Editor checks in: what’s the vibe for 2025?
Marking the start of the new year, albeit two weeks in, Hotel Designs Editor Sophie Harper shares her love of stationery and tells us what we can expect from the year ahead – including a number of events to add to your calendar…
I love the beginning of a new year. A time to reflect on events of the last twelve months puts me in good spirits for forward-planning. As a child, a new year or school term was marked by a fresh set of stationery, which was an exciting event in itself (if you’re not the sort of person that enjoys perusing shelves of colourful pens and notepads with quirky illustrations on the cover then you probably won’t relate to this), but the holy grail of stationery is of course a shiny new diary. Yes, 25 years into the 21st century and I’m still using and carrying around a paper diary; I’m too long in the tooth to change my ways now. There’s just something about opening those blank pages and marking out the dates of special occasions, travel plans, and big events that makes the year ahead seem all the more enticing… and 2025 looks set to be a special one.
Image credit: HIX
Dates for your diary
In-house, Hotel Designs has a few customary events marked out, including MEET UP London, which for the first time is being paired with Hotel Summit (makes a lot of sense, right?) so delegates can attend the summit at The Grand Connaught Rooms during the day before heading for drinks and networking at MEET UP next door at Sway. This is all taking place on 24th April.
23rd June sees the Interior Design & Architecture Summit take place at Hilton London Canary Wharf, where this year we’ll be launching an inclusive design forum, where we’ll hear from experts of accessible needs discuss the issues faced by 24% of the population in accessing the travel and hospitality sectors to see if we can start making a tangible difference to the way we design.
We’ll be heading to Liverpool on 9th July for MEET UP North, which this year will be working in partnership with Design Social North and will take place at BOXPARK Liverpool.
It’s a little early to talk about our closing event of the year – The Brit List 2025 – but keep your eyes peeled over the next few months for details on award submissions and the opening date for applications.
Outside of our own events, the HD team shall of course be at the usual industry get togethers, and we’re in the midst of planning content for the likes of Surface Design Show, Salone, Clerkenwell Design Week, Independent Hotel Show, and HIX – just to name a few.
Image credit: Hotel Designs
Happy Birthday!
A big one to mention while we’re talking about events and special occasions should probably be HD’s anniversary! That’s right, we’re celebrating our 10th birthday this year and have got a whole host of content lined up to celebrate the achievements and innovations in hospitality design over the last decade. Those of you with a keen eye will notice a new HD logo doing the rounds in recognition of our birthday as well as lots of fun activations throughout the year – so keep checking in on the website to find out what the team is up to.
A good year
Last year was a strong year for the hotel industry, clawing back pre-pandemic figures in travel activity and spending along with healthy investment in the Asia Pacific region saw completed projects opening their doors across Japan, China, and Vietnam. This follows on from the success in the market at the end of the previous year for the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas, which found RevPAR achieving a full recovery up to 121% of 2019 levels, according to JLL.
Figures are yet to be fully analysed for 2024, but with huge spikes in travel trends – undoubtedly helped by the Paris Olympics and Swifty’s Eras tour – it brings an air of optimism for the year ahead. Hopefully we’ll see the market climb to its healthiest rates yet over the next 12 months, especially with key events taking place from the likes of Expo 2025 in Osaka, the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Turin, and the Ryder Cup in New York. But will Beyonce’s and Oasis’s tours be enough to rival Taylor’s impact on last year’s economy?
Image credit: Mandarin Oriental
On the radar…
This year is set to be a hive of activity on the hotel project front. There are a huge number of anticipated openings due to take place, with some big names hitting London streets in particular. We’re excitedly awaiting definitive opening dates this year for Chancery Rosewood, The Newman, Six Senses London, and Waldorf Astoria London Admiralty Arch. If all do indeed come to fruition in 2025 it will be quite the landmark year for the city’s hotel market. On top of these city highlights, we’re expecting Belmond’s The Britannic Explorer to steam through the British countryside this year too.
In Europe, a few key projects are expected from the likes of Rosewood Amsterdam, Ultima Promenade Gstaad, and Mandarin Oriental Vienna. In Italy, we’re looking forward to finally getting to check out Corinthia Rome, Six Senses Milan, and Rocco Forte’s The Carlton in Milan – sadly not in time for Salone though.
Further afield, we’re waiting for Ciel Dubai, Waldorf Astoria New York, and Rosewood Miyakojima, Japan to all open their doors.
Image credit: Six Senses
There’s plenty to look forward to over the coming months, so belated happy new year wishes to you all and I hope 2025 brings you all you hope for and more.
Main image credit: Joanna Kosinska
