Hotel architecture and design are undergoing substantial changes due to the ongoing pandemic. While our previous article discussed how technology will drive and facilitate some of these changes going forward, this article focuses on the other aspects of design changes that are expected in the post-COVID era.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the hospitality industry has had to rethink and innovate in order to tackle the growing concern surrounding health, safety, and hygiene.
It has already been a year since Covid-19 developed into a pandemic, along with its panoply of urgent measures to contain, combat and defeat the devastating effect of the virus. Confinement, curfews, travel restrictions—including the recent border closures in Europe—and frequent mandatory quarantines for international travel.
In a world of increased connectivity and a heightened desire for social inclusiveness, the hospitality space has been abuzz with concepts like 'co-working' and 'co-living' in recent years. At the same time, social clubs, which have traditionally been built on creating a sense of luxury and exclusivity with joining fees in the thousands, have continued to thrive. While the end result of the two concepts seems to be at odds - inclusivity vs. exclusivity - their core purpose appears similar: to bring together people who share similar interests.
From a meditation app competing with a spa to a hotel encouraging its guests to save coral reefs, the hospitality industry has never been so vivacious. We've pinpointed five emerging trends that present both opportunities and threats for hotel concept development.
The midscale and upscale hotel segments have been driving the growth in the branded Indian hotels sector in the last few years and are the sweet spots for upcoming development in the country. The upscale segment, in fact, has regained the mindshare of hoteliers in the last couple of years due to the significant demand in this segment. As a result, upscale properties accounted for 31% of the total signings by properties in 2020 compared to 15% in 2018, while their share in signings by keys has increased from 27% in 2018 to 37% in 2020.
Mention 'hospitality concept design' and the first words that come up in the minds of many is this: beautiful interior design. However, concept design in hospitality encompasses much more than that - from the story you are telling to the identity of the place; interior design is simply one of many parts in designing a hospitality concept. With a background in both hospitality and art, EHL alumnus Youri Sawerschel, Founder of Creative Supply, joined us in an EHL webinar, where he deep dived into the universe of designing a memorable and crowd-pleasing hospitality concept.
As yet another problem that hoteliers have to reckon with during this pandemic, we must figure out how to deliver exceptional service to our guests without any significant degree of face-to-face contact. In the antecovidian times, so much of what encompassed service was high-touch - getting up close with customers to make them feel special. Now that this time-honored practice is anathema, how can properties adapt? How do we remain high-touch while acting in a no-touch manner?
A Hotel Concept is designed around 7 components that cover all aspects of running it successfully: The Story, The People, The Space, The Identity, The Services, The Content, and The Channels. Starting from the central story, components are interconnected and work side by side to build a unique, coherent whole.
With over 120 years of history, Kempinski Hotels is Europe's oldest luxury hotel group. Since 1897, Kempinski has been building its brand in the luxury hotel space and is well-regarded for its heritage hotels, luxury holiday resorts, and business and spa hotels around the world. With its long-standing reputation, the Kempinski brand has successfully weathered its fair share of ups and downs and global crises as it continues to stand strong today, operating 76 five-star hotels in 31 countries. In a webinar with EHL, Michael Henssler, Chief Operating Officer Asia and Management Board Member at Kempinski Hotels, shared with us how Kempinski has strengthened its foray into Asia over the last decade, as well as how the company has been navigating the challenges of the current pandemic.
In the past year, the hospitality industry has undergone a significant transformation to adapt to the changing demands of guests. Hilton has been at the forefront of ensuring that as travel resumes, hotels are ready to welcome guests back in a safe and secure way. Gordon Coles, Senior Vice President, Architecture, Design & Construction EMEA, Hilton, explores six ways in which hotel design has adapted as a result.
"Brand building or icon creation is a long and laborious exercise that requires consistency and continuity - that is particularly important for the niche players, whether Banyan Tree in an unchosen space or Singapore in the world stage, because it allows the brand owner to punch above his weight to have an influence larger than an enterprise would have due to its size." - Ho Kwon Ping, Asking Why.
Alila - meaning 'surprise' in Sanskrit - was founded in 2001 on the back of personalized hospitality, private spaces and bespoke journeys. Today, Alila is one of the most well-known luxury brands in Asia and has 16 hotels globally, each in unique locations across 6 countries. In a webinar with EHL, Co-Founder Mark Edleson shared with us the story of how the brand came to be - beginning from his ardour for the Southeast Asian region, to his adventures scouring for new hotel sites with Aman - and how the Alila brand has risen to the prominence it enjoys today.
Traveling and providing services to travelers is what gives to a big percentage of the world's population a colorful tone to their reality. Including myself.
With an increasing focus on wellness, hotel and restaurant interiors have become more than just an aesthetic appeal. The curation of a well-designed space enhances the purpose for which it was intended. As a result, ergonomics will play a key role in hospitality projects enclosing multi-purpose spaces ranging from guest rooms to conference halls to bars and restaurants. It is critical to get the correct layout to amplify the customer experience, using empathetic design to map out a guest's journey from room to room with seamless efficiency.
Once the greenlight was given, all businesses looked to reopen as quickly as possible after the lockdown. This has resulted in countless slapdash efforts for achieving the minimum of viral safety compliance, with most structural upgrades meant as only temporary installations and most of them particularly garish at that. As is becoming increasingly apparent, though, COVID-19 is here to stay and thus so too are the new measures that have been put in place.
When we restarted The Hotel of Tomorrow® Project back in June, we didn't know where the project would ultimately lead us, but we were eager to start solving the new design and operational challenges facing our industry. These new complexities meant that we needed to both widen our view and the types of contributors to our think tank: technologists, University researchers, operators, investors, brands, associations, manufacturers and consultants.
Luxury boutique hotels and resorts, a widely prevalent concept globally, is still at a nascent stage in India, with very few brands and properties. The increasing desire for experiential travel, by not only the millennials but across different cohorts often looking for unique and exclusive stays, has led to the growing popularity of this concept in the country. So, what are luxury boutique hotels and resorts?
The theme of the Boutique Lifestyle Leaders Association's (BLLA) upcoming Boutique Lifestyle Digital Summit is "Dare to Adapt" and there are some compelling arguments as to why the boutique space may be able to adapt to the current economic crisis faster than other sectors in the hotel industry.
We live in extraordinary times. The planned $16.6 billion acquisition of Tiffany & Co by LVMH*, signed last November, is in on the verge of collapsing. While the adverse impact of the COVID crisis on global luxury sales can explain LVMH's desire to withdraw from its largest acquisition ever, the reason provided to terminate the agreement is leaving most of us baffled.