Contemporary Hotel Design

Have you ever had a pleasantly memorable stay at an airport hotel? Thought not. Such on-site hotels are typically utilitarian affairs catering to stranded travelers -- and as such, not usually notable examples of contemporary hotel design.

Looking to change all that is the Langham Hotels International, which plans to open a 373-key luxury hotel next month at Beijing’s Capital Airport that it boasts will be the envy of guests staying at rival city-center hotels. The new Langham Place hotel was designed by the hotelier’s in-house team, in cooperation with the Beijing Design Institute, and sports hospitality interior designs that include loft-style suites and a 24-hour bar/internet hub. “We are not just creating a convenient stopover hotel but one of the most fun places to be in the capital of the world’s largest nation.” said General Manager Mark Francis. “We aim to make staying at the airport in Beijing an exciting thing to do.”

Only time will tell whether Langham will make good on that goal. But I give credit to the company -- a 145-year-old luxury hotel chain with properties operating under The Langham, Langham Place and Eaton flags -- for spicing things up in an often-uninspiring sector of hotel architecture and design.

Go to Hospitality Style to read the complete article and view more images of the new Langham Place hotel. While you're there sign up to receive a free Hospitality Style subscription.

I’ve been to lots of trade shows over the past decade or so, but this week marked a first for me: a trip to NeoCon in Chicago. After navigating numerous shows set in single-level, hangar-like spaces, NeoCon’s multi-story layout in the venerable Chicago Merchandise Mart was a definite change of pace – and, I must admit, an enjoyable one. Show veterans told me to avoid the usually crowded elevators as much as possible, and in heeding their advice, I was rewarded with red-carpet treatment (literally) for using the steps. And opening the doors to each floor was akin to entering Oz, as each level was very distinct from the one above or below.

NeoCon is short for the National Exposition of Contract Furnishings, and it does include a hospitality section, which showcases the latest flooring, furniture and other accoutrements for hotels, restaurants, resorts, etc. This part of the show can help to fire the imagination of those interested in keeping up with the latest trends in contemporary hotel design. But the show also offered the sheer fun of wandering and stumbling upon the unexpected and the just-plain cool (and often, both). One such moment for me was provided by Karim Rashid’s Chakra chair for Raynor Contract. With its “zoo-morphic” structure, this futuristic seating is sleek and comfortable. Trust me on the latter; I plopped down in one and was very reluctant to exit. But there was the siren call of another floor to explore, with more insights into hospitality design trends to unearth…


 

Like it or loathe it, technology continues to change the look of hospitality interiors. Front desks are shrinking as guests not only accept but embrace kiosk check-in and smart key cards for their guestrooms. Restaurants glow with interactive table tops, and guestrooms have lots of in-room entertainment toys and gadgets.

But, how much automation do travelers really want and how should that influence hospitality design trends?  Maria Vafiadis, managing director of London-based MKV Design, advises designers to match the tech treats to the guest profile. In other words, ask yourself what you'd want. The answer probably won't be one-solution-fits all since people's needs change depending on the purpose of the travel.

“In the course of an exhausting business trip, straightforward technology that smoothes my progress from boardroom to bed is welcome. But during a holiday, “unplugging” from technology gives me the freedom to slow down. Designers must get the balance right if the potential of automation is to be realized,” she says.  “Parading the latest hi-tech in a hospitality environment doesn’t always improve the experience. Cutting-edge gadgetry might add to the sexiness of a trendy hotel, but in luxury resorts or in fine dining restaurants it’s concierge, not computer service, that guests expect.”

Having racked up more than her fair share of frequent flyer miles, Vafiadis shares ideas on how to wield technology as a design too and her vision for what's next with projects like the new villas at Crete's Blue Palace Resort and Spa. 

They say you have to spend money to make money. InterContinental Hotels Group is putting that axiom to the test, twice over, with its Holiday Inn unit. First, IHG is plowing $1 billion into upgrading the contemporary hotel designs of more than 3,300 Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels worldwide. (Thus far, more than 2,200 hotels have relaunched under the new look, which includes updated hotel guestroom and bathroom designs, as well as new exterior signage. The remaining 1,100 properties under the two flags are slated to be updated by the end of this year.) And now, the company is launching a $100 million “Stay You” ad campaign in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Mexico, Latin America, Asia and Australia to tout the benefits of its modern hotel design to consumers.

“‘Stay You’ is the biggest advertising campaign in the 58-year history of Holiday Inn,” said IHG ceo Andy Cosslett. “The level of support behind this campaign reinforces our confidence in the Holiday Inn relaunch which positions us well for the upturn in the economy when it comes.” It looks like IHG’s timing may be good – several signs point to an uptick in the hotel industry – so their big bet on reinventing the Holiday Inn brands may pay off big, as well.

For the latest hospitality design trends by other big-name hotel brands, check out HospitalityStyle and its print edition.
 

The current issue of Fortune magazine contains a thought-provoking featured entitled, “25 Green Myths Debunked.” Some samples: “Myth: Fluorescent bulbs are bad because they contain mercury/Reality: Yes, but not using them will pour even more mercury into our ecosystem”; and “Myth: Paper grocery bags are better than plastic bags/Reality: Plastics, young man, plastics... paper bags require four times more energy to manufacture than plastic ones.”

In honor of Earth Day’s 40th anniversary, we want to hear from the design industry about the common myths surrounding the incorporation of eco-friendly features into projects across the hospitality spectrum, including boutique design, casino design, cruise ship design, contemporary hotel design, restaurant design and spa design. For instance, is local sourcing of materials really as earth-friendly as thought, or does it have some unforeseen environmental consequences? And is it true that green design and luxe environments don’t mix? We want to hear from you – share your insights by clicking on the comments button below.

And to see some examples of cutting-edge sustainable hospitality designs, go to Hospitality Style’s Green Spotlight. Also, be sure to check out our upcoming Fall 2010 print issue, which will include a Green Guide.
 

When it comes to luxury travel, is “slow the new fast?” Seymourpowell, a London-based design/innovation company, thinks that could be the case. Hence the firm has created the Aircruise, a giant, vertical airship that would house a luxury hotel and ferry passengers at a leisurely 65-to-90 miles per hour (as compared with the 500-600 mph cruising speed of today’s jet liners).

“The Aircruise concept questions whether the future of luxury travel should be based around space-constrained, resource hungry, and all-too-often stressful airline travel,” says Nick Talbot, Seymourpowell’s design director. “A more serene transport experience will appeal to people looking for a more reflective journey, where the experience of travel itself is more important than getting from A to B quickly. The physics of the airship requires a gigantic volume of lifting gas, yet simultaneously demands a relatively limited amount of weight. This allows for a potentially large amount of space with relatively few people onboard -- a luxury for any traveler."

This is not just some pie-in-the-sky concept in hospitality design trends. The Aircruise idea captured the imagination of Korean giant Samsung Construction and Trading (C&T). Driven by its interest in new materials for building, Samsung C&T hired Seymourpowell to refine the idea and produce a detailed computer animation of the hydrogen-filled, solar-powered airship and its modern hotel design concepts to illustrate this visionary approach to travel of the future. “This was a dream concept project for us, helping to realize a future of sustainable buildings combined with innovative and luxury lifestyle,” said Seung Min Kim, Samsung C&T’s design director at Samsung C&T.





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How’s this for a supercharged ROI on your time? The hospitality interior design team from Wilson Associates had just 12 minutes to make its pitch to developers of a new hotel complex in Makkah (Mecca), Saudi Arabia – and came away with 19 of the 26 properties planned for the site. That translates into one contemporary hotel design for just under every 38 seconds of the pitch. Trisha Wilson, founder of the firm, says her firm won that mother lode of work by coming up with designs based on a combination of cultural and historic traditions of the past intermixed with contemporary refinements.

“We don’t have one look; we design for the client and for the market, incorporating the culture, traditions and topography of the project’s location,” says Wilson. “In Makkah, our design focus is to create a balance between contemporary elegance and strong architectural elements punctuated with luxurious finishes.” For more on Wilson Associates and its hard-charging founder, see “Moxie Lady,” a corporate profile that appeared in the November/December 2008 edition of Hospitality Style. To read more on other trendsetters in hotel design, sign up for your free subscription.

Four new examples of contemporary hotel design will open their doors in coming months in Toronto. First up is the Thompson Toronto Hotel (shown at left), which is slated to open this spring. In addition to 102 luxury guestrooms, the property will feature a rooftop bar lounge, swimming pool with private cabanas. Then, in August, the Le Germain Maple Leaf Square hotelwill open. Located adjacent to the Air Canada Centre, a major-league sports and concert venue, the eight-story luxury boutique-hotel will have 171 guest rooms, 5,000 square feet of meeting space, 8,000 square feet of fitness facilities and a 2,000-square-foot hotel café.

Slated to open in the fall is the five-star the Ritz-Carlton, Toronto (rendering at bottom left), that flag’s only locale in Canada. This 53-story property will feature 267 rooms and 159 condominium residences. Finally, next year will bring the Donald’s first Canadian venture, when the 60-story Trump International Hotel and Tower is slated to open in Toronto’s financial district.

These new hotels are part of an overall building boom in Toronto that will also add 4 million square feet of office space and 15,000 condo units in the city’s core. All those projects follow a sustainability guideline developed by the Toronto Green Standard for New Construction. Those guidelines set out environmentally-friendly construction practices and ways to increase the energy efficiency of new buildings.

One opportunity to see all this development firsthand is by attending this year’s International Retail Design Conference, which is run by Hospitality Style’s sister publication, VMSD. That event will take place October 13-15 at Toronto’s Westin Harbour Castle. And be sure to check out other examples of modern hotel designs and hospitality interiors in cities around the globe by visiting Hospitality Style and get a copy of the relaunched print edition. While you're there be sure to sign up for a Hospitality Style subscription.

Maybe I'm just tired of bad news. But at least some of  the indicators coming in from the hotel companies and consulting firms seem to point to a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel for hospitality operators and designers.
 

•  Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels' Hotel Investment Outlook 2010 predicts this year's transaction volume will increase by 20 to 40 percent over 2009, the first rise in two years. In dollar figures, that could represent $11 billion to $13 billion worth of hotel purchases in 2010. Fortunately for designers, most of the new owners will be looking at  hotel renovation and/or rebranding and repositioning. The most likely targets for your marketing push, whether for hotel architecture projects or hospitality interiors: Asian conglomerates seeking prime assets in key markets, especially in the U.S. and U.K.; sovereign wealth funds, primarily from the Middle East but also from Asia; public markets, thanks to a new wave of IPOs, rights issues and mortgage and equity real estate investment trusts (REITs).
• Average U.S. occupancy was flat in January, according to Smith Travel Research, but there were bright spots. Markets worth focusing your business development efforts on might include: Seattle, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami in the U.S. Internationallly, consider Rio de Janeiro; Beijing and Shanghai; major Australian gateways; Berlin, Moscow, Athens, Milan and, not a little surprisingly, Tel Aviv. Occupancy was up 47 percent in January. The Lebanese Tourism Ministry reported a 21 percent uptick in occupancy in 2009 versus 2008.