Top 5 Key Considerations in Hotel Design

Paul Buchanan

There are many factors that need to be considered when designing a hotel, as the environment you create will need to feel welcoming as well as suited to the type of traveller you’re hoping to attract. Hotel design is about more than just function, and in a highly competitive market. Attractive interior design and a place where guests truly feel at home could make or break a hotel business.Hotel design not only refers to the interior of the hotel however, as everything from the foundations to the external architecture and plumbing needs to be carefully configured, particularly for large buildings or those being renovated to bring them up to date. Simply benefiting from an enviable location in a city centre or close to tourist attractions won’t guarantee that people stay at your hotel, and even seemingly minor touches such as lighting, wallpaper and carpeting could make a major difference to the first impressions of your guests.One of the first steps when designing your hotel is determining what type of clientele you’re hoping to attract – whether it’s high fliers, families or couples on romantic breaks, for example. Even hoteliers of budget accommodation need to do everything they can to attract visitors over the competition, and the good news is that hotel design doesn’t just have to be the domain of high-paid professionals – simply by inspecting the competition and identifying what your guests are likely to need, you can make sure you cater to all their desires before they even know they have them.Tourists tend to have very different needs to business travellers, and the location of your hotel could influence your decision in this regard – with hotels close to airports or conference centres being more likely to be frequented by businesspeople accustomed to staying in luxury hotels. If the area you’re hoping to build a hotel in is already taken up by derelict buildings, you could also find it more cost-effective to renovate these, or purchase currently operating hotels in the area that could be more easily transformed into your ideal vision.The number of rooms in your hotel will be partly determined by its size, but also by your planning skills. Bear in mind that larger hotels may not prove practical if they are unlikely to fill up, especially as you may have to pay more members of staff to maintain the empty rooms. If you decide to operate an on-site restaurant, you may also need to pay cooking, waiting and cleaning staff.

Paul Buchanan writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.