Marriott International’s new headquarters building in Bethesda, Md., sits adjacent to the 205,000-sf, $65.9 million Marriott International Headquarters Hotel, which opened last January. The hotel, with 244 rooms, welcomes its guests with a two-story lobby whose candle-shaped lights suspend from a ceiling that rises 34 feet. The lobby includes a grand staircase that doubles as seating.
Lobbies often form guests’ first impressions of hotels, and in recent years lobbies have evolved beyond places to check in and mark time to being showcases for the hotel’s brand of hospitality. “More and more, lobbies are designed to be social gathering places, useful for both personal work and leisure,” says Brandon Johnston, LEED AP, DBIA, Operations Manager for Hensel Phelps, the Marriott hotel’s core and shell GC. (Gensler was the AOR on this project.)
PCL Construction has seen “strong demand for lobby redesign, renovation, and makeovers,” says its Vice President of National Business Bob Hopfenberg. “Restaurants and bars are moving into public lobby space versus being tucked away in a remote location of the property.” Daniel Adache, Chairman of Adache Group Architects, observes that as more guests are “working nomads,” branded and independent hotels are expanding the lobby experience to include food and beverage, entertainment, and support technology. One of Adache’s recent design projects, the 14-story, 138-room Aloft Hotel Fort Lauderdale, includes a 5,000-sf second-floor lobby with a bar, outdoor terrace, and a breakfast establishment, called Re:fuel Aloft.
Scott Lyons, Commercial Core Market Leader for DPR Construction, adds that lobbies are set up to keep guests on premises longer and to help them differentiate their experience on the property by incorporating local art and materials, local smells and sounds, and live music.
Technology drives user experience in hotel designs
The prominence of lobbies accentuates a larger trend that’s finding hotels emphasizing personalized services and technology, and local authenticity. This trend is touching all parts of hotels: One of Layton Construction’s recent projects was a major renovation of the Ritz-Carlton in Kapalua, Hawaii, that upgraded the resort’s lobby and bar, converted a restaurant to a club lounge, and improved the property’s landscaping and pool, according to Will Summerhays, Layton’s Vice President.
Here’s a closer look at hotel trends, based on interviews with eight AEC firms contacted for this article:
1. The personal touch: Making guests feel special is the name of the game. Summerhays notes that brands such as AC Marriott have the guest’s name on the TV to welcome them when they enter the room. Marriott’s Element brand features filtered water in each guestroom, and areas for yoga training. Lyons of DPR Construction cites such in-room activities as exercise bikes and guided workouts on demand. And more hotels these days are pet friendly.
Hotels are striving to present their patrons with “Instagrammable” moments that might get posted (and thereby promote the hotel to a wider audience), say Hopfenberg of PCL and Emily Marshall, IIDA, NCIDQ, Principal and Interior Design Director with HBG Design. Marshall points specifically to the new Caption by Hyatt Beale Street Memphis, whose accommodations carry through the hotel’s energy with a “bold and irreverent design” that features a work-and-play seating area.
![Hotel design trends for 2022 Aloft Fort Lauderdale features a second floor lobby](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Hotel%20design%20trends%20for%202022%20%2AAloft_11%20-%20Photo_12%20-%20Photo_large.jpeg)
Scenic rooftop bars, innovative gyms, high-end restaurants, and wellness amenities are among the personal touches that more hotels are offering, says Scott Skidelsky, President of Balfour Beatty’s Southeast division.
2. In-room grandeur. “Guests are looking for enhancements everywhere,” observes Jeff Damron, AECOM’s Associate Vice President and Principal. That’s especially true of the rooms they stay in, in terms of décor, fixtures, finishes, and linens.
Experts agree that hotels in general have been upgrading their guestrooms’ bathrooms with better lighting, fixtures, and finishes. Some are installing heated floors, although that amenity is mostly confined to higher-end hotels. Hopfenberg notes that some hotels allow guests to control their rooms’ lighting, blinds, and HVAC via a smartphone app.
Johnston of Hensel Phelps says that boutique hotels in particular are using higher-end materials in their bathrooms, furniture, fixtures, and equipment. Johnston is also seeing less closet space, and more emphasis on outlets to plug in personal technology devices.
ALSO SEE: BD+C's 2022 Hotel Giants Rankings
• Top 115 Hotel Sector Architecture and AE Firms
• Top 70 Hotel and Resort Engineering and EA Firms
• Top 80 Hotel and Resort Contractors and CM Firms
3. Tech, and touchless interaction. AECOM’s Damron says his firm now gets requests from hotel clients to integrate smart technology as a way of enhancing the guest experience and improving the hotel’s operations. These requests, he says, include door lock sensors, temperature monitors, and occupancy sensors that are part of hotels’ energy management systems.
HBG Design’s Marshall notes that remote check-in has evolved to where guests can register online or through a kiosk in the hotel lobby or bar, and can select their room, floor, view, accessibility to amenities, and upgrades. “It is similar to electing your seat on an airplane,” she notes. Marshall elaborates that Caption by Hyatt also gives its guests access to their room keys in Apple Wallet.
Marshall also points to another recent project in Memphis, Hyatt Centric One Beale, with motion-detecting floor lighting designed into the beds.
Kurt W. Seeman, LEED AP, Operations Manager for Hensel Phelps in Colorado, has seen a shift in focus among hotels that are trying to future-proof their infrastructure by using a Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) that gives operators the foundation needed for any “front of house” systems (such as reservations) that might become available down the road.
![Hotel design trends for 2022 *HBG Design - Caption Talk Shop.jpeg](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Hotel%20design%20trends%20for%202022%20%20%2AHBG%20Design%20-%20Caption%20Talk%20Shop.jpeg)
4. F+B pervades the property. It’s no secret that hotel operators see food and beverage (F+B) services as a money stream. Consequently, F+B, in various forms, is available in more areas of hotels. “Restaurants and bars have become the star amenity for many hotel properties,” says PCL’s Hopfenberg. “Hotels are turning spaces into boutique speakeasies, food halls, and bars, with rooftop bars more popular than ever.”
Balfour Beatty’s Skidelsky is seeing more hotels with high-end restaurants branded with named chefs. More broadly, DPR’s Lyons is seeing more niche cafés, coffee bars, artisanal Grab & Go markets, high-end dining, local-fare-inspired dining, and late-night venues within hotels.
At Caption by Hyatt, F+B is part of the design and brand message, says HBG Design’s Marshall. A multifunctional lounge space called Talk Shop encompasses the hotel’s entire first floor, and showcases all-day fare and regional favorites with locally sourced ingredients. Talk Shop includes an expansive patio and beer garden, with open fire pits.
Marshall adds that her firm is working with an international client to convert an underused breakfast space for flexible, all-day use.
Hotel designs reflect community history
5. Reflecting the community’s history. Authenticity has been a buzzword for hotels for quite a while, as operators position their properties as extensions of their communities. AECOM’s Damron makes the intriguing observation that this trend has its origins in timeshare ownership in hotels, “that is changing the landscape of how hotels will be managed in the future.”
Adache says that hotel design can offer insights into the culture and history of the surrounding market, and capture the ambience of the community. One such example is the HBG-designed Caption by Hyatt, whose building is integrated into the historic main building of Wm. C. Ellis & Sons Ironworks and Machine Shop, one of Memphis’s oldest and longest-running businesses.
![Hotel design trends for 2022 Savannah Hotel features luxury lighting and sleek finishes](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Hotel%20design%20trends%20for%202022%20%20%2AThompson_Savannah_Hotel_N32.jpeg)
Balfour Beatty recently completed Wave Hotel, a 17-story, 239-room building whose exterior, which resembles a moving wave, reinforces the infrastructure of the Lake Nona, Fla., development. Another recently completed Balfour Beatty project, the 193-key Thompson Savannah Hotel in Georgia, located adjacent to Historic Downtown Savannah along the banks of the Savannah River, is part of the 54-acre Eastern Wharf mixed-use development. The hotel includes 8,000 sf of meeting space and another 8,000 sf of outdoor space, a chef-driven restaurant, and rooftop terrace with stunning views of the river and downtown.
6. Sustainable choices. Layton Construction’s Summerhays says that, with capital construction and operating costs at all-time highs, hotel operators are seeking sustainable and cost-saving solutions. He and other AEC sources say that lighting and HVAC systems have been getting the most attention lately, along with building controls and electrochromic glass.
Wellness is now part of hoteliers’ sustainable equations. Adache says hotels are more likely to lean toward healthier finishes with low or no VOCs. And Caption by Hyatt now prohibits single-use plastics, has hydration stations on each floor, and uses materials with recycled content as well as materials that improve with age and application, says Marshall.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Portland Cement Association offers blast resistant design guide for reinforced concrete structures
Developed for designers and engineers, "Blast Resistant Design Guide for Reinforced Concrete Structures" provides a practical treatment of the design of cast-in-place reinforced concrete structures to resist the effects of blast loads. It explains the principles of blast-resistant design, and how to determine the kind and degree of resistance a structure needs as well as how to specify the required materials and details.
| Aug 11, 2010
AIA selects three projects for National Healthcare Design Awards
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Academy of Architecture for Health (AAH) have selected the recipients of the AIA National Healthcare Design Awards program. The AIA Healthcare Awards program showcases the best of healthcare building design and healthcare design-oriented research. Projects exhibit conceptual strengths that solve aesthetic, civic, urban, and social concerns as well as the requisite functional and sustainability concerns of a hospital.
| Aug 11, 2010
New website highlights government tax incentives for large commercial buildings
Energy Retrofit Group (ERG), the subsidiary of 40-year-old, award-winning Adache Group Architects, Inc., has announced the creation of their new energy conservation web site: www.energy-rg.com.
| Aug 11, 2010
Gensler, HOK, HDR among the nation's leading reconstruction design firms, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 100 Reconstruction Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Callison strengthens retail design presence with RYA acquisition
Callison LLC on June 1 acquired RYA Design Consultancy, a Dallas-based retail architecture and design firm with offices in New York City. The new “Callison RYA Studio” will merge staff and clients into Callison ’s existing retail practice at their Dallas and New York offices.
| Aug 11, 2010
RSMeans/RCD forecast 14% drop in hospital construction for 2009
RSMeans forecasts a 14% drop in hospital construction in 2009 compared to 2008, with $17.1 billion in registered hospital projects as of June 30, 2009. The Reed Construction Data unit finds renovation of healthcare facilities increasing, from 36% of projects in 2008, to 40% of projects in the pipeline in the first six months of 2009.
| Aug 11, 2010
The Joule Hotel
Dallas, Texas
The Joule Hotel in Dallas, designed by local firm Coburn & Smith, was constructed in 1927 as the Dallas National Bank Building. Originally one of the finest examples of gothic revival architecture in Texas, it had had most of its gothic elements removed over the years after being converted into an office building and later abandoned. What was left had fallen into disrepair.
| Aug 11, 2010
AECOM, WATG top BD+C's ranking of the nation's 75 largest hotel design firms
A ranking of the Top 75 Hotel Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
ASHRAE introduces building energy label prototype
Most of us know the fuel efficiency of our cars, but what about our buildings? ASHRAE is working to change that, moving one step closer today to introducing its building energy labeling program with release of a prototype label at its 2009 Annual Conference in Louisville, Ky.