Hospitality Design - December 2013 - 78

now

six trends from martin raymond

Martin Raymond, editor in chief at the Future Laboratory, a futures
consultancy, shares what they are seeing affecting hospitality today.

New Authenticity

"Increasingly, hotels are allowing themselves to be infected with the
immediate neighborhood, rather than merely reflecting the neighborhood."
He points to the new Ace Hotel London Shoreditch, where the original
streetscape-complete with a flower shop-was replicated. "It's about the
micro local operators, the really local guy, pulling in the texture of the
street. It's a move from a boutique hotel with an ambiance that appeals to
the creative to something that smells of the locality."

Man-venturism

"As women are redefining the business landscape, we see the return of
man holidays. These are men in their thirties, who have very balanced
lives, clear outlooks, but still need time out. It's about testing, improving,
and exploring their masculinity, while vesting more, from food and
accommodation to transport. A lot of hotel brands are misreading it, seeing
this as traditional adventure-but it's a new sector of adventure, activity,
and language."

Sublimity Tourism

There are the 'bleisure'-loving Millennials, and
then there are those who want their life-work
balance back. According to the Future Laboratory's
Future Poll's Consumer Attitudes Audit 2012, 62
percent of consumers now want to be completely
unreachable on holiday, and 47 percent of them
want to spend time away from the internet. At the
same time, one in three people feel overwhelmed
by their communications technology. That equates
to "guests wanting hotel rooms for contemplation
and a true get-away," says Raymond. He points to
the Renaissance Pittsburgh, which offers a gadgetfree stay for guests with its Zen and Art of Detox
package; when checking in, guests hand over their
electronic devices and the rooms are void of a TV
and telephone but stocked with books. Bivouac New
York, a temporary rooftop encampment with seven
lean-to shelters and a family-sized canteen (which
hopes to set up camp in Boston and London as well),
gives guests a similar experience: there's no internet,
electricity, or showers-guests live their normal lives
and spend their "domestic hours" roughing it. And
Grupo Habita's Hotel Endemico offers isolation in 20 standalone eco-lofts
set on stilts in Mexico's wine country.

Phy-gital

"Physical-digital innovations: hotels are embracing social media, digital
concepts, and outreach. Technology is altering the services guests now
expect from hotels. Traditionally, there is concierge, and maybe someone
contacted the guest beforehand, but now social service is live and dynamic
and more about the conversation, which is ongoing-three weeks before
and even after guests leave. Guests expect to get feedback in live time.
Content also has become king again-every hotelier wants to have an
influence on who is staying in the hotel and they turn their website into

078

December 2013 hospitalitydesign.com

1. Four Seasons'
interactive epicurean
website, Taste.

2. To get to Hoi Polloi
restaurant at the
Ace Hotel London
Shoreditch, guests have
to walk through Hattie
Fox's That Flower Shop.

something that is content driven. They are putting an editorial voice in
the brand, reminding people there is heritage and coming to stay at the
hotel is an experience." He points to Morgans Hotel Group, which has
launched a new interactive website, complete with
curated Google Maps social media integration and
2 content from Back of House, the group's online culture
magazine. Other examples: The Marriott Australia
is recruiting teens as virtual concierges; a guest's
smart-device is both the key and concierge at the
Aloft Bangkok; to celebrate its London opening,
CitizenM invited guests to become journalists and
share their city experiences on a microsite; and Four
Seasons created an interactive epicurean website,
Taste.

Return to Glamour

"Hotel designs are changing. Traditionally hipsterindustrial was the default standard if you want to do
a no frills hotel, but now there's a return to a glamour
and comfort. Where 'bleisure' is about blurring the
spaces for the twenty-five to thirty-five year olds,
there is a different demographic in their late thirties
and forties who want to get back to the pleasure
and lust of what hospitality was-and quietly some
hoteliers are relieved about it. The hotel industry is
yet again splitting itself, chasing this kind of über
burlesque feel. It's a reinvestment in the business traveler; a GenX-ers who
are now probably higher up in business. They want a flexible space, but
with things that work-ultra internet-and fantastic conference facilities;
those that make the business person king or queen-especially as more
women are making the business decisions-again."

Old Gourmet

"Consumers in their mid-twenties are bored of the organic, seasonal, and
local F&B offerings, and are rediscovering the joys of standard, slightly old
school beer and reconstituted junk foods. A trend that started in Canada,
it's food that people would eat without admitting to it-those in a big slab,
with loads of mayonnaise and ketchup."

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