the gift of experience

how to stand out from the crowded marketplace, capture imaginations and produce extraordinary destinations.

Toady we can see a massive global shift in user requirements in relation to accommodation facilities, conditions and costs. Less and less are guests focusing on materialistic drivers and traditional aesthetics. Instead, there is a focused movement towards holistic travel, individualised experiences and a clear focus on the intangible. A focus on reflection and internality, on ethereal feelings and experiences that enable guests to connect with themselves, the surrounding environment and local community.

Experience is unquantifiable, the true value of travel is found in individual moments that create powerful, personal and lasting memories. In an ever increasing and competitive market, Hoteliers that instinctively understand the value of experience and human desires have the opportunity to create a lasting, meaningful and truly unique offerings for their guests.

Meaning comes from moments, moments in which we see, think, feel and remember. How is it that these moments are created? I believe that it is the body’s experience of space and the role of the senses that allow and encourage the creation these memories. Memories which are anchored to people, places, tastes, sights, smells and sounds. In order to engage the body and create moments, we must take into account the true and serious impact of the environment of the hotel.

Senses are only triggered by the environment, and environments are designed. What is it that can capture your imagination more than your senses? How often are you transported somewhere else in your everyday? The moment when you smell something that reminds you of home or how uplifting is the experience of a sound that can take you back to your last travel adventure.

As designers, we spend countless hours examining and understanding the value of these little moments. On how often the human spirit is drawn back to memories and individual experiences. To those things that you can not hold it in your hand but it is yours for a lifetime.

It is the designer’s role to create and develop these moments, adapting to the ever-changing environment and guest desires. We constantly experiment and research developing momentum and a habit of continual learning so that we can create or develop structures that take on multiple responsibilities, create unexpected connections and genuine interest.

Design is a dynamic process between understanding the systems of operations and multiplicity of forces connected to individual guest experience. It is about weaving the connective fabric of business objectives and the engagement the senses to create personal and unique moments. It is the designer’s role to untangle the complex business and guest requirements and realign each stream in a spatial design that is original, beautiful, and meaningful. The most creative design ideas arise from open, honest and connected conversations between business and guest to discover and strike a balance between stunning form, intelligent function, quality and value.

In order to stand out from the crowded marketplace, a hotel or any accommodation facility must create powerful personal and lasting memories. Hotels need to be able to capture the imagination and produce extraordinary destinations. To do this there needs to be a focus from the outset on design and on community engagement and inclusion. If the brand can coexist and in best practice, contribute to the surrounding community then there is the ability to create beautiful moments of connection and unique experiences for guests. This connection does not need to cost the earth, but is instead, a thought process and idea that is generated from the beginning of the design practice and instilled into the company culture.

Today’s challenge is about changing people’s expectations of the hotel experience from merely a place to sleep, into a place that supports and encourages the vitality of the human spirit, the connection to the earth and the kinship with the community at large. A way to discover the new in a place we may have been many times before, or the discovery of something one has never seen. The best way to do this is to align with interior architects and designers who are aware of the gift of experience and dedicated to the pursuit of meaningful places. Who employ strategic business thinking and interweave business objectives with the creative design ideas.