Travel is becoming more accessible, wanderlust is permeating our culture and demand for elevated resort experiences is on the rise. With ever-growing competition for the travel consumer’s dollar, the hospitality industry is increasingly looking to provide unique spaces and experiences to their guests. Accommodations, once merely seen as a place to rest while on vacation, are playing an integral role in guests’ travel decisions.
Kimberly Timmons Interiors’ award-winning hospitality designs create memorable guest experiences by seamlessly integrating timeless design principles with an eye on evolving guest demands, tastes and attitudes. Check out these top hospitality trends KTI is embracing to meet these changing guest expectations and make their hospitality partners more relevant.
Open Social Spaces: Common spaces such as lobbies, lounges, and restaurants, once perceived as ancillary, are now integral to the resort experience. Seen as more than just a place to check in and out, thoughtful design of these areas is becoming just as important as the guest rooms themselves. An increasingly popular trend is to design these spaces more like a residential living room – a place to mingle, relax, or work. Inviting furniture, a relaxed vibe, and open layouts create an inviting and social space. Comfortable spaces and lounge-like lobbies encourage lingering and guest interaction. With our ability to work just about anywhere on the rise, often times the lines between vacation and working remotely are blurred. Guests often want to take advantage of comfortable areas to work rather than being confined to business centers or in room desks.
Local Influence: Travelers, especially millennial travelers, are seeking out authentic experiences while on vacation. More than merely a room, travelers want a destination. Accommodations should be seen as a seamless extension of the destination harnessing a sense of place by incorporating local materials and cultural references. From furniture crafted by local artisans to regionally curated art collections and reclaimed architectural details, blurring the lines between resort and destination provides an authentic environment aligned to changing traveler demands.
Outside In: Blurring the lines between indoor and outdoor is not new to the interior design world. However, the hot trend is quickly expanding from residential spaces and eateries to the word of hospitality. Access to the outdoors, physical and visual, reinforces a constant connection between the space and the place. In fair weather climates eliminating interior/exterior distinctions with roll away glass walls, all-weather lounges and rooftop patios creates livable social spaces designed for socializing and connecting with your surroundings. In cooler climates another popular trend is bringing the outdoors inside. From green walls to utilizing living plants as integral design elements, bringing the outside in is a surefire way to set the stage for memorable spaces.
Wellness: Modern travelers expect the conveniences of home while on the road, and an important part of many of our daily lives is a focus on wellness. Moving beyond the spa, wellness today encompasses the mind, body and soul. Blending comprehensive fitness centers offering professional trainers with yoga studios, meditation rooms and other mindfulness practices, we must consider aesthetics and functionality in equal measure to accommodate the active traveler. From full-scale gyms with modern amenities on-site to the smallest of gestures like providing mats and space for a morning in-room yoga session, incorporating wellness seamlessly into the resort experience is now a must.
