Designing for longer stays: furniture to suit today's hotel guests
Today's hotel guest expects more than just a bed - the rise of ‘bleisure’ travel, remote working and extended stays continue to infl uence hotel design and the furniture you choose can make a big diff erence to the guest experience.
Today's hotel guest expects more than just a bed - the rise of ‘bleisure’ travel, remote working and extended stays continue to influence hotel design and the furniture you choose can make a big difference to the guest experience.
While bleisure might not be the most elegant word, it’s become a well-established phenomenon - adding some extra days of leisure time onto a work trip. This means that the same hotel room has to pivot between supporting different activities, with the room designed to allow guests to work, relax, eat and sleep.
Our recent project working with Residence Inn by Marriott in Edinburgh is a great example of the flex that’s increasingly required from hotel rooms. The Residence Inn brand is built around extended stays, featuring apartment-style studios and suites with fully-equipped kitchens, designed to create a home away from home experience for guests. At first glance, these spaces may look more residential than hotel - there’s space to sleep, eat, work and relax, comfortable lounge seating and sofas all pulled together with thoughtful design details. Layered textures, considered colour schemes and above all a focus on comfort encourage longer stays, with sofas, soft seating and lounge chairs key.
Flexible furniture can be a smart choice for hotel bedrooms - from modular sofas and side tables to sofa beds, furniture which can adapt or do double-duty adds value and amenity to guests staying for more than just a single night. Our project at a stylish Leeds city centre hotel is a great example of this - we supplied our Mamba Sofa Bed in two sizes, complete with vibrant orange piping to elevate the charcoal grey upholstery and provide a unifying design detail with other pieces in the stylish new bedrooms.
Sofa beds are increasingly popular for hotel interiors, allowing operators to accommodate additional guests and make the space work flexibly when required - perfect if children are joining later in the stay and an opportunity to curate family-friendly add-ons to enhance the guest experience.
It’s not just hotel bedrooms and suites where the extended stay market makes an impact, but public areas too. We’ve just completed a project at the Sheraton London Heathrow which has transformed the lobby, lounge and bar of the busy airport hotel, creating a vibrant social hub which allows guests to relax, work, eat and drink in stylish surroundings. Bell & Swift’s design for the new-look space brings residential warmth to a commercial setting - it’s still practical from an operational perspective, but the overall atmosphere is relaxed and inviting. The colour palette of soft cream, tan and indigo feels upscale and elegant, while layered fabrics and textures add a touch of quiet luxury.
Recognising that extended-stay guests may want to meet colleagues or clients, or simply prefer an alternative to working in their hotel bedrooms throughout the stay, this is about creating comfortable workspaces that don’t feel corporate - settling into our striking Mys lounge chair or Joanne armchair for example. Our collection includes a wide range of lounge chairs to suit any space, available upholstered in fabric or faux leather, or your own choice to suit your interior.
Commissioning a bespoke piece gives hotel operators an opportunity to specify something unique for their business - such as the large co-working table which we created for the Sheraton Heathrow. Sitting at the heart of the lobby area and surrounded by our mid-century style Egadi side chairs, there’s plenty of space for guests to tackle their emails or prep for meetings.
You’ll find many pieces in our collection which can work perfectly for hotel interiors to suit extended-stay guests. To keep up to date with our latest collection and new additions to our contract furniture range, join our mailing list and look out for our regular email newsletters, or follow us on Instagram.
