In the arena: Design Hotels conference begins

Berlin – Independent hoteliers gathered today for the Design Hotels members’ conference, the arena*.

Delegates from around the world – including Carlos Couturier, co-founder of Mexico’s Grupo Habita, Damian Griffiths, managing director of Brisbane’s Limes Hotel and Edit Rozsos, managing director of Budapest’s Lánchíd 19 – heard from hospitality, travel and trends experts.

Design Hotels CEO Claus Sendlinger talked about the importance of investing in an anti-cyclical way. He described how Design Hotels had benefited from customers who traded down from luxury brands during the recession – a topic LS:N Global covered in our Luxury report – and gave details about the ethos of Design Hotels. ‘Our job is to not let everybody in,’ said Sendlinger.

LS:N Global editor-in-chief Martin Raymond and The Future Laboratory creative director Chris Sanderson described the importance of craft in the hospitality industry. ‘Hospitality is now about crafting an experience and a moment,’ said Sanderson.

Raymond agreed, emphasising that each experience should be created especially for the individual consumer. ‘It’s about having empathy with the customer, not sympathy for the brand,’ he said. ‘Design in hotel terms won’t be about a chair or a room in the future, but about designing and crafting a moment. This is what theatre does, and how the world of the art gallery works. These are the cues the hotel sector needs to learn from.’

The topic was explored in more detail at the recent LS:N Global Retail Networking Afternoon and in our report Beyond Product.

LS:N Global will report on more insights and analysis from the conference in the coming weeks.