Over the last 100 years some innovative hotels have helped pave the way for hotel bedrooms to evolve into modern accommodation marvels. Because of their foresight and progressiveness, these ground-breaking properties have forever changed the future of the industry, enabling guests to expect and demand increasingly more.
Boutique look and feel
While leading hotel chains and brands have dominated the hospitality industry for decades, there can be no doubt that smaller, more niche boutique hotels, have emerged as a global phenomenon and will continue to set the tone when it comes to both style and experience for customers.
More and more hotel guests now want a truly special hospitality experience and stylish, decadent interiors come as standard as part of this. It is absolutely essential to have a statement piece in any luxury boutique bedroom design. Designers are using headboards to incorporate colour and texture to a room while adding a sense of height and grandeur. For an elegant look, large-format winged headboards, which run all the way to the floor, are being incorporated to create a focal point and an elaborate space.
Increasingly, more consumers are trying to recreate the luxury boutique feel in their own bedrooms and adding a stylish designer headboard has become the perfect way to achieve this. A headboard can completely transform the look and feel of a bedroom, so designers are choosing decadent colours and fabrics, making the bed the focal point of the room. Pairing a designer headboard and bed base upholstered in matching fabric is perfect for recreating the boutique look in the home.
A sanctuary of calm
Whether sleeping, lounging, working or watching TV, the bedroom has progressively become an extension of the living room in many households as consumers use this space as a sanctuary and escape. This now has to be emulated in hotel bedrooms as guests demand a home-from-home experience. As any hotelier knows, creating the right environment and ambience for sleep are now vital factors in producing the best possible experience for guests who are continually on the go.
When it comes to recreating this oasis of calm, designers today are looking to emulate a happy, restful space where busy hotel guests can relax and unwind. By using a palette of natural hues, designers are enhancing the sense of calm in hotel bedrooms. Cushions and throws are being introduced to add subtle accents of colour.
Getting a restful night’s sleep can often be difficult for guests, with noise, light and other outside influences having an effect. Designers are installing adjustable bedroom lighting to create a calming and restful environment which can help encourage guests to relax and wind down.
Today’s traveller is working more hours than ever before so it is essential that the bed offers the right type of support to ensure a restful night’s sleep. Mattresses containing natural materials are best to achieve this as they help to create a microclimate in and around the body, helping to manage and regulate sleep patterns and consumers are now more than ever, keen to understand the ‘science’ behind their great night’s sleep.
With this in mind, more and more hoteliers are looking to invest in beds that offer more than just comfort. They need to have that science behind the product to back up why they’ve chosen it. The use of pressure mapping to test out the durability and comfort of a mattress is on the rise in the hospitality market along with the need for more information around the make-up of a mattress. Fillings and materials used to make the bed area now of increasing interest, especially as consumers are now more ethically-aware. This means they look for hotels featuring beds that have used sustainable products and ethical production methods in its creation.
Space-saving solutions
Today’s hotel rooms are getting smaller. The size has decreased since the 1990s where the average hotel room size was over 350ft² compared to 330ft² today. Some are even smaller, measuring just 183ft².
Therefore, space in any hotel room is a premium and considering both the creative and functional use is now more important than ever, designers are seeking to give guests everything they need in a compact space.
Lots of furniture in a room, for example, is not only overwhelming, but also an inefficient use of space. Furniture that is multi-functional and custom designed to fit is on the increase. Designers are opting for beds with in-built storage, such as a super-storage bed base, in a bid to free up space in the bedroom and create a relaxing haven.
The importance of tech
In a competitive marketplace, hotels are increasingly recognising the importance of technology – the expectation for tech in the bedroom is on the rise and not something designers have been able to ignore.
50 to 100 years ago, hotels were seen as aspirational – they were what people wanted in their own homes. Whereas now, things have changed so quickly that people already have a great deal of tech in their own homes, so it’s extremely important that designers are ahead of the game.
From HD TVs, to high-speed internet access and MP3 docking stations, hotel rooms now offer it all. Designers have also had to incorporate lighting and climate control systems to allow guests to set these remotely to suit their changing moods.
RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) door lock for keyless entry to a hotel room and other areas of the hotel is becoming more popular in hotels across the world. New technology has also been developed to allow guests to use any brand of mobile phone to gain access to their hotel room, so they don’t have to worry about their keys at all.
What’s more, technology in the bedroom doesn’t have to be confined to electrical devices. Bed manufacturing technology has also developed in line with guest expectations, incorporating features that enhance the sleep experience such as moisture control and allergen and bed-bug protection.
De-cluttering with practical ideas
There is a growing demand from the hospitality sector today for versatile hotel rooms which can adapt to an increasing number of guests. Filling a room with two or three separate beds can look cluttered and uninviting – not the right look when trying to create a relaxing and harmonious environment.
By adding a sofa bed, such as those made by Hypnos, designers are creating a great storage solution as well as a multi-functional bedroom that is practical, stylish and includes comfortable additional seating. Furthermore, it’s giving hoteliers the opportunity to turn a guest suite into a family room when needed, meaning there’s the possibility they can generate additional revenue without having to find additional space or sacrificing the visual appeal of a room.