Hospitality

The future looks rosy for the hospitality industry. Growth forecasts continue to be strong. Tourism numbers are booming worldwide. And as travel becomes easier, swifter and more reliant on technology, hotels are striving to keep pace.  

“What’s happened over the last three to five years, and what we expect over the next two or three, are unlike what we’ve seen in this industry before,” Heather Balsley, SVP of global marketing mainstream brands for InterContinental Hotels Group, said at the 2018 Hunter Hotels Conference. Here’s a look at some hospitality trends that promise to reshape the industry.

In some ways, travel has never been easier. You can breeze through expedited security. You can rapidly research every place you plan to visit. And you can use your phone as room key, translator and guide.

Yet travel has become even more stressful as people try to navigate a tumultuous and fast-changing globe. Skift calls this the State of Permanxiety: “a near-constant state of anxiety that exists now around the world.”  

Some hotels take a Zen approach to helping travelers relax: aromatherapy, guided meditations, even offering bags of lavender from a lobby cart at bedtime. These little touches are appreciated, but there are also some practical ways to relieve guests’ travel stress. 

What’s the one thing that can make or break guest satisfaction? It’s not the pillow menu or the fitness offerings; it’s the hotel breakfast.

Because the breakfast bar is often included in the room price, its quality factors heavily into guests’ assessment of value. Limp offerings of off-brand yogurt and underripe bananas dampen the guest experience; surprisingly good coffee and creative combinations elevate it.

How do the best hotel breakfast bars bring guests back again and again? Here are five fresh ideas.

Extended-stay, today’s your day.

This once-overlooked market segment is exploding across the United States. In mid-2016, more than 40,000 extended-stay rooms were under construction: the highest number in at least 17 years, Lodging magazine reports. Despite another 20,000 rooms opening in 2015, extended-stay rates grew and occupancy saw only a slight dip. Brands such as Element by Westin, Staybridge Suites, Residence Inn and Extended Stay America are all planning significant expansions. 

Of course, all this growth means more competition. What are extended-stay hotels doing to win over guests and keep them coming back again — and again?

Hard bunkbeds. Grimy showers. Loud roommates.

For most people, the word “hostel” brings back decades-old memories of backpacking in Europe or surf-bumming around Costa Rica. Savvy travelers, however, know that hostels have a new face. “Poshtels” offer chic décor, fun bars and hotel-like amenities. And they’re making inroads in the United States. Find out how hostels fit into 2017’s competitive hotel market.

The idea of learning something new while on vacation is nothing new. Hotel guests have been perfecting their golf swings and swirling wines for decades. But there’s a new trend among hotels to offer ever more in-depth and hands-on learning. At hotels around the country, you can live your fantasy of becoming an artist, or a British pastry chef, or a master mixologist — even if only for a day.

Here are 10 hotels offering creative, hands-on workshops guests won’t soon forget.

Modern guestrooms are losing a lot of things: Closets. Desks. Even dressers. But what about the coffeemaker? Is that an essential amenity, or an unneeded luxury?

This turns out to be a subject for passionate debate among frequent travelers. Some can’t live without in-room coffee. Others prefer to get their fix in the lobby. One thing’s clear: most guests believe complimentary caffeine is a constitutional right. Here’s how to keep them happy.

The hotel lobby is rapidly changing from merely an entrance into a place that entrances. “We’re trying to make this more of an experience, a place to go to rather than a place to go through,” Alexandra Jaritz, global head for Tru by Hilton, told the New York Times.

But will you see a real ROI from transforming your lobby into a multifunctional hub for work, socializing and entertainment ? We spoke with Bob Bomholt, Director of Operations for hotel design-build firm Pinnacle South, to find out. Here are five reasons to consider a lobby revamp.

In the hospitality industry, disruptors are nothing new. There was a time (pre-WWII) when only the wealthy stayed at hotels, as Chip Conley, head of global hospitality and strategy at Airbnb, pointed out at a recent conference. Ordinary Americans stayed in boarding houses.

Now, ordinary travelers are using Airbnb and other home-sharing services. Airbnb demand is still less than 2 percent of hotel demand in the United States,  but it’s growing fast. How can hotels compete?  

In the late 1960s, the height of hotel interior design (in Wisconsin, at least) was a collision of rough stone walls, purple wall-to-wall carpet, smoked-plastic chairs and circular waterbeds. The home of this mind-boggling décor was named the Gobbler, and it was “the ugliest, and somehow coolest, motel in America,” according to author James Lileks, who compiled a detailed tribute to the Gobbler on his website.

Your hotel probably isn’t that outdated. But is it time for a refresh?  

We spoke with Nicole Gould, Director of Interior Design for Vertically Integrated Projects, to get her advice on how to give a hotel property a fresh look while minimizing disruption to hotel operations. Vertically Integrated Projects is a North Carolina-based company that specializes in furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) design for hotels throughout the southeast and mid-Atlantic.