Hotel Magazine December 2022

DESIGNING SUCCESS

With trends ever-changing, we offer the help of some industry experts, who look into how can you ensure your interiors don’t become outdated.

Quality accommodation is about making guests feel comfortable and at home. In order to achieve that, hotel owners must understand the value of well-decorated interiors and implement them in their overnight stay venues.

The design of a hotel is one of the main contributing factors to the guest experience, but with trends around interiors coming in thick and fast at a rapid pace, it can be difficult to find a happy medium which will appeal to a wide range of consumers.

Given the current economic climate, it’s more important than ever for hoteliers to demonstrate good value to guests whichever price point they may be.

Leanne Galer-Reick, Head of Marketing at Clermont Hotel Group, said: “At properties where value and convenience are particularly prioritised – such as Thistle

hotels – a sense of heightened comfort can be achieved through modern, clean cut and unpretentious designs.

“Adding simple solutions, such as soft furnishings and plants, enhances hotel spaces and give them a warm and welcoming character. Across all our hotels, for example, we include living plants as opposed to faux or plastic plants – which helps to elevate the rooms by adding a sense of authenticity and quality, while also creating a calming environment.”

It’s important to stay on brand and remember your venue’s ethos and target audience when working on the overall hotel design. Leanne explained that, for more premium offerings such as The Clermont properties, a sense of luxury can be achieved through well-considered décor: “The restaurants within the hotels have been refurbished in line with elements from the Victorian era and an array of lighting features that can offer a sense of

Pg 18

Left: Horwood House

Right: The Montenotte Hotel

Pg 20 Hilton London Bankside

mood control throughout the day.”

Having a signature look is a great way to appeal to eager, design-conscious consumers who are looking for an overnight stay venue. Getting the balance right between having a memorable appearance whilst still appealing to a wide range of people is really important.

In terms of creating this signature look, Leanne sees that utilising neutral colours and stripping back on complicated designs is a great way of doing so, not giving guests the opportunity to become overwhelmed.

“The properties across our portfolio are in ideal central London locations. While of course many of our guests relish in the hustle and bustle of the city, our hotels provide a quiet escape to relax – and the design of our venues very much reflects this. For example, at The Clermont, we have a signature scent that welcomes guests on arrival, and consistently throughout the two properties in Victoria and

Charing Cross we have opted for moss greens, calming creams, and neutral shades, which have very much become our signature for this brand.” Leanne added.

Kim Mouflier, Director of Rooms at Hilton London Bankside, revealed that in order to ensure the venue doesn’t become outdated, when designing the hotel, every area was carefully considered to provide longevity in terms of design.

Kim explained: “Short term trends weren’t followed, but rather the location and the community surrounding the hotel were considered to highlight elements which reveal the history and vibrancy of the area, which are things that will never change. We then use components such as plants, flowers, scents and lighting to vary and enhance our guests’ experience, which are all reviewed and changed on a regular basis.”

In order to stay on top of trends in a cost-effective way,

“Adding simple solutions, such as soft furnishings and plants, enhances hotel spaces.”

there are elements which hotels can easily swap out or update from a decorative perspective.

Kim explained that through detailed planning and consideration, the team at Hilton London Bankside have introduced elements to the hotel that offer a framework which are easily updated to reflect a season and or celebration. A good example of this would be their ‘Bankside Sign’, which sits just outside the front door and acts as a welcome and location marker to the hotel. Each letter of ‘Bankside’ is around a metre tall and can be decorated, as mentioned, to align with a theme or a seasonal celebration.

To ensure your interiors are always appealing as a hospitality venue, it is important to consider more than trends. Deliberate locality, the season and guests’ wants and needs. Interiors and decor shouldn’t just be the framing to our guests’ stay, but something that enhances their experience and makes them want to return time and time again.

We asked Kim her opinion on if she thinks it’s best to

keep things simple in terms of design in order to stay at the forefront of consumers’ minds, to which she said: “I do believe ‘less is more’ and the simplest design or arrangement can create the biggest impression. Scent for example is very important. Although not a visual design element, a simple, perfectly balanced scent can bring the whole theme or ‘look’ seamlessly together.

“It’s all about harmony. From scent to flowers, the time of year and of course our more permanent design features are considered, to create a signature look which is both simultaneously impactful and subtle.”

Kim advises to not pay attention simply to just current design trends. A hotel, is seen as a home away from home, an escape, a place to rest, relax and celebrate. So, with this in mind, Kim advises considering wider trends and how guests might be feeling, and using this to formulate a theme.

Thinking more broadly will allow you to offer something different to patrons, which isn’t just a backdrop, but is something that tangibly adds to their stay.

“It’s all about harmony.”