It might seem a banal starting point but so many people think they know about hotel design but create operations that fail at the most basic level that it seems to me a restatement of basics is the place to start this series. This primer is for anyone who hasn’t been involved in hotel design before and for those who manage hotel groups who need to know how design should form a part of their development strategy.If you are about to get involved with hotel development, or about to create or refurbish an hotel, then the first part of the exercise is get to know what the local market demands and what the standards are. It seems so basic to me that if you haven’t been involved in hotels you should actually undertake some research into market and standards, and that if you are in hotels you should continue to look at what the competition is doing – known as CPD or continuing professional development.
I remain totally astonished how few people actually do any research into what makes standards, what is good design or good operating criteria. Just because you think you have a stylish home doesn’t mean you know anything about star ratings or good contract interiors. In fact your misplaced confidence probably means you will screw up. Just because you have worked for XYZ Hotels (no- I made it up) for twenty years doesn’t mean you know anything about hotel operations outside your own group – which may be the country’s worst!
Hopefully you will have done your research. Even just through regular reading of our Review archive and Miniviews (which now have over 350 examples of hotels at all levels in many countries over four continents) helps, but hopefully also by staying in the best of hotels in the category you want to develop in so you have produced a critique of the competition and the pace setters alike. You can also research more yourself through the DesignClub Gallery where there are (as I write) 23,650 images of hotel interiors divided by star rating and area of the hotel, such as Bedroom or Bar, as well as by brand.
You could of course pay £35 to access our Guide to Hotel Design, all 26 chapters of it going into detail and giving pictorial examples…(Join here)
Continued on page two…
