Reimagining the travel experience through hotel design

After the fallow pandemic years, hotels are once again competing to provide the best short-term homes to holidaymakers and business travellers alike. Hotels are also increasingly places to see and be seen, regardless of whether a room has been booked for the night. Delivering exceptional experiences in sustainable, health-conscious, and imaginatively designed spaces is now the challenge facing the industry, as Sophia Stylianou and Anthony Hume report.

‘Revenge travel’ – the desire to travel more, further and for longer after being unable to during coronavirus – has continued into 2023, after starting in 2021. The phrase started as a tongue-in-cheek concept on social media, but such attitudes are being reflected in travel data. 

Travel to the UK has almost recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Visit Britain’s latest inbound forecast for travel to the UK in 2023 is 37.5 million visits – 92 per cent of 2019’s visitor figures. Travellers are forecast to spend £30.9 billion in the UK this year, 90 per cent of the 2019 spend in real terms, after taking inflation into account. This means the hotels sector, which suffered greatly in the pandemic, is enjoying a return to normality. 

However, what constitutes normal is changing. People may be travelling more and spending more on travel, many using money they saved up during the pandemic – but their expectations are now higher. Hotel guests crave experiences, not just a place to rest for the night. In another evolution, tourists and business travellers alike are more conscious than ever of their carbon footprint. 

The relative weakness of the pound against the dollar has also led to a changing tourist demographic. There has been a rise in domestic tourism within the UK, and for international visitors, a perception that the UK offers good value for shopping and leisure compared to other international destinations.   

What does the next generation of hotels look like?

New hotels distinguish themselves by delivering a unique, memorable, highly positive customer experience. The building fabric and design is crucial to providing this.  

Developers want to create ‘destinations’ – places where people want to be, see, and experience, even if they are not staying in a room there. These experiential aspects of a new hotel could centre around a rooftop bar, a ground level coworking space, or an art gallery, a music venue or a florist attached to the hotel lobby. The goal is to make hotel a place to meet and gather, not just to sleep.  

Hotel design and visuals should be anticipated to be photographed and shared on social media, particularly among younger customers. YouGov reports four in 10 (39 per cent) under-25s now use social media platforms as their primary source of information when making travel bookings. Original artwork, unusual building features and high levels of biophilia are all ways to add appeal to Gen Z. 

In contrast to the trend for providing a wide range of amenities, some hotels have scaled back on amenities and focus instead on providing low-cost, compact rooms designed for short stays. The growth of serviced apartments and aparthotels has also challenged preconceptions and expectations of what a good hotel experience should look and feel like.  

Food and beverage (F&B) provision 

Room occupancy forms the bedrock of a hotel’s profitability, but a successful food and beverage provision is now also important. As retail spaces reduce, hospitality is stepping further into F&B space. Socialising trends are evolving too, with food and restaurants now being a huge reason to meet and to travel. 

When planning F&B and amenities, the local area should be thoroughly investigated. There is a nascent trend for new hotel developments to form agreements and partnerships with large local entertainment providers, such as stadiums. The post-pandemic return of big-ticket sports and music events with thousands of attendees has led to demand for nearby hotels to meet the spikes in accommodation and F&B needs of local major venues.  

Health and wellness

Wellness is a buzzword. The Global Wellness Institute reports ‘wellness tourism’ is set to grow more than any other wellness sector, increasing by 20.9 per cent by 2025. In the hotel sector, this is reflected in increased demand for amenities such as yoga studios and access to wellness experts, classes, workshops and health retreats.   

For hotel guests, the pandemic means there is a desire for antimicrobial finishes and passive measures to reduce the amount of physical contact users have with the building. This includes the introduction of kick plates to remove need to open doors using hands/door handles, and a focus on automatic sensor lights for rooms and toilets. 

For hotel employees, everything at the outset should be designed to enable quick room turnarounds. Not only does this reduce cleaning times, but it can also improve the next guest’s experience, as the hotel is thus able to offer an earlier check-in. 

Fire safety 

Branded residences within hotels or aparthotels are making designing for fire safety complex. Branded residences are classed as residential spaces, and thus must comply with the Building Safety Act. The full ramifications of the new 2023 regulations may take some time to unfold, but it is likely to have a significant impact on project costs. The rollout of the new regulations is being monitored closely by industry.  

Sustainability

Green travel is a booming sub-sector within travel, and customers increasingly want to stay in and associate themselves with hotel destinations that align with their values and green aspirations.  

As a result, there is a strong shift towards new hotel developments achieving excellent or outstanding BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) ratings and showcasing sustainable developments to guests.

In a key shift since 2020, developers are now concerned with how to provide electric vehicle (EV) car charging infrastructure for their guests. There is a strong mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) element to car charging provision, as it demands a high electrical load. The addition of EV charging also necessitates additional fire protection measures, further increasing overall costs to developers.  

Redefining the future of hotel design

In a challenging macroeconomic environment, smart, efficient, flexible design will be critical to hotel profitability and success. Meeting stringent, data-backed sustainability and net-zero standards is also key to future-proofing buildings and attracting loyal customers who are proud to be associated with the hotel. In a world dominated by social media, providing great photo opportunities for guests and creating memorable moments and experiences is also key.  

We are working at a time where the definition of luxury, high quality, business, and budget hotels is being redefined. We are redrawing the lines around what a hotel should look like, feel like and provide to users, with technology, economic and health considerations deeply influencing this. For industry, the challenge is being aware of — and responsive — to these rapidly changing norms.  

This is an abridged version of an article that was first published in Building magazine. You can read the full article by clicking here.