Jul 24th 2017

Hotel Interior Design Trends

John Stein

Hotel guests now demand the ultimate, personalized experience, and the state of hospitality design both encourages and reflects this desire. To that end, hotel interior design trends are changing, moving away from cookie cutter designs and opulent surroundings to high-tech, green, innovative boutique-inspired interiors.

While some things will never change, hotels will always have lobbies and beds, – you’ll also find that a number of hotels are beginning to change the way these areas are used to better suit their guest’s desires. Green design principles, spa-style bathrooms, modular room design, destination restaurants and lobbies as co-working spaces all are trends transforming hotel design before our eyes, not to mention robot concierges, mobile check in and your phone becoming your key.

Multi-Purpose Lobbies

Lobbies are no longer just for checking in. Not only are they the first place you see when you enter the hotel, increasingly they are the place where guests are likely to gather and even conduct informal business. For that reason, you’ll now find hotel lobbies that incorporate a number of different uses into one space.

For example, you’ll now find lounge areas just feet away from dedicated work stations, as well as intimate conversation areas where people can chat. These lobbies are well laid out and constructed to minimize sound, so your conversations can stay private and intimate even within a larger, robust, and busy space.

Lots of Green Design

Green interior design is nothing new in the residential sector, but it’s just getting off the ground a far as hotel interior design trends go. Green design means incorporating a number of different sustainable elements into the building’s construction and interiors. Examples may include using bamboo in place of hardwood, maximizing light through larger windows rather than electricity, and installing water conservation appliances in the bathrooms.

Particularly in areas where energy usage is high, green design appeals to guests as it helps to keep hotel bills down, and allows the industry to showcase its environmental side at the same time. Therefore you can expect to see more hotels putting an emphasis on sustainability throughout their rooms, from timers or lights to an increase in plant life for a better quality of air.

Spa-Style Bathrooms

Many people associate hotels with luxury, and this trend isn’t going away any time soon. That’s why so many are now beginning to offer spa-style bathrooms in every suite in place of the standard full bathroom.

The spa-style bathroom includes numerous features to make you feel pampered and relaxed during your stay. These include things such as whirlpool and air bath tubs, massaging body jets in the shower, steam, and wide open spaces that allow you ample room to move around and encourages use by more than one person at a time.

Newer Bedroom Designs

The bedroom is the heart of the hotel industry, and with the way that people use hotels and conduct business their changing, so does the hotel interior design of the bedroom as well. Gone is the standard bed with side table configuration. Instead, hotels are now offering more multi-purpose bedrooms, with conversation areas, work stations, and sofas for relaxing.

Today’s hotel bedroom is more about finding a home away from home than it is simply a place to sleep at night. With this comes a wide range of different amenities all tucked away into the suite. From fully equipped galley kitchens to small lounge areas with flat screen TVs and Wi-Fi, the hotel bedroom is the place to live out your dreams.

Technologically Enhanced

Hotels everywhere are going hi-tech throughout their design. It’s not enough to simply have Wi-Fi available; Smart features are also turning up nearly everywhere. Dim switches, control your room’s temperature, and operate the entertainment center all from a single hub. Work stations and charging stations can be found nearly everywhere in the hotels these days to give you a chance to plug in from anywhere you go.

Texture and Depth

Once upon a time, you could find a number of different patterns and finishes throughout hotels. These patterns may have been rich and luxurious or they may have been sleek and minimalist, but whatever they looked like, they’re being universally overlooked these days for a variety of different textures and materials that can give depth to the design. Pops of bold color, natural materials and fibers, and spaces that invite you to explore with your senses are what’s hot in hotel interior design right now.

Unique Experiences

Hotels want repeat business, and they want you to want to return as well. To that end, there is a lot of emphasis these days on creating repeat business within the hotel industry through unique and personalized designs. Themed bedrooms that encourage you to stay again and again as no two are alike are a big draw for some hotels.

In others, pop-ups and modular designs that allow you to change how things are viewed and explored to suit your particular needs are also beginning to attract a lot of attention. Hotels are beginning to seek new ways to find out their guests’ needs, then meet them like never before so this is an experience that you want to repeat – and soon.

Destination Restaurants

While the restaurant attached to the hotel was once there mainly for convenience sake, today’s hotels are turning their restaurants into destinations all their own. By coming up with more unique and creative menu ideas and pushing the envelope of haute cuisine, hotel restaurants begin to attract guests solely for the chance of eating there. To that end, the interior design of the hotel restaurant must match the rest of the hotel. Cutting edge materials, technologies, and lounge areas where people can come and work or relax during their stay can all be expected there.

Local Art

It’s becoming more common for hotels to begin featuring local artists’ work throughout the hotel. This emphasis on supporting the local community, as well as on bringing fresh, undiscovered work to the area gives hotels a unique and different perspective than older hotels full of staid or fussy designs.

Expect to find rooms painted in avant garde designs by local artisans, as well as furniture made by local craftsman, in addition to the more traditional sculpture and framed art you may be expecting.

Super Conference Rooms

With more companies conducting business right inside the hotel, it’s not enough to simply have a conference room; that conference room needs to meet all of the company’s needs. This means a focus on insulating the room from outside sound to create the perfect environment to conduct business, wiring the room for numerous types of technology, and arranging different tables or viewing stations so that businesses can conduct meetings of any kind with ease.

Take a New Look at the Hotel Industry

Hotel interior design trends are continuously changing to keep up with their guests’ needs and demands. To that end, you can expect to see more hotels moving in the direction of providing a unique experience that caters to everyone of your needs – even if you haven’t thought of them yet.

Take a new look at the hotel industry and hotel interiors to find a whole new world of hospitality. You may also find a new destination that you want to retreat to even more than your own living room.