Mobile Apps Are Already Changing Layouts for Hotel Design
Photo Credit: The planned Atari Hotels brand will rely more on technology in its futuristic layout of hotels. Atari Hotels
Skift Take
Future hotel guests arriving at their destinations may see reconfigurations to public spaces in response to apps that are changing the way customers interact with the property.
The hotel industry’s emphasis on pushing more features through smartphone apps during the pandemic has a long-term impact on how future properties are developed.
Brands like Yotel were early adopters in using technology to free up space in hotels prior to the pandemic. But major companies like Hilton all the way down to independent hotels relied more on mobile apps during the pandemic to do everything from check-in to ordering room service. But these features are expected to remain well beyond the health crisis, and that will lead to a new approach in building a hotel.
Lobbies, fitness centers, and even back-of-house areas only employees utilize stand to get a re-do thanks to the contactless craze.
The new approach to hotel layouts can provide a financial lift to an industry still reeling from the pandemic and its catastrophic impact on travel demand.
“We’ve been focused on sometimes smaller hotels, where there’s not a lot of space, so we can turn the lobby into more of a communal space and for revenue-generating space, like restaurants an
