Hotel Designs launches Accessible Design Talks

Hotel Designs is excited to share a new series of open discussions addressing the challenges of accessible design in hospitality…

The hospitality sector is an excellent provider of environments that make people feel safe, welcome, and happy; its main business model is very much people-centred after all, and therefore hotels make an ideal setting for bringing people together. You’d assume this would include people with disabilities – particularly as hotels have a set standard to meet in terms of disabled access – but anyone with lived experience of disability or neurodivergence will likely tell you otherwise.

Having had a number of conversations with people affected by physical disability over the last couple of years, we thought it was about time to address common issues and misconceptions around inclusive design, opening up a series of discussions where experts in the accessibility industry can share knowledge and research with the A&D community.

The idea is to create insightful sessions, where attendees can leave with a better understanding of accessible design and the solutions to make their projects as inclusive as possible whilst retaining their original design concept.

Hotel Designs Editor Sophie Harper commented: “Accessibility is a topic close to my heart and should carry more significance in the hospitality industry than it currently does. Accessible Design Talks has been created in response to a community telling us more needs to be done. We agree and hope this new series will become a platform for our network of designers, architects, and hotel professionals to share information and ideas that will benefit everyone.”

23rd June 2025 will see our first public panel discussion at the Interior Design & Architecture Summit, which will mark the first of a series of events on the topic:

 

Accessible Luxury: making sense of inclusive design

Be part of the conversation on accessibility in the hospitality space and find out from our expert panellists how their lived and professional experience can help you to create luxury interiors for every capability.

During this session, we will explore opportunities for hotels to cater to a wide range of physical and neurological needs through design without compromising on aesthetic or adding extra zeros to the design budget.

Panellists include:

With Sophie Harper, Editor, Hotel Designs, moderating.

 

We will be collaborating with various partners and experts over the coming months and years to support ongoing talks and learning around accessible design. Let us know if you would like to be involved in future discussions or would like more information about any of the events by contacting Katy Phillips k.phillips@forumevents.co.uk or Sophie Harper s.harper@forumevents.co.uk.