Hotel design : breaking out of the codes

Driven by the desire to offer guests a unique experience, hoteliers are giving themselves a personality in order to better stand out from the others. A trend observed by Gérard Laizé, director at VIA (Valorisation de l’Innovation dans l’Ameublement), which he explains it as the result of social evolutions in recent years: “today a hotel’s notoriety doesn’t mean the same thing it did 20 or 30 years ago. Previously, it corresponded to a social hierarchy that was reproduced within the properties, the working classes stayed at Ibis while the well-todo stayed at Sofitel. It was a very socio-style epoch when a certain standing was attributed to each socio-professional category. Things are different today and the client wants control over his choices, leading him to look for a real experience that he cannot have at home.” This observation gives free reign to interior designers and architects. This trend leads hotels to want to stand out as much as possible, as may be observed in the Mama Shelter hotels in Paris and Marseille. Interior design architect Marc Hertrich shares this point of view when he explains that one of today’s trends is to “personalize spaces, contrary to hotels of the past that tended to standardize. Today, chains personalize hotels with respect to one another even if they have the same name.” According to Manfred Terliesner, director of Tenbrink, a renovation firm specializing in hotels, today’s customers already have a first travel experience that allows them to compare, to which may be added the desire for the comfort of home and a little surprise during their travels. Decorated by Agence Nuel, the Renaissance hôtel Paris Le Parc Trocadéro is riding this wave and offers a décor that is entirely based on a garden theme, like the one surrounding its Parisian buildings. Chains have...