Hotel design tips

The retailer Tommy Bahama is best known for its Hawaiian shirts and board shorts. But the yacht-owning multi-millionaires who like the brand’s easy breezy clothes have wanted a similarly ultra-chill hotel to slip into.

Holiday Inn has introduced a new open lobby concept at the 275 room Holiday Inn Dubai Business Bay, located in the United Arab Emirates. 

Anantara has announced Anantara Kafue River Tented Camp, a new resort indevelopment on the banks of the Kafue River in Africa.

1 Hotels has launched its first European property, with 1 Hotels Mayfair now open in London, standing as the brands flagship location in the United Kingdom.

Bill Bensley strives to press all the right buttons when designing hotels and resorts. The New York-based architect, landscape architect, and interior designer is well known for being a “maximalist” — or “more is more” — aesthetic. The “Bensley look” for hotels sits in the sweet spot of what many guests say they crave today.

Few stories are more romantic than Romeo and Juliet, and few places embody the tragic love story more than the courtyard with Juliet’s balcony.

Motels won’t go the way of the dodo bird if Lark Hotels founder Rob Blood has anything to say about it. 

Some hoteliers take a stand-back approach, outsourcing most of the concept creation and design. Then there’s Palisociety’s founder and CEO Avi Brosh — who’s involved in every last detail.

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. 

The Ozarks may have a branding problem. Built up in the ’80s and ’90s with big hotel chains and arguably kitschy attractions, Branson has garnered a reputation among some as “the Las Vegas of the Midwest” — just more family-friendly. But the team behind The Ozarker Lodge in Branson, Missouri, which opened June 30, has some fresh ideas.

More and more designers believe lighting is critical in making hotel lobbies more inviting because of a next-gen traveler demand for more social interaction and blended travel. The Westin Puntacana Resort & Club renovation is an example worth spotlighting.