Feature: Designing the ‘live like a local’ experience

730 565 Hamish Kilburn
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Feature: Designing the ‘live like a local’ experience

Hotel Designs spends time understanding a new hotel concept from SB Architects that is said to “switch on the senses, capture imagination and transport guests on a journey though a mobile-canvas of captivating landscapes”… 

Luxury travelers are increasingly seeking unique, authentic and immersive experiences. They are becoming more curious and bold in their explorations and subsequently, their modes of transport. 

In Booking.com’s 2018 ‘Travel Predictions’ survey, they reported that 25 per cent of travellers were planning trips based on the journey rather than the destination, aiming to embark on an “epic road or rail journey”. 

Hyperlocalisation is no longer a trend, it’s a vital part of the guest experience, and design should interact with and enhance the local culture of the destination. The popularity of services like Air BnB shows no sign of slowing down, as inherently they provide what the guest is craving, a hyperlocalised ‘live like a local’ experience. As designers, we are tasked with creating a sense of place, communicating the unique story of the locale and designing adaptable spaces to provide hoteliers with the opportunity to reinvent and stay fresh. 

 Synonymous with ultra-luxury and glamor, we are experiencing a rail revival. The American West was built along rail lines that span the nation. What were once bustling railways are now silent and forgotten vestiges of our past. Many of these railways span untapped, truly breathtaking, locations, but provide no footing for hospitality development. The Infinite Explorer provides a unique opportunity to embrace and transform the existing infrastructure of these underutilized spaces, making the unreachable, reachable. 

Life aboard The Infinite Explorer is about the voyage, not the end destination. It’s a one-of-a-kind hospitality experience, designed to switch on the senses, capture the imagination and transport guests on a journey through a mobile-canvas of captivating landscapes.  

Embark on a five-night odyssey through one of the world’s most spectacular natural landscapes. Not only can guests experience a five-star service and luxury amenities onboard; including a dining and observation car; the exclusive itinerary will satiate the palate of the most intrepid traveler. 

Train travelers usually only capture a glimpse of the immense beauty that passes by outside their window, but imagine if you could step out of your cabin into the wilderness to feel, touch, and smell it? As the train weaves through a profusion of wildflower-filled meadows, rocky peaks, and crystal clear, aquamarine lakes, the train will stop, the side of the guest’s cabin will open up, and guests can step from their cabin onto one of the extraordinary platforms and experiences located along the route. Each stop along the route is unique and designed with an immersive program of activity, including outdoor adventures, wellness and dining; designed to astound, delight and capture the guest’s imagination at every turn. 

The Infinite Explorer grants guests the opportunity to slow down, disconnect and intimately connect with scenery that might otherwise be unattainable.  

The concept, and its infinite possibilities, has been shortlisted for the Radical Innovation Award. 

Main image credit: SB Architects

Hamish Kilburn / 05.08.2019

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