You Should Know about Hotel Interior Design

Interior Design of Hospitality Industry

Hotel interior design is of vital importance when it comes to creating a positive experience for your guests, planners and their attendees, your staff, and anyone else who steps foot into your property. The design of a hotel represents the audience that you'd like to attract, communicates your brand promise, highlights all of the amenities that you offer, and much more. 

But hotel interior design is about more than sleek lines and expensive furniture. So, we put together this guide, which includes 10 expert tips and industry-leading examples from properties around the world, as well as frequently asked questions about interior design as a whole. Keep reading to learn all about the importance of hotel interior design and how even the smallest changes at your property can make a big difference.

Why Hotel Interior Design Matters?

Competition in the hospitality industry is fierce, and bland hotels struggle to connect with audiences that are looking for more targeted options. Whether guests realize it or not, they choose properties that match their aesthetics, their aspirations, and their views on what a hotel should be.

Your hotel needs to convey a lot with its interior design. A well-designed space can:

● Target the types of guests you want to see again and again

● Highlight the features and amenities of your hotel

● Help you stand out from the competition

● Inspire planners to book events at your property

● Win recognition from your local community

● Convey your brand promise

Locate Your Interior Design Focus

Great design doesn't try to be everything to everyone. Instead, find your focus by looking to your foundations. Who is your core audience? What do they want from your property and your brand? How can you deliver on your brand promise in a visually-appealing way?

Keep this focus in mind as you decide everything from your theme and overall aesthetic to colors, furnishings, artwork, fixtures, and more.

Color Psychology for Hotel interior design

Psychology plays an important role in choosing the right colors for your hotel's interior design. Cool colors like blue and green promote relaxation and calm and work well for bedrooms and bathrooms. Small accents of yellow can stimulate conversation and can be used in business areas or conversation nooks. Purple lends a feeling of sophistication, luxury, and opulence, especially when paired with grays or metallics. 

Saturation and shade are important parts of color psychology as well. As a rule of thumb, light colors are perceived as airy and make rooms feel brighter and more spacious. Dark colors, on the other hand, lend sophistication and intimacy. So a bright, open lobby may look wonderful with light colors like gold and cream, while an intimate space like the bar may do better with burgundies, purples, and grays.

Match Form With Function

Beautiful hotel interior design should never outweigh function, especially in your guest rooms. Make sure room features are easy to use and understand. It should be clear to new guests how to use everything — from hooks and drawer pulls to door handles, switches, and faucets. This sounds simple, but it’s surprisingly easy to get wrong. 

You also want to balance form and function in all of your public spaces. This includes a few key points:

● Make sure seating areas are comfortable and lit appropriately, including overhead lighting and table lamps where appropriate. 

● Keep lobby areas open for foot traffic and accessible for guests with mobility issues. 

● Choose durable flooring for high-traffic areas.

● Include appropriate signage for easy navigation.

● Make the use of each space clear with your design choices.

● Choose complementary colors for mixed-use areas to accommodate different layouts.

Design Guest Rooms With Future In Mind

Interior design can be a huge capital expenditure, and you may not have the opportunity to refurbish your guest rooms for a long time. Make your design last by choosing themes and furnishings that will age well.

You can future-proof your room designs by keeping the main parts of the design simple. This includes the bedding, walls, flooring, bathroom fixtures, and major pieces of furniture. Use smaller fixtures, movable items, and accessories to add personality and reflect current trends. That way, when the trends move on, you only need to make small changes to update the overall look of your rooms.

When it's time for a big launch or redesign, take the time to find out exactly what your guests want from the new design. Marriott takes this to the next level with its innovation lab, a mockup of a real hotel room that executives, designers, and focus groups can all see, experience, and give feedback on. Even if you don't have the resources for an in-person mockup, get feedback by showing guests, staff, and others pictures of proposed design elements to see what they think.

Pay Attention To Lighting

An often-overlooked element, hotel lighting has both practical and aesthetic implications for guests and staff. The right lighting will make guests feel relaxed, rejuvenated and refreshed. The wrong lighting can add to stress, without guests really knowing why. It's similar to the color psychology covered above, and it plays a huge role in hotel interior design.

Take Corinthia London, for example. The focal point of the lobby is a massive chandelier made up of 1,001 bright crystal bubbles, while the pool at the spa creates a dark and relaxing atmosphere with lights in the water that project the pool's reflection on the ceiling. 

Find Areas To Highlight Local Art

A hotel can find new levels of success when it forms a relationship with the community. Consider whether there are spaces to highlight local art and artists within your property. This gives your guests an opportunity to see more of the culture of your location, creates a strong bond with local artists and businesses, and can boost your hotel's interior design significantly. 

Areas that work particularly well for art pieces include the lobby, your dining areas, guest rooms, and transitional spaces like hallways. If you like the idea of a constantly-changing collection, you can even offer the pieces for sale to guests.

Renaissance Hotels embrace local art and artists to showcase the unique location of each property. For instance, the Renaissance New York Midtown Hotel is based in Manhattan's Garment District and uses art by New York City-based artists that focuses on fashion, clothing, and sewing materials. By connecting with key aspects of what makes your property unique, you can find inspiration for the art and decor that will surround your guests.

Get Hotel Interior Furniture from Carpenter Furnishing

If there's one thing that shouldn't be on the "do it yourself" list for hoteliers, it's interior design. The design of your space is so important to get right, and this isn't the time to wing it. Make sure to hire a great designer who is used to working with hospitality, and has familiarity with your brand, your goals, and your location. Once you've found the right person or firm, bring them your ideas and start working together to make your space as aesthetically-pleasing as can be.