 hotels, 13 are pure independent with five additional hotels being soft branded lifestyle hotels. We, as well as other hotel operators, are seeing increased interest for our third-party management services in the boutique and luxury space, and three trends in particular are driving this increased demand.
The hotel industry is emerging with a wave of optimism after the chaos an d trauma of the pandemic. Placing extra emphasis on interiors and ensuring that guests are left with a joyous and uplifting experience will be key over the coming months. Consumers’ priority over mental health and well-being will need to be reflected in hospitality spaces—where creating a comforting environment will be a major focus. Coming out of the last few months, some trends will emerge as we look to the future of hotel design.
Commonly, the capacity and style of hotel All Day Dining restaurants is driven by a need to accommodate breakfast demand; however as dining becomes a more compelling differentiator in key markets, this would appear to be an out-of-date metric for F&B design and programming decisions. This article explores the true need for accommodating breakfast demand and proposes an alternate approach for owners to maximize their F&B opportunities in markets where independent competition is strong.
How do your guests feel when they enter your hotel? Are you guiding them through your property and do you provide a logical flow? In this article you will learn how to optimise your space and how it will contribute to a successful hotel concept.
Yes, that retail sector – the one that has been all but obliterated by the pandemic. Even still, perhaps there’s one more drop of tutelage for hotel brands that can be squeezed from this lemon of an industry before every suburban mall is converted into a solar-powered vertical farm. Specifically, we predict that certain ‘lifestyle’ hotel brands will emerge in the coming decade to dominate the hospitality landscape because of how they mirror an experiential transition by retail brands.
Creative Supply founder Youri Sawerschel and Frame Magazine’s Tracey Ingram sit down for the first in a series on space and branding, bringing together insights from Sawerschel’s realm of brand strategy and brand design, and Ingram’s role as editor at large for one of the world’s leading interior-design publications. Here they talk about the future of hotels, post-pandemic.
As travel has slowly returned to normal, it’s clear that we are on the brink of an enormous travel boom. Of all the recent travel trends that have emerged, one is particularly promising for independent hotel owners, and that is that more and more travelers are straying away from hotel chains.
World Industrial Design Day, June 29th, is an opportunity for all of us to recognize the value of design and its capacity for change in the world, and how it has enriched our lives in so many ways. This year the focus is on diversity and how designers and design can challenge the status quo and make the industry more inclusive.