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Hotels have been hit hard by the pandemic. How can they fight back?

Frame's editor at large sits down with Youri Sawerschel, founder of brand strategy and design agency Creative Supply, to talk about the future of hotels, post-pandemic.

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The hotel sector is among the hardest hit by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. In Frame's home base of the Netherlands, average occupancy has fallen to less than 10 per cent, reports CBRE. Against this backdrop, Frame's editor at large Tracey Ingram discusses the future of hotels with Youri Sawerschel. One of Sawerschel's roles as founder of brand strategy and design agency Creative Supply is to help hotels navigate changes in technology, consumer behaviours and regulations. The pair consider how hotels can rethink their rooms, diversify their offering while staying on-brand, and extend their position to online.

TRACEY INGRAM: Let's start with the pre-COVID-19 situation. There was a move towards local, with new hotels becoming more embedded in their environments. More social spaces, where visitors felt like they were getting an 'authentic' experience rather than being in a bubble with other tourists. Because of that - and presumably also due to the lack of space in city centres - hotels were beginning to pop up in suburban residential areas.

YOURI SAWERSCHEL: Before COVID hit, we were in the midst of a global tourism boom. It was all about new experiences, and people were shifting away from big hotel chains in favour of something different. Lines were blurring between retail and hospitality. And yes, more social places - which is quite ironic now. I do think this whole 'living with locals' idea was more a marketing tagline than a reality. If you go to The Hoxton, The Standard, Ace - a few of the hotels making this kind of claim - you might see locals, but you probably won't meet them.

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Zoku
Brand by Zoku

Facilitating global living and working for the travelling professional, Zoku, which is Japanese for family, tribe, or clan, will disrupt and create a new category in the hotel industry - a home-office hybrid, also suitable for long stays, with the services of a hotel and the social buzz of a thriving neighbourhood. Zoku will be a relaxed place to live, work and socialise with like-minded people while getting wired into the city.

Ace Hotel
Brand by Ace Group International

Ace Hotel is a collection of individuals — multiple and inclusive, held together by an affinity for the soulful. We are not here to reinvent the hotel, but to readdress its conventions to keep them fresh, energized, human. We accept the hotel as a potential for real, fluid community. We believe that hospitality is compassion, that it is not servility but genuine concern for others' well-being and the ability to live with empathy.

The Standard
Brand by Hyatt

The most powerful brand in the boutique hotel business - The Standard Hotel Brand consist of 5 Hotels located in Los Angeles, Miami and New York City. We focus on a unique Hospitality experience through our guest rooms, public spaces, night life and restaurants. The Standard, Hollywood 1999; The Standard, Downtown LA 2002, The Standard Spa, Miami Beach 2005; The Standard, High Line 2008; The Standard, East Village 2013.

The Hoxton
Brand by Ennismore

The Hoxton is a series of open-house hotels inspired by the diversity and originality of the streets and scenes that surround them. Just like our doors, our minds are open too. Ever since we opened our first hotel in Shoreditch, way back in 2006, we’ve never just been about offering a bed for the night. We want to be more than that: providing a place where guests can hangout alongside the locals and submerse themselves in the neighbourhood...