Hotel Lobby: Designed to Impress

Running a hotel is never easy, and there are lots of things you need to take care of - from the furniture in your rooms to the food in your restaurant, and everything in between. However, running a hotel is all about impressing your guests and making them happy they've picked your place for their visit, and you need to do everything you can to attract new guests and encourage old ones to return to your establishment. One of the best and most effective ways to do that is by focusing your attention to your lobby since this is the first space they see when arriving at your hotel and something that might ultimately make or break your success. If you too want to create the perfect lobby, here are a few ideas you should consider.

Make it functional

Though it might not see that way, your hotel lobby has only one purpose: to welcome your guests and help them transition into their rooms as soon as possible. Nobody likes wasting time checking in, which is why lobbies need to be highly functional - after all, this is more important than being visually appealing and most guests value efficiency over comfort.

So, when designing a new lobby or remodeling your current one, keep practicality and functionality in mind. For instance, speed up and simplify the check-in process - you can allow your guests to do the biggest portion of the work on their own before their arrival, for instance - and provide everyone with some free Wi-Fi access.

Make it sociable

The role of lobbies is changing, and they're not just a transitional area where people spend a minute or two between arriving at a hotel and going to their rooms. This used to be the situation back in the day, and people wanted to spend no time in the lobbies at all, but the situation has changed since.

Now, hotel lobbies are spaces where guests want to spend their free time, talk to their friends, meet strangers or enjoy a conversation with a friendly bartender. Lobbies need to be sociable and inspire the guests to hang out there instead of being stuck in their rooms. So, you need to design a communal area with comfortable seating arrangements and encourage people to spend more time here.

Make it comfortable

Speaking of guests spending more time in the lobby than they used to, you need to understand that the only way to make sure this happens is by adding some new furniture to it. Nobody wants to hang out in old armchairs and unsupportive sofas, so don't be afraid to invest some money into proper furniture ideas.

For example, you might even want to check out the comfort and design behind King Living NZ current collections and find different furniture pieces that might work for your lobby, from chairs to sectionals. These will surely boost the visual appeal of your entire hotel too, making it more inviting and relaxing than it's ever been.

Make it accessible

Besides offering you comfortable rooms where you can relax and spend some time, modern hotels include a ton of new amenities that weren't popular in the past. Things like gyms, spas, pools, shops and indoor cinemas are there to make your guests feel good while staying at a certain place, so they need to make the most of them.

But, since these spaces are probably scattered around the hotel, the chances are your guests won't be able to check them all out at once, which means they need to find a way to access these quickly. This can be done if you reorganize and redesign your lobby so that it helps your guests reach different amenities more easily, following clearly labeled signs. Equipping your lobby with a few different shops is also a great idea, so take that suggestion into consideration as well.

Make it sustainable

Knowing that the world we're living in isn't in the best condition possible, more and more people are starting to pay attention to the environment they're living in. They want to make it more sustainable and eco-friendly than ever, and that's something hotel owners all over the world are doing as well. They're trying to add a dose of eco-friendliness into their hotels, usually starting with the lobby.

Making it sustainable and green doesn't have to be hard at all, and it comes down to just a handful of adjustments. You need to let in more fresh air and natural sunlight, introduce a few plants here and there, add a soothing water feature, and you're good to go.

Running a hotel isn't the easiest thing in the world, but focusing your attention to the lobby and making this space nicer and more inviting is the first step towards attracting a larger number of guests in the future.