Skift Take
Corporate hotel developers and the big hospitality brands are reworking their design visions to create more natural light, open spaces, integrated lobbies, and communal seating to deliver a more trendy and social guest experience.
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It wasn't that long ago when Marriott, Hyatt, and Hilton were never uttered in the same sentence as the phrases "trendy design" or "hip social spaces."
Today, however, new and newly renovated properties like the JW Marriott Austin, Marriott Marquis Houston, Hilton Cleveland, and Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport are emphasizing fashionable design that looks good and encourages a sense of community. That in turn encourages higher spend on food and beverage, it makes single travelers feel more comfortable, and it attracts more of the local community.
These properties won't compete with the best lifestyle hospitality brands in terms of design anytime soon, but they've clearly evolved light years beyond the dark and depressing "big box hotels" of the past.
More natural light, more open spaces, and more expansive sightlines are the main architectural trends impacting the next generation of hotel construction. More organic materials and more varied options for live and virtual networking are the primary trends in hotel interior design.
For example, the 11 years separating the opening of the JW Marriott Austin in 2015 and the nearby Hilton Austin in 2004 illustrate the dramatic shift, in the minds of corporate hotel owners, developers, and brands, toward hotel design over the last decade.
The Hilton's disconsonant lobby, restaurants, and bars are broken up among different hallways meandering in different directions. The main seating area in the middle is somewhat disconnected from them in the path of the registration area, and there's really no social hub tying everything together.
At the JW, the large lobby bar is the lobby. The contiguous space with tall ceilings, a full wall of windows, a variety of communal and private seati
