Hotel Designers Adapt to Blended Travel

25.08.2023 - 13:52 / skift.com / Carley Thornell

When leisure travel bounced back quicker than business travel, hoteliers were quick to adjust their marketing campaigns and, like Miami’s Surfcomber, make speedy updates to enhance the amount of poolside furniture. 

But longer term, many brands are incorporating more permanent design considerations that account for the needs of the blended traveler, who combine business with leisure travel. Far beyond enhancing Wi-Fi capabilities or adding power ports, these functional changes are a wide-ranging response to blended travel coming of age.

The social needs of the digital nomad — and how to satisfy them through design — was always one of the top priorities for Zoku, whose (mostly) long-term loft accommodations are spacious micro apartments with kitchen facilities and workout gear. But as revolutionary as the all-in-one concept is, said co-founder Hans Meyer, one element could easily be missing from such a concept, namely: connection. 

Experiencing life first-hand as a digital nomad, Meyer lived and worked remotely throughout Africa, Central America, the Middle East, and Europe. 

“I was surprised to find that the hardest part of living this lifestyle wasn’t the language barrier, the need to adapt to new cultures, or being unfamiliar with how to navigate a new city best, but rather the feeling of loneliness that occurred when finishing a hard day’s work alone,” he said. 

That’s why focusing on common areas just as much as guestrooms is a priority, said Zoku brand and concept director Veerle Donders. 

“You have to create these ‘watercooler moments’,” she said. “We’re not a hostel, but we need to learn from them. The whole goal is to create effortless connection and get away from designing for aesthetics first.” 

Zoku guests won’t find soaring ceilings that create echoes or stodgy leather furniture. Plus, guests can choose which art hangs on their walls.

Sofas are selected for comfortable sharing, and long communal tables encourage interaction. There’s no front desk, no signs denoting “off limits, staff only,” and each location’s kitchen area has open access to put dishes in a communal washer. 

“The dishwashers play a fun little song, and that was intentional,” Donders said. “Small design choices really add up to create larger moments of connection.”

Some hotels have waved goodbye to traditional workspaces and meeting rooms. Kerten Hospitality, an investment firm active in 13 countries with 12 brands, offers Ouspace serviced offices as an option for every project, said CEO Marloes Knippenberg. 

The collaborative social/business hubs earned Kerten the reputation as a “rebel years ago for ‘murdering’ the meeting room floor completely,” she said.

“The business center has become obsolete,” Knippenberg said.