BD+C: What are the prospects for the U.S. hotel industry and hotel construction?
Igor Krnajski: In the last couple of years we’ve had a pretty good downturn, of course, but the next five years are looking much better. The industry as a whole is forecasting gains in the 5-7% range. At Denihan, because we’re New York-centric, we were up 11% last year, and we’re forecasting 10% gains for this year. There have been a lot of conversations about how properties have been neglected, and that capital dollars need to be expended.
BD+C: How do you think that will break down between new hotel construction and reconstruction of existing properties?
IK: The initial surge will be in reconstruction, in the upkeep of your own portfolio. Then it will go into the expansion of portfolios, companies taking over existing properties and repositioning them. As for new construction, the financial markets are not fully ready to support new build. They’re looking to minimize risk by investing in properties that have operating cash flow. It’s all about managing risk, and if we as an industry show a couple of years of solid growth, investment in new construction will come back.
Any new hotel construction will be in areas that need an influx of new rooms, underserved areas like Dallas and Houston and Boston, and even Washington, although it is much more difficult to build new there.
BD+C: Any specific geographical growth areas for Denihan?
IK: We’re looking to expand primarily within the U.S., such as in Dallas. We’re very East Coast-centric right now, and we need a balance on the West Coast—places like Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco.
BD+C: Howard Wolff, an SVP at hotel designer WATG, has blogged that “bling has blung,” that high-end guests are concerned about ostentation and the appearance of conspicuous consumption in their choice of hotels. Is this a trend?
IK: Our customers are looking for more of a residential environment, rather than just a hotel room. The desire to entertain within their hotel space is much greater, so they want office/living/entertainment within the same space.
It used to be you catered to business class—the fax machine, the big desk—but now it’s a laptop and wi-fi, and a banquette with a table, so the guest can work there and also have dinner right there. And we have to provide solid technology: Internet, lighting and temperature controls, window treatments, AV, and other guest amenity services.
It’s a matter of changing tastes, but “bling” will be back some day. There’s always room in the market for luxury.
BD+C: What about green design and operations?
IK: “Environmentally thoughtful” is the term we’re using. There’s definitely a balance between comfort and environmental awareness that our guests are looking for. They’re much more sophisticated these days. Guests want to feel that they’re doing the “green” things that they may be doing at home, like recycling and saving energy, but in a hotel environment, they want the luxury of being a little bit naughty—taking a long shower, for example.
We’re constantly doing light bulb audits, installing dual-flush toilets and showerheads with internal flow constrictors, and in-house recycling. We’re looking at LEED aspects for our projects, but getting LEED accreditation for buildings in New York City is not easy. There’s a fine line between conservation and the guest experience but I do think the industry is listening.
BD+C: Are you commissioning your properties?
IK: We do commissioning. We think it’s better to be preemptive than to wait for equipment and systems to become a problem. As for metrics, in a hotel environment, it’s a very difficult calculation, because it’s affected by the use of the rooms, and it’s very seasonal, but we know we have saved year over year as a result of commissioning.
BD+C: As SVP of Design and Construction for a luxury hotelier, what advice do you have for AEC firms that want to do business with firms like yours?
IK: Our biggest ongoing issue with AEC firms is that they’re not always thinking in terms of the hotel operator’s mindset. There are many operational aspects that are exclusive to hotel design. We’re hiring them to give us good ideas, but if they understood our operations better, that would make the working relationship much smoother.
I’ve seen situations where the designers grossly underestimated the size of the staff, with the result that they followed code requirements but designed in only one shower for the male staff’s locker room. We as owners and operators have an obligation to educate our design teams, but designers should know better than to make mistakes like that.
BD+C: What, in your professional role, keeps you up at night?
IK: Our guests are more social media-minded, and that is putting pressure on us to keep up with them. The feedback is plentiful and immediate, and expectations are higher than ever. Yet you can’t be constantly changing things. How do we evaluate their input quickly, because by the time you get there, there’s a new trend? How do you respond? How do we filter this fantastic information from our customers and implement it? You’ll miss the boat if you don’t.
Related Stories
| Sep 23, 2014
Cloud-shaped skyscraper complex wins Shenzhen Bay Super City design competition
Forget the cubist, clinical, glass and concrete jungle of today's financial districts. Shenzhen's new plan features a complex of cloud-shaped skyscrapers connected to one another with sloping bridges.
| Sep 23, 2014
Designing with Water: Report analyzes ways coastal cities can cope with flooding
The report contains 12 case studies of cities around the world that have applied advanced flood management techniques.
| Sep 22, 2014
4 keys to effective post-occupancy evaluations
Perkins+Will's Janice Barnes covers the four steps that designers should take to create POEs that provide design direction and measure design effectiveness.
| Sep 22, 2014
NCARB overhauls Intern Development Program, cuts years off licensure process
The newly adopted changes will be implemented in two phases. The first will streamline the program by focusing on the IDP’s core requirements and removing its elective requirements. The second phase will condense the 17 current experience areas into six practice-based categories.
| Sep 22, 2014
Biloxi’s new Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum is like a ship in a bottle
Nine years after the Museum of Maritime and Seafood Industry in Biloxi, Miss., was damaged by Hurricane Katrina’s 30-foot tidal surge, the museum reopened its doors in a brand new, H3-designed building.
| Sep 22, 2014
Swanke-designed Eurasia Tower opens in Moscow
The 72-story tower—the first mixed-use, steel tower in Russia—is located within the new, 30 million-sf, 148-acre Moscow International Business Center.
| Sep 22, 2014
USGBC names 2014 Best of Buildings Award winners
The Best of Building Awards celebrate the year’s best products, projects, organizations and individuals making an impact in green building.
| Sep 20, 2014
Healthcare conversion projects: 5 hard-earned lessons from our experts
Repurposing existing retail and office space is becoming an increasingly popular strategy for hospital systems to expand their reach from the mother ship. Our experts show how to avoid the common mistakes that can sabotage outpatient adaptive-reuse projects.
| Sep 19, 2014
Smithsonian Institution opens LEED Platinum lab facility
The Charles McC. Mathias Laboratory will emit 37% less CO2 than a comparable lab that does not meet LEED-certification standards.
| Sep 19, 2014
8 hot healthcare projects win interior design awards
Winners of IIDA's 2014 Healthcare Interior Design Competition include Perkins+Will, AECOM, Buffalo Design, and SmithGroupJJR, for projects from Cincinnati to Toronto.