Top 10 Luxury Hotel Design Trends in Asia
Issue 34 - Sept 2007

Space, experience and authenticity are trumping the customary marble and chandeliers in luxury hotel design and construction in Asia.

Asian hospitality companies know a thing or two about luxury hotel design. Renowned hotel groups such as the Shangri-La Group or Banyan Tree have global reputations for high-end design quality and innovative luxury. The Asian hotel design aesthetic is often referenced in international hospitality efforts but today Asian and Asia-based design groups are proving that a simple design creates an authentic space.

1. Space: bigger While the capsule hotel is making a comeback at the lower end of the market, at the top end the word du jour is size. Standard room sizes are growing, as is the space devoted to bathrooms, dressing rooms and in room office areas.

Darryl Agon, Director, Agon Hotels & Resorts, notes that hotel rating systems specify minimum room sizes. While requirements vary depending on the country and the rating system used, they can be as high as 36 sqm for China’s ‘platinum’ rating. Consequently, hoteliers are looking to add space in more creative ways. He points out that some hotels are considering in-room devoted spa or massage areas.

2. Spa: the modern luxury space eater According to designers from Malaysian hotel design consultancy Denniston, real luxury is having space and time for oneself, and that is the driver behind the all pervading trend of the hotel spa. Whilst acknowledging that “everything has a cycle”, Agon says that right now “spas are taking space from everything else”. This trend is so big we’ve devoted an entire article in this issue, see ‘The Spa Revolution’ p33.

3. Uniqueness: the hotel’s identity According to Stephane Lombard, Denniston, resort hotel design is about destination-making. Each hotel they design has its own unique character that sets it out from the rest. Signature restaurants and clubs are also on the rise, with many hotels branding their restaurants to a far greater degree than ever before.

The restaurant is a new destination as Agon puts it “you are not sitting in the Hyatt coffee shop called Red Moon, you are sitting in Red Moon,” that happens to be in the Hyatt. As can be seen in the Intercontinental feature on page 42, signature restaurants might also be designed by different design companies lending a different edge and flavour to each establishment.

Micheal Bedner, CEO and Chairman, Hirch Bedner Associates, believes in the future hotels will fall largely into two groups, with each requiring its own level of tailoring. The first group will be a hotel as part of a mega project, built specifically for the needs of that project, like a mega city or a gaming centre like Macau. At the other end, hotels are likely to become more boutique, niche and customised around the target market.

One uniquely niche offering is The Farm, a luxury health spa in the mountains two hours from Manila. An exemplar of all the ten trends discussed in this article The Farm features rolling green lawns, meditation areas and an equal emphasis on medical and traditional detoxifying treatments. Rodel Balmaceda, Chief Engineer, The Farm, worked on site during the construction phase and now in a management capacity. He says owners expect their developments to deliver something beyond “just a five star resort” experience for guests. This made just as much of an impact on the engineering systems as the design as he points out, in a multi-storey building the energy and systems required for the third floor are much the same as for the 33rd floor while at villa-type developments such as The Farm, requirements are more complex.



4. Residences: lifestyle meets investment The growth of hotel branded ‘residences’ managed as part of the hotel is a rapidly growing market in Asia, particularly in popular resort locations. From Boracay to Koh Samui, through international brands or independent developers, residences, often marketed in the ‘condotel’ format are springing up region-wide. Often slightly removed from the main drag, these residences typically offer investors the opportunity to earn income, achieve some capital appreciation and they have the benefit of staying in the residence for a certain number of weeks per year. However, Helmult Knipp, Vice President, Development, Langham Hotels says “if it won’t work as a hotel it will not work as a condotel”, illustrating the need for a business case for a hotel development on the site being a prerequisite.

5. Authentic: crossing the finish line Developers and hotel owners often have an anachronistic view of what constitutes luxury and many feel that marble, crystal and shiny gold plating are shortcuts to high class. However, with the use of marble and brass fittings now seen even in airport washrooms, certain “luxury” finishes have begun to portray a down market feeling. “We never use gold plated taps, never use marble,” says Lombard. The idea is to create something modern and timeless, rather than using “excessively expensive materials” or ignoring local treasures. Bedner also feels that “trendiness, to be trendy” and the inability to maintain a timeless quality to the design will cause the hotel to suffer.

At the Farm in the tropical Philippines, Balmaceda says all rooms were fitted with air conditioning units, however, guests wanted a more authentic “tropical” experience and asked why fans were not installed. Now, the resort is undergoing a program of installation of ceiling fans.

6. Local: when you wake up you know where you are Denniston’s clients want “design-led” projects, says Lombard, “that’s why they choose us. And for them that means bringing the local culture, design practices and materials into the project. They design projects that are “the one and only” despite the fact that in certain markets this translates to “difficult and challenging”.

For example, in a recent project in Burma, the elephants used to transport goods to the site took ill, seriously delaying the schedule. Cultivating a close relationship with local suppliers of design fixtures and fittings can overcome many of these problems, explains Lombard, as well as bringing unique local crafts into the hotel design.

7. Magically unobtrusive: behind the scenes For Balmaceda luxury design is not just what is visible to the guests but what happens behind the scenes and making sure it stays there. According to the owner, nothing, “not even a screw” is to be visible to guests. He uses the example of the electric control boxes that control lighting and other systems throughout the grounds of the park, these were to be hidden, the owner wanted the vast rolling lawns and magical hideaways to be un spoilt by evidence of the infrastructure required to keep it in place. “Only we [the engineering team] know where the control boxes are located”, explains Balmaceda.

For Lombard, the back of house is an important dimension: “if back of house is bad then the service suffers”. Back of house design is especially important for remote luxury hotels, where designers must also disguise water treatment facilities, generators (and associated noise) and waste management.

8. Experiential: entrance to exit Bedner says that design is about helping guests participate in the experience. Lighting and mirrors are particularly important, and people “love natural light in bathrooms”. “People are always excited by a serendipitous experience”, he says, whether they are travelling for business or leisure. He describes how the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou made quite a splash when it entered the market, largely because people were delighted with its grotto and fountain.

At The Farm, experience is everything and the owner, who led the design process, ordered that any elements, completed or not, that did not comply with the experience he planned to offer guests be taken down and rebuilt. In some cases this involved the engineering team to work directly with the suppliers of products such as the colonic irrigation machines to make sure they were positioned at exactly the right spot on the wall.

9. Technology: no gizmos, we’re working How has technology changed hotel design? In every way, though it may not appear so to guests. Increased technology means more power and more points of failure. Debate raged for weeks on poplar hospitality web network WIWIH about the pro’s and con’s of offering free wireless internet access in hotel rooms. Other design features such as piped music, scent and lighting are now also controlled by the hotel’s IT department as they are often controlled by a centralised building automation system. Designers are also building in redundancy for objects that have not yet become mainstream. Other companies have gone ahead of the curve to provide space for technological trends such as iPod docks.

Danny Yeung , Director, Operations, Gotop Global, a furniture manufacturer says ‘cost-per-key’ for IT equipment can reach around €3,000 of a total furniture, fittings and equipement (FF&E) budget of around €31,000 for a regular hotel room. “I assume that for upscale and luxury hotels an uplift to approximately €45/€50k per key should be considered,” he adds. “We are a furniture manufacturer in China and one of the differences we see in terms of FF&E is that the budgets are much higher in the USA than in anywhere in Asia.”

10. Green: more than just hanging your towels up Environmental issues are here to stay. Customers are noticing and asking questions. A recent survey run by RFP Magazine found that most people questioned (from both industry insiders and outsiders) feel there is little real commitment to environmental awareness within the hotel industry (for the comprehensive survey results see RFP Issue 35). Many times it depends on the client, says Lombard noting that in Europe insulating double skin building facades are standard while the new design the firm is working on in New York won’t include this feature, which will result in higher heating and cooling costs. “In the US they are not as ready to change things”, he explains. At The Farm, Balmaceda says going green is saving money. After learning that compact florescent tube light bulbs consume significantly less power, they are now switching ten bulbs a week from their previous incandescent format.

Re-invention, the constant design trend:
Throwing a chandelier in the lobby and a couple of colonnades out the front is no longer going to impress the luxury traveller. Designers of these high end offerings know that both business and leisure travellers are looking for something more. As Lombard acknowledges, “hospitality is reinventing itself all the time”, so a three star budget or a new trend should never limit the designers ability to deliver a true luxury environment for the client and future guests. RFP