Okay, so your inbox probably isn't over its limit because of an inpouring of RFPs. But, as our publisher Michael Schneider learned at last week's New York University International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference, there's a consensus among hotel investors that the worst is over.
What that means short term is a lot of small projects that have to deliver hospitality design trends on a budget. Watch for the jobs that can affect multiple revenue streams--like hotel restaurant design and lounge design.
And watch for hotel renovation work from aggressive owning companies such as Shaner Hotel Group, which has funds in place to acquire up to $500 million in hotel assets. Look beyond major markets. New build hotel architecture may be rarity in New York or Miami, but Tucson will soon have 13 hotels coming out of the ground. That's a lot of hospitality interior work for companies looking to ride this first wave in the upturn.
Given the current renovation trends, if you don't have some piece of an atrium lobby or big-box public spaces on your boards now, you probably will in the near future. Some renewed signs of life in the MICE market are persuading owners of conference hotels to spruce up the offer near-term. The challenge is going to be how to make these caverns into appealing, third place destinations.
EDG Interior Architecture + Design's Jennifer Johanson is using movement to get rid of the dead zones in the atrium lobby of the Hilton Anatole Dallas. Her piazza concept, with its gardens, restaurants and small town center vibe, is intended to draw conference attendees and guests into the new gathering space. But even the coolest restaurant design or lounge seating isn't going to keep people in motion in the lobby 24/7.
Johanson and her team turned to kinetic art for a solution. Here's a sampling of what impressed them:
Above is a work by Reuben Margolin, a San Francisco bay area kinetic artist known for making motion with complex constructs of materials from wood to cardboad.
So take that inspiration and set some hospitality design trends--and, if you have time before the holiday weekend, send in a project to compete in the European Hotel Design Awards.
Award categories include the best architecture of a hotel, both conversion and newbuild. Interior design categories for various spaces including guestrooms, bar, restaurant and lobby areas. Other awards celebrate innovation, sustainability and the two final awards recognize outstanding contribution to the industry and the European Hotel Design of the Year. They will be announced November 23 as a kick-off to this year's Sleep Event Exhibition in London. The deadline for entries is the 28th May 2010. Get entry guidelines here.
WATG's renovation of Hawaii's St. Regis Princeville shows how the language of luxury contemporary hotel design is changing. Out went tons of polished marble, ornate railings and chandeliers, European themed furniture and artwork, and gilded Corinthian columns. Instead, the designers repositioned the Hawaiian property to reflect its locale through the use of indigenous materials, paintings and sculpture by local artists, and custom-designed carpets and furnishings with a residential feel that exude warmth and hospitality.
Accents like this focal point of the lobby give lifestyle hotel design a distinctively Hawaiian accent.
And, there's no need to add any over-the-top decoration to hotel restaurant design when the view is as beautiful as the one seen from the breezy Makana Terrace.
"In 2010 and beyond, polished brass and shiny chrome will be out. Natural stone and salvaged wood will be in. Recycled materials and accessories will enhance the guest experience and give a property a unique story to tell," says Howard J. Wolff, WATG's senior vice president. Wolff has more to say about where luxury design is headed in his post on hospitalitystyle.com.
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.
Howard Wolff, senior vice president, WATG, says the lion's share of the firm's current hospitality projects is located outside of the U.S. Asia is number one, but the Middle East (mostly outside of Dubai) is still strong. North Africa is another region to watch. At home, he says, it's mostly about hotel renovation.
Hotel chains are taking advantage of softer occupancy figures to freshen up hotel guestroom design as well as increase the appeal of the hotel restaurant design and conference center design. InterContinental Hotels Group is just wrapping up a systemwide renovation. Hyatt's also in the race to deliver contemporary hotel design and lifestyle looks. For more, go to:
If you want a hotel guestroom that provides the perfect place to rest, go two blocks from Times Square. The hotel renovation challenge that Courtyard by Marriott set for itself in redesigning the guestrooms at its Times Square South location was to shut out all the buzz of one of the world's busiest locations. How'd they do it? Strategic ergonomics, lighting and a bed you can disappear in. Find out more about the hotel here, or just check in and see if you can forget where you are.
In its March issue, coming to newsstands this Friday, Travel + Leisure presents its Design Awards 2010, with some fun results. How nice to see Motel 6, honored as Best Large Hotel for its recent hotel renovation, alongside the highest of high concepts, such as Nomiya (Best Restaurant), a temporary glass box atop a Paris museum accommodating, apparently, exactly one party of twelve. It's a compelling look at the best of a wide swath of design industry work, including travel accessories (even a car). And in the midst of a winter like this one, just a glance at an award-winnning spa design in Miami Beach or resort design in Morocco is sure to give you the travel bug.
A venerable old brand is looking fresh again, as Sheraton Hotels and Resorts has just spent a whopping $6 billion on a brand overhaul that includes new designs for more than half of its North American properties. The focus is on blurring the lines between business and leisure travel—the hospitality trend unfortunately dubbed "bleisure"—and one of the highlights of the new Sheraton is a uniquely wired lobby lounge done in partnership with Microsoft. Ninety-eight properties worldwide have been renovated, more than 300 new lobbies have been created, and 70,000 guestrooms (including 50,000 in North America) are new or newly redesigned. And Sheraton, the largest of the Starwood brands, is introducing it all with a $20 million marketing campaign. For more on modern hotel design and resort design trends, check out our gallery at http://www.hospitalitystyle.com/projects/hotels-resorts.
Okay, if you are active in hotel renovation or hotel design, you know 2009 was a bad one for U.S. hotels. Thanks to research firm STR, anyone in the hospitality design industry can now attach some specific numbers to the magnitude of that downturn. Here are the stats from STR: revenue per available room (RevPAR) fell 16.7 percent, to $53.71, for the year; occupancy fell 8.7 percent, to 55.1 percent; and the average daily rate (ADR) dropped 8.8 percent, to $97.51.
“Good riddance to 2009, a year which we believe will go down as the worst in the modern hotel industry,” said STR president Mark Lomanno. “The combination of a distressed economy in conjunction with panic pricing drove RevPARs down to levels that were virtually incomprehensible just a year and a half ago. I look for a significant improvement in the key hotel performance indicators in 2010.”
For more on which U.S. markets suffered the least in this challenging environment, click here.
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