screen-shot-2016-09-08-at-11.38.19-am

The hotel trends influencing apartment design

Lifestyle
7 years ago
3 minutes
More and more residential apartment buildings are taking their design cues from the hotel industry, with increased amenities like concierge services, gyms and meeting rooms that enhance the lives of residents. 
 
With a bad review awaiting any hotel that fails to deliver, residential architects and interior designers are being influenced by smart solutions and added value that hotels are putting in place.
 
Let’s take a top-line look at some of the hotel trends coming to an apartment development near you…
 
 

Flexible Spaces

 
Packing more rooms into a hotel means they inevitably get smaller. This, combined with the fact that we generally don’t stay in a hotel room for very long, means large fixed closets and defined rooms can be limiting. The use of flexible spaces and storage areas answers this need. With space sometimes at a premium in smaller apartments, this is being considered, allowing apartment dwellers to change and alter their space to suit their needs without calling in the builder.
 
article-image

Built-in Technology 

 
Technology is all about control, and top hotels are adding more of it into their rooms so guests can stay connected in every way possible. In a world where the first thing you do when you enter your hotel room is no longer check what’s in the mini bar, but connect to the free WiFi, these technology layers are expected. Apartment designers are adding these layers, with usb ports to your power outlets, building amenity booking apps and, in some cases, even free WiFi in the lobby and shared spaces—paid for out of the Owners Corporation fees, of course.
 

Retail Collaborations

 
If your hotel features a cafe or restaurant that’s listed in Broadsheet, you’d be pretty happy. Same goes for apartment projects. Particularly in urban spaces, the securing of a known cool cafe or bakery is a growing trend. It helps to create a real community, with genuine gathering places that have true purpose. If the coffee shop is a cool brand known for its blends, it doesn’t hurt.
 
article-image

An Address with Character

 
Showcase locations in the busy part of town are becoming more and more expensive. Boutique hotels are actually taking this as a positive and choosing to locate themselves in the cooler, up-and-coming suburbs. Urban renewal is again at play here, and as anyone who regularly searches apartmentdevelopments.com.au will know, the apartment market has embraced the same approach with some iconic results.
 
article-image

Wellness is the New Luxury 

 
In our fast-paced and stressful world (though, we perhaps secretly love it that way) being healthy is seen as a benchmark for success. Hotels are making their guests’ wellbeing a key factor in their designs with the usual gyms being joined by spas and wellness centres for the perpetually frazzled. Designers of larger apartment developments are catching on, with more spacious and calming bathrooms (see above) and gyms that are equipped more for general fitness and wellbeing rather than pumping iron.