With more than two decades of experience in the global hospitality industry, Markus Schreyer has witnessed a number of shifts in what the most successful hotels offer and what travelers have now come to expect. Here, the Design Hotels’ senior vice president for the Americas and business innovation discusses his background, what makes a property stand out, plus his own travel preferences.

How would you describe the Design Hotels community?

We currently collaborate with just over 300 member hotels internationally. We’re more than a collection of unique hotels. We are part of a community of visionaries in travel and hospitality, who recognize the truly transformative power of space and design.

How have you seen the hotel industry evolve?

Hospitality is evolving into a space of culture, community, creation—from lobby to lab. For us, this means taking an exploratory mindset. For example, we’ve turned hotels across the world into temporal hubs of thematic exploration via Further, the traveling laboratory for experiential hospitality and collaborative culture that we launched in 2017. This type of forum for experimentation drives overdue innovation.

Being boutique is no longer unique. It’s all about transformation: taking guests on a journey that’s beyond the space they’re in, which makes them think and learn, and gives them an opportunity to contribute [to the local community], collaborate and problem-solve. Hospitality has the power to bring people of diverse backgrounds together and use space in a meaningful way, and so it should—for the benefit of everyone involved.

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