Hotel Designing

What is hotel design? A discipline that takes care of the
creation of a perfect ambience for the guests is widely known as
hotel design. It is basically designing a place where clients
touch base after tiring journeys, or a hard day's work, for
which the host is paid money. Even though designing a hotel
comprises of a mere 15% of the total budget, it accounts for a
whopping 70%of its income. Hotel designs have come a long way
from their erstwhile days, with specialized architects,
builders, interior designers, contractors and suppliers pitching
in their share. Today, hotel design includes building
specialized buildings with the required amenities for the
purpose of attracting clients, or renovating an old hotel
building, or converting other structures such as palaces and
forts into a hotel. But, despite there being no consensus upon
the ideal hotel design, the fact remains that a good location
and an efficient structure are the main ingredients of an
attractive design.

Hotel design vis a vis its functions A hotel is divided into a
number of segments some of them being, restaurants, bedrooms,
suites, reception, entry lounge, laundry area etc. It is of
utmost importance that the smooth functioning of one area does
not interfere with that of the others. The noise or the movement
of people in one area should not disturb both the people
working, and the guests in other areas. For this reason, hotels
are designed inside out. This ensures good functionality.

Decide upon the theme of the hotel Before starting to design
the interiors, give a second thought to the prevalent theme that
your hotel would adhere to. There are many new trends emerging
in the design industry. Boil down your choice to a select few,
and then zero in upon the final choice. The look can vary
anywhere between grunge, international, chic, boutique, urban or
classical, but since a hotel offers a formal setting; a grunge
theme would be too bold a statement.

Adventure in design Clients worldwide have become more
demanding. They want aesthetically and creatively appealing
designs, better technology to have everything at their
fingertips, and facilities that allow them to indulge, like a
good swimming pool, an in-house gym, or a relaxing spa massage,
just a call away. Also, gone are the days of heavily formal
designs in hotels. The new breed of adventurous designers and
travelers has made the hotels rethink their set beliefs about
guest service. Business travelers have also contributed towards
the adventurous design trends in the hotel industry. They want
to be surprised or wowed each time they walk in. The reason for
a more casual ambience in hotels can also be attributed to the
need of frequent travelers to feel at home. A formal setting
definitely comes in the way of it.

The increased periodicity of renovations Only a decade back,
renovations would be carried out at a gap of five to seven
years. The periodicity has now increased to three to five years.
This has increased the workload on designers, but eased their
work because of the hoteliers' enthusiasm to experiment. It has
been noticed that more number of guests are looking forward to a
signature restaurant, with a signature chef, and a signature
menu. This has increased the possibilities in the design arena.

The hotel designer's social milieu The social milieu from which
the designer hails considerably affects the way he views the
world. The emerging concept of a global citizen has seen many
shun the local cultural ethnicity, while others are eager to
have a taste of the same. It is therefore important to have a
view of what type of guests your hotel would want to cater to,
to decide upon the designer. If the hotel wants to remain seeped
in the regional norms, and provide its gusts with an cultural
insight, a local designer, or at least one who is familiar with
the cultural background, would be the safest bet. On the other
hand, if you need to project your hotel as a boutique hotel, try
an international designer, who has experience in designing
hotels catering to guests from the world over.

The shift in focus Unlike some years ago, the cynosure of the
guest room is no more the bed, but the bathroom. The
conventional claustrophobic bathrooms are being replaced by
expanded ones, with showers instead of tubs, and quality
fixtures and finishes.

Including the guest's suggestions The suggestions of the guests
need to be paid heed to, if you want your design to be the
finest blend of functionality and aesthetics. No other inputs
hold as much importance as this one, because of the practicality
involved. Also it is the guest who is the end user of the design
and that makes him the best judge.

Conclusion The demand of business and pleasure travelers is
becoming more diverse. The hospitality industry needs to
incorporate the upcoming trends in design to cater to their
clients. It has been predicted by experts and analysts that the
future will belong to hotels with colossal construction, bigger
rooms and in room kitchens. Keeping the design simple yet
efficient is the key.

Venugopal Naidu is the business development head at href="http://www.istahotels.com" target="_blank">Ista Hotel in
Bangalore, India. Associated with Ista for the past five
years, he has been active in projecting the hotel as ahref="http://www.istahotels.com/main.html" target="_blank">
luxury five star hotel in Bangalore. Catalyzing the growing
popularity of Ista, Naidu

About the author:
A discipline that takes care of the creation of a perfect
ambience for the guests is widely known as hotel design. It is
basically designing a place where clients touch base after
tiring journeys, or a hard day's work, for which the host is
paid money.