Script: The Effects and Effectiveness of Narrative Hotel Design

By: Mark A. Storwick

Foreshadow:

            The notions of storytelling and narrative design are all but gospel in today’s hotel industry, yet minimal research or academic documentation has focused on how the stage is set, through specifically designed multi-sensory experiences. This script aims to bridge the gap in academia between architectural design, hotel development, and consumer psychology. By focusing on connecting and developing the leading roles in theory and research, this script tells the erudite story of how the implementation of an extensively designed, explicitly original narrative will ensure the favorable public reception and celebrated longevity of an experiential hotel design. The script's exposition provides the necessary historical context and plot development preparing the reader, and/or audience, for an introduction into the first of three scenes. Scenes one through three bring the novel stories of three acclaimed hotels to life. At the script's climax, an analysis explains why originality supersedes authenticity, critiquing the presented hotel's use and execution of storytelling. In turn, it provides additional analysis for consideration of which, why and how an original narrative has become intrinsic to the success and longevity of contemporary design hotels. A short aside predicts the collective engagement and interaction of hotel guests as a vital consideration in the future of hotel design. And a resolution concludes narrative inclusivity as superior in respect to designed exclusivity.

Exposition:

             The guest experience has been a facet of vital importance in hospitality design since historic hotels began providing a stage for public and private interactions. Ballrooms glistened with the golden flakes of flamboyant times in the early 19th century as the foundations of luxury formed with the Industrial Revolution inaugurating a shift to the aesthetic sensory experience[1]. As luxury hotels developed their distinctive brands, they dominated as corporations, delivering the demanded standard of luxury expected by the affluent traveling consumer up until the 1980’s. The stagnancy of style began boring the new generation of global citizens who valued individuality and authenticity over the mass reproduction of chain hotels.[2] Forerunner in the field, Ian Schrager, and countless copycat creative’s (who emulated Schrager’s groundbreaking concept of the ‘boutique’ hotel), quickly filled the draught of originality in hotel design.[3] Relying on an international collaboration with acclaimed Parisian designer Andree Putman, Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell (the dynamic duo responsible for the infamously iconic Studio 54) knocked the American industry off its feet in 1985 with the opening of Morgan’s in New York. Since the immediate success of Morgan’s, the ‘boutique’ hotel scene has spread globally and loosely; often stretching the definition past its original ideology because of consumer's trend-based demands. At their root, boutique hotels are small, design-focused, privately operated, and often situated in an up-and-coming urban setting.[4] For this study, I will be using ‘boutique' in its broadest definition to refer to the movement in general, further specifying distinctions between specific subgenres and trends.

            The field of boutique hotel design is built on the ideology of uniqueness, originality, and identity. Ian Schrager stated in an interview, “I’m in the product distinction business...if you do a really great product, something unique and original and unlike everything else, it will resonate with all walks of life.”[5] Ironically, it is the very basis of difference that unifies the genre as a whole. Despite the self-identified distinctions in subgenres, every designer relies on the implementation of a conceptual narrative to convey the hotels ‘brand personality’[6], some subtly, others with kitsch. The hotel industry’s dependence on narrative design is responsible for a genre that consistently pushes the boundaries of the unexpected spectacle in experiential design.

             The spectacle is no new phenomenon.  Theorists have been discussing the matter since 1967 when Guy Debord criticized the prevalence of “mass media” in his work Society of the Spectacle.[7] Mass media has since evolved into ‘instant gratification’ and a consumer society with a persistent thirst for sensory stimulation. I propose that the current generation’s lust for experiential stimuli has played into the strengths and strategies present in the field’s most successful examples of new hotels with an omnipresent theatrical narrative. David Brooks, an American sociologist, coined the new upper class as ‘bourgeois bohemians’ in his recent work, Bobos in Paradise[8]. Brooks’ discussion of the current ‘bobo' generation serves this study in better understanding the context of consumer's psyche and behavioral rationale. As defined by Brooks, the new upper-class consumers are highly educated, self-aware, persona-conscious, and culturally fluent with “one foot in the bohemian world of creativity and another foot in the bourgeois realm of ambition and worldly success.”[9] Oscillating between power working and self-indulgence, there is an undeniable temporality in their life experiences.[10] Experience, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, is “an event or occurrence which left an impression on someone,”[11] often identified as a mental process in the field, and is heavily valued due to it’s “intangible, sensational, and memorable” nature.[12] Together, these definitions help support the argument for the audaciously theatrical, constructed environments employed by the designers of each hotel examined in this study.  For necessary clarification, a distinction must be made between narrative hotels, which use theatrical devices to convey a rich storyline, and thematic hotels, which over embellish pre-imagined animations for children.

            The methodology of case study selection followed precise parameters to provide a beneficially comparative focus on the topic at hand, while simultaneously representing a diverse spectrum of design results in hopes of concisely covering the vast genre. The selection criteria for investigation were as follows: (1) Hotel is to be situated in a densely populated urban metropolitan area of a major city known for its tourism and hospitality industry. (2) Hotel is to be a contemporary project of the 21st century. (3) Hotel is to be a destination of social or cultural relevance to the current generation. (4) Hotel is to have a clear narrative that communicates a story that attracts users of a specific identity. (5) Hotel is to rely heavily on theatricality designed spaces to allow guests to play an exaggerated or alternative persona. The specifically selected projects are interrelated through commonalities of location, time, or developer to strengthen the comparative argument. Each hotel opening was highly anticipated and received strong public support and professional appraise for their designs. The case studies scenarios (SC1), (SC2), and (SC3) are provided in Table 1 below for an analytical comparison of quantitative data. By selecting an older hotel, by the same developer, in addition to two of the most recently acclaimed hotels, I was able to conclude a stronger analysis by accounting for prolonged success and longevity. A different team of architects and interior designers designs each hotel narrative, and each approaches their storyline from a very distinct angle.

            The inquisition of each hotel aims to enlighten design professionals and the informed public on the hotel’s narrative told through design; identify moments of successful public engagement or absorption through specific experiential design techniques like artifice, and highlight the use of theatricality as a stage set for escapism. This investigative analysis will provide the context for a greater discussion on why an original narrative has become intrinsic to the success and longevity of contemporary hotels, including criticisms of designed authenticity and the ‘authentic experience.' In its conclusion, this exploratory study will identify which of the three examined scenarios achieved the most significant success and propose future progressions in hotel design and development.

Scene 1. The Ned

            After years of anticipation, The Ned opened its Grade I listed doors to the public with immediate fanfare in April of 2017. Five years prior, Nick Jones, the founder of Soho House & Co, came across the historic Midland Bank Building in the City of London’s Banking District and dreamed of restoring the 1924-designed masterpiece back to its former glory. Originally designed by Sir Edwin ‘Ned’ Lutyens, the 29,450 square meter powerhouse left Jones proclaiming, “it [the Midland Bank] was the most beautiful building I’d ever see.”[13] Before Jones discovered the property and paired up with acclaimed hotel developer Andrew Zobbler, the Midland Bank had sat empty for nearly eight years. The Soho House & Co in-house designers, Adam Greco, Alice Lund, and Rebecca King, were responsible for restoring the historic narrative woven throughout every detail in the project, additionally altering and embellishing the storyline to better fit the hotel’s concept of “the faded glamour of a 1930s transatlantic ocean liner.”[14]

            The constructed narrative of The Ned embodies undeniable nostalgia and immediately transports the guest into an alternative life of decades past.  In this case, the designers placed much importance on maintaining the building’s integrity, therefore strengthening authenticity whilst limiting originality. As can be concluded by The Ned’s promotional website, which provides future and current guests with specific architectural features pertinent to the story of The Ned, Soho House & Co felt the omnipresent constructed narrative was imperative to the project's success. The designers describe specific interior conditions of authenticity; the "92 African verdite-covered columns span[ing] the main banking hall” and the 25-ton, two-meter-wide Vault door which previously secured over $400 million are two of the most shock-provoking elements featured.[15] For the purpose of later discussion, it is important to note the level of privacy, privilege, and exclusivity woven into the narrative. Despite publishing and detailing “Secrets of The Ned" for the online viewer, the hotel/private members club maintains a stringent level of security with full immersion into the exploratory and the experiential narrative reserved solely for private members and the generously paying guest. The advertisement of such a well-refined, authentically nostalgic narrative inevitably serves its purpose of acquiring permanent, semi-permanent and or transitory (paying) cast members.

            Assuming full immersion, the guest experience begins with bustling excitement and activity scattered across the former banking hall’s ground floor. Guests are initially made to feel minute by the dramatically high, vaulted ceiling, which spans across a bright and open three thousand square meters[16] as the illustriously green columns dot the space, reflecting the light and energy ninety-two times. Transitioning from feeling small, out-of-place, and out-of-time to feeling like a small part of the larger collective, the nine distinct restaurants situated in open clusters welcome the guest to engage in a communal indulgence. Plush sofas pull the feminine in for a moment of posh savoir-faire while across the polished walnut table, worn leather armchairs evoke the imagined scent of cigars. Inside the banking hall, restaurant signage is purposefully excluded. The language of décor dominates in narration as each restaurant’s design fits into a unique subgenre of 1930’s faded glamour.

            The Ned’s narrative is two-fold and distinctly achieved through the story’s sequence and design.  A private tour of the property begins where the public experience ends. Leaving the cheer-filled atmosphere above, members descend the timeworn, spent marble back staircase into the Ned’s Club downstairs. The ceiling height drops dramatically to a securely protectable level. Interactions below are one-to-one portrayals of a more mysterious and intimate persona. Warm lighting reflects off of antique bar mirrors and polished steel plating adorning the vaults interior walls. Intricately woven rugs support the feet of members in seclusion, while unassuming jazz subconsciously tunes them into a story. The vault’s narrative is unquestionably masculine, historically appropriate, and fitting for the current member demographics.

            Crossing the belly of the building, small spaces for exploration are sporadically scattered down the hall, providing glimpses into further theatrical portrayals. As members enter the bank of private elevators, the design and storyline begin lightening up. Warm golden doors enclose passengers as they ascend to the pinnacle of privilege. Opening up to a panoramic view of St. Paul's Cathedral, Ned's Club Upstairs welcomes blissfully light-hearted design elements like striped woven terrace coverings, facile wicker seating, bold burgundy and pearl Italian umbrellas, and bright vegetation is scattered across the red brick floors. These specific design decisions help set the stage for a Great Gatsby-esque production as members readily enact constrained desires, transcending into a distinct time period.[17]

Scene 2.  Sanderson

            In a genre often criticized for its religiously trend following, in-with-the-new-out-with-the-old clientele, the Sanderson Hotel has done a remarkable job of maintaining its iconic interstellar baroque narrative since opening nearly two decades ago. The revolutionary project marked the grand finale of long-time collaborators Ian Schrager and Philippe Starck, who had produced several successful hotels in the decade prior.[18]  Housed inside the historic Sanderson fabric company’s 1958 factory headquarters, the narrative embraces particular areas of quirk and style like the preexisting stained-glass window by John Piper;[19] converting the psychedelic space into a double level billiards room, the bold reds and blues of the glass determine the vibrant color scheme for the room's furnishings. This, however, is the only noteworthy homage to Sanderson's historical building, highlighted by designer and developer duo, Schrager and Starck. From here, the pair departs on a truly magical journey, weaving a story entirely original and unlike any hotel before it.

            Aspects of the hotel that may seem commonplace now were truly revolutionary when Schrager proposed them upon acquiring the property; if not in concept, then most certainly in execution.  Situated on unassuming Berners Street in London’s Central West End neighborhood of Fitzrovia, the textile factory saw little foot traffic, especially when considering its extreme proximity to Oxford Street, the most famously busy street in the United Kingdom. The renowned setting made way for the story as Schrager and Starck dreamt up the first hotel in observance to the new wave of urban wellness. According to Schrager, the words “spa”, “health”, and “wellness” were thrown around often as hot topics but no one ever took them seriously enough to execute and “create a completely integrated environment – one devoted to your physical, emotional and spiritual health – in an exquisitely beautiful setting, and all in the middle of one of the most cosmopolitan cities on earth...”[20] This is precisely what Sanderson did. The hotel embodies its celestial narrative down to the most meticulous of matters.

            In true Starkian style, the Sanderson marries the unconventional with opulence and charm – juxtaposing extravagant armoires against the simplicity of airy white curtains, which adorn almost every wall.[21] Theatrical devices are used in excess throughout the project: forced perspectives, floor-to-ceiling drapes (many of them operable with the flick of a switch), floating Venetian mirrors, stretched sofas, backlit bars and spot-lit entrances beside whimsically draped velvet fabrics.[22] These devices have helped the genuinely iconic boutique hotel to communicate its dreamscape narrative, and as evident from the hotel’s social media account (@sandersonsocial), the story has been maintained and continues to be an influential part of the design’s commercial success.

            J.M.V.: If your hotels are a manifestation of time and place, how do you ensure longevity?

            I.S.: “Very simple, There has to be excellent execution. If a hotel is not executed well, it will become dated. Take someone like Antoni Gaudí, who did this radical, avant-garde architecture in Barcelona. His work is as  shocking today as it was a hundred years ago. When design is trendy and disposable, it is not meant to stand the test of time, and it is thrown out like yesterday’s newspaper. So how do you balance avant-garde design  with staying power? You have to execute it well.”[23]

Scene 3. PUBLIC

            Ever since the beginning, luxury hotels have been places of fantasy, alluring visitors across a vast class disparity. Everyone came to see the spectacle: the space, the stage, the show.  If any distinctions within the industry have persevered over the decades past, they would have to be the magic in the walls, and the incomparable ability to attract a spectrum of polarities to participate in a performance. In Ian Schrager's newest revolt against an oversaturated market selling half-baked stories, New York City's PUBLIC hotel is perfectly expected in the most unexpected way. The name nearly screams it. The most in vogue hotel to hit Manhattan welcomed any and all of those in the know when the spotlights were flicked on this June, symbolically commencing the summer of 2017 in the city. The mixed-use residence and hotel tower, in Lower Manhattan's Bowery neighborhood, was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Herzog & de Meuron. The thirty-two-story concrete and glass building radiates "raw materiality tempered by refinement and comfort, what Schrager calls tough lux."[24]

            Littered with oxymoron, the narrative celebrates its many juxtaposed contradictions. The story began with a dream, “luxury for all”, an enclosure not closed-off, but rather open, positively accessible to the public. Starting from scratch, Schrager reassessed the recipe, prioritizing the demands of the current experience-thirsty generation, in turn forgoing the superfluous structure in the service industry; and thus, the entire dynamic has changed accordingly. Dissolving the distinction between servant and served spaces, the story instead encourages an equal ensemble, each character playing their part in the chorus. Replacing the traditional check-in, concierge and bellman, two ‘public advisors' stand in the dark lobby like directors backstage, welcoming the arrival of new cast members. 

            The sequential narrative starts outdoors, in “the great outdoors”; where a densely vegetated public park conditions the streetscape as an offering to the neighborhood. The “refined gritty aesthetic” is contextual and starts at the exterior, where expansive windows and a rippling texture are achieved as “small tricks” (treated sandblasted formwork) “with a little twist, [to] give a very different kind of result.”[25] The simplest of architectural form, the post and lintel, signals the unobtrusive entrance. Lit like a catwalk for a pack of black panthers, in-grade up-lights pull in passersby. Schrager is no stranger to the extremities of artifice (the art of constructing or fabricating some form of illusion; “an ingenious expedient, a maneuver, trick, or device”).[26] The seductive stage, set for a mystery, relies on the highest quality of cunning craft “to fabricate and narrate the identity of the...inside space as pure artifice.”[27] Trapped between three mirrored walls, the polished steel escalator reflects stripes of rose-colored light and the passengers aboard infinitely as photo documentation records the story of PUBLIC, to publish on Instagram's public story.[28]  The interior spaces are choreographed in an all-immersive sequence, contrasting and complementing in dramatic delight. The rhythmic repetition of detailed plywood ceiling combines luxurious craftsmanship and cost-friendly materials. Made of mostly modest materials, the interior theatricality is achieved by the sophisticated use and unorthodox conjunction of concrete, wood, metal, marble, and glass.[29] Regality radiates from each crack and corner; everything accounted for in the designer's encyclopedic narrative. Meticulous attention to detail manifests in finessed forms, like the top of the concrete lobby division, hand polished thirty times over for its mirrored appearance. “I wanted people to bend down to comb their hair or put their makeup on,” Schrager narrates, describing an immersive experiential architecture where design evokes emotion and collective participation in its performance.

            Blurring the line to its vanishing point, PUBLIC coalesces luxury lodging and a place for public leisure; leading to leisurely consumption encouraging character development and the kind of debauchery that made the infamous Studio 54 iconic after a mere two-year-stint. Four decades later, the same magical artifice was applied at PUBLIC, so to achieve the same magical effect on human behavior. Graeme Brooker discussed the theory behind artifice’s general use in architecture as “once the exterior condition is negated, or the interior is released from any environmental control responsibilities, such as keeping out the weather, the interior is liberated in order to fabricate a new, and, if required, a very contrived environment.”[30] Applying this logic to the effects of narrative hotel design on human behavior, the conditions affecting artifice appear synonymous with the stipulations concerning hotel guests' escapist tendencies. 

            The PUBLIC narrative is full of dualities. Embracing escapism, hybridity and the fluidity that defines the future. The lobby bar transcends its form and function from day into night. Once coated in daylight, laptops and lattes, the lobby bar undresses at dusk and dawns an elegant evening slip of satin atmosphere. The duality of the lobby bar's design extends beyond the programmatic, carrying the continuation on through its details. Day or night, as guests inhabit the interior social space, their attention is drawn to the exterior edge as they gaze to the forested park. With subtle artifice, the floor-to-ceiling windows are precisely cut back, evoking refined ambiguity designed to "feel like they're outside."[31] The fluid transition in space, coupled with the conditions of duality, introduces the cast to major themes of the plot. Fantasy exploration, however, reaches its climax up on top.

            The stage is set clearly with opposing personalities wrestling for dominance. Where the light of a golden bar emitting the warmth of whiskey fades, the allure of blue light ropes pulls sailors into its story like a Siren in the sea. Caught in-between lost and Neverland, a panoramic backdrop of bright lights and dark sky wraps around the entirety of the stage, reflected whenever possible by the mirrored, metal-clad-columns, only further distorting any last perceptions of reality. 

"I love visuals, but visuals are nothing more than what special effects are in a movie." Design, though, is an ethos. It's all about the mix – these disparate elements coming together to create excitement.”[32] – Ian Schrager

Climax:

             Using the constructed narratives of each examined hotel as the genesis for a critical comparison, this inquisition seeks to explain why the demand for originality supersedes that of authenticity, first discussing the trajectory of the millennial generation's reoccurring lust for the "authentic experience" in popular culture. At this point in the study, the presented hotels use, and execution of storytelling is subject to fair criticism, which will, in turn, provide additional analysis for consideration of why an original narrative has become intrinsic to the success and longevity of contemporary design hotels, what narrative genre proved most successful and how. Looking to the shortcomings and achievements of each project, I then hope to relate the findings to my predictions of the industry's trajectory in an ever-evolving generational market. 

 The question of authenticity comes up often in discussing critical characteristics of the new consumer ‘bobo' generation where jargon such as "time-poor" and "seeking out the authentic" are often used in pop culture reference. One study, in particular, made a relation to the demand for a more "legibly ‘authentic' experience of their stays, something that engages the hotel's physical, historical and cultural context."[33] The request for site and subject specificity is a direct rejection of the globally ubiquitous and generic approach that has often characterized hotel design.[34] Later in the study, the author details the consideration of authenticity in one of his projects where he was "asked to design for a group identified as ‘sensation-oriented.'"[35] These individuals shared common identifiers as ‘bobos,' placing high value on travel as an escape. The architect's response was a "completely immersive environment...both more abstract and more receptive, inviting the guests' participation and performance in creating an authentic experience."[36] The conclusions of this study are particularly enlightening to the potential critic of the artifice in narrative hotel design as it highlights the effect as an ‘authentic experience’ rather than the environment.

            For apparent reasons, it could be argued that none of the examined hotels can be defined as authentic, genuine or true. Each one was fabricated, following either a fictional plot or a dramatization of “based on a true story”. Many scholars conducting research on storytelling have discussed if it is necessary for story to in fact be true.[37] Marketing expert, Lena Mossberg, states, “whether we allow ourselves to be captivated by a story depends not on whether it’s true or not, but rather whether it’s believable… For consumers to be involved, he/she must interpret the story and live the part.”[38] While the Ned superficially appears and feels to be the most authentic, the assumption of authenticity is a product of our minds’ subconscious response to ‘nostalgia,' which Professor Cecil Lewis unveils in her comprehensive book, Design & Intuition: Structures, Interiors and The Mind. Lewis relates the features identified as ‘familiar’ in an environment to being stress-free, further suggesting “the appeal of old looks is also tinted with romanticism for the lifestyle and comfort of another time.”[39] Beneficial to our own inquisition, Lewis concludes, “even though nostalgia is a cognitive mover, to this study other ideas have proven more workable than nostalgia, such as authority of ancient images, and connotative content of design and its suggestive power.”[40] Her allusion to the suggestive power of design refers to the kind of artifice included in the designs for both the Sanderson and PUBLIC hotels.

            Authenticity in the twenty-first-century more often ascribed as a feeling rather than a fact. The Sanderson hotel debarks from authentic the furthest as Starck relied on the use of curtains to cover up the many historically protected walls that he was unable to change. The building's previous use is mostly lost, and its secluded ‘urban oasis' storyline severs any connection to the larger surrounding area. In opposition, Schrager's newest project, PUBLIC, is a new-build tower in a gentrified area of Lower East Manhattan. Claims could be made that as the site sat empty in the form of public park for decades prior, the project will achieve an ‘authentic status' over time, as the neighborhood adjusts to the nudity and scandals often seen in the bedroom windows.[41] The Ned’s program departs from its original use as a bank, but the design revives the historical style to the highest degree of authenticity possible considering the building’s new use as a hotel and members club. The Ned’s narrative aims to evoke the same atmospheric emotions as the historic grand hotels that rely on and promote their longstanding traditions of elegance and excellent service. The problem I foresee in new hotels pursuing a nostalgic narrative is the lack of originality, and/or real historical roots that steadily bring in loyal returning customers. Contrary to this statement, I do not foresee The Ned failing to retain its current luxury branding because of its unique case, acting as both a hotel and perhaps more predominantly, as a private members club. Membership implies a continued loyalty and sense of identity, which is where The Ned holds its strengths. Potentially problematic to the continued success of their nine public restaurants is the exclusivity of the rest of the hotel. Most visitors will never see more than the ground level. The Ned’s division of public and private will result in the public tiring of the storyline much sooner as it lacks the complexity and depth that’s present in the Sanderson’s, and particularly, in the PUBLIC’s narratives. All three hotels are examples of pristine architectural execution, to which Schrager justifies, “if something is really well done, it’s the antithesis of trendy. It may be provocative, it may be out there on the edge, but if it’s well done it will stand the test of time, and be just as relevant in 30 or 40 years.”[42]

            The hospitality industry's temporality is often of most concern to the designer. The developer aims to make a profit and will sell when the timing is right for a good return. Designers have an understandable attachment to each project, so this study is of particular importance when considering the longevity of their work. The implementation of a well-researched and well-crafted narrative will improve the hotel's identity and resonance with its guests. Research on narrative processing proved that an identification of the self as part of a brand is created through storytelling, where the affiliation of the person to a character is strengthened by an imposing narrative.[43] Translating this research to hotel design, the link of hotel guests to narrative is at its peak when the cast is fully engaged in the storyline and immersed in design. Full immersion extends beyond the visual and tactile experiences of architecture and design. Priming the guest with spectacle, sounds, and smells, which act not only as generators but also as inducers to cognitive memory, will help to "elicit consumer’s narrative thought toward a brand...[and] encourage self-generated narrative processing.”[44] While conclusions on the beneficial effects of engaging the five senses is not a recent discovery, few architectural genres devote enough time and thought into the execution of a multi-sensory experience; hotel lobbies are one of the few that pursue it with intent. Many lobbies engulf guests with subtle scents and elevator music to help create an atmospheric experience. I urge designers and developers to give serious thought to this part in the narratives design.

            Ian Schrager set the industry benchmark in comprehensive narration by creating a uniquely “Schrager” multi-sensory production. Select luxury hotels have sought out partnerships with fragrance companies to help induce a memorable cognitive response across brand locations. PUBLIC uses scent and sound to help embed the escapist narrative. The custom designed Le Labo scent is specific to the hotel and not offered for sale, which is uncommon for high-end hotel collaborations. The theory here is that the experience cannot be recreated anywhere else outside of the confines of the elaborately produced PUBLIC hotel. Local residents who often frequent the hotel connect their experience with the distinct scent and appropriately eclectic music, which Fader Magazine and New York native Jon Wormser described as "transcendent vibes tying in elements of smooth jazz and deep house. [Where] soft-focus synths and pulsing beats are well equipped to bridge the divide between genres played, breathy nostalgia and a love-struck sentiment...sounds heard inside the Public lobby take you out of New York into somewhere more refined and luxurious.”[45] Originality is in the air; it's everywhere inside PUBLIC. 

An Aside:

            Guest engagement in an identifiably original narrative will continue driving the success of theatrically designed hotels until the next major generational switch causes narratives to adapt to new demands. No conclusion on when and what the coming generation will crave can be declared with complete accuracy. Howbeit, this inquisition has allowed me to form predictions of the industry’s directed progression based on research, reasoning and hypothesis. Global travel industry futurist Rohit Talwar conducted the report, Hotels 2020 – Responding to Tomorrow’s Customer and the Evolution of Technology, in which he polled an expansive array of hotel guests worldwide, gaining insight of consumer predictions. Future consumer psychological changes were recorded, where 83% of respondents strongly agreed or agreed that “People will view travel as a right rather than a luxury and consider it an increasingly important part of their lives.”[46]  As a generation, the increasing pressure on our available leisure time drives up the desire for unique and personalized experiences. 86% of respondents believed, “By 2020, personalization will have been embraced wholeheartedly by the sector and that customers will have the ability to choose the size of room, type of bed, amenities, audio-visual facilities, business equipment, etc. on booking and pay accordingly.“[47] Some factors like the reliance on service predicted no major change, only enhancement, like the 93% who agreed, “Highly trained staff backed up by technology will be key to delivering personalized service and experiences.”[48]

            The personal ‘à la carte' experience is a trajectory that I foresee having the potential to give certain hotels an edge in the ever-intensifying hotel industry. I predict this trend will have its greatest effect, not on design hotels, but on budget and corporate hotels where guests are seeking quick comfort and convenience over an enthralling experience. Where I anticipate these statics will translate into the fantastic world of experiential hotels is, by substituting the personal choices as creatures of comfort for the personalized choice of cosplay-esque character portrayal. The hotel narrative will remain strong, but the designer's boundary may reach beyond the constructed environment and into guest identity. Pushing the artifice to its extreme, guests may be able to request suggestive ‘props,' ‘costumes,' and ‘stage-make up,' like a 35mm black and white film camera, a ruby silk robe with engraved initials, and an in-room temporary hair colorist to help guide them into transcendence. 

            The concept of escapism is at the heart of the most relevant trends in hospitality design where it is  “creating new experiences and sanctuaries for every type of traveler that go beyond themed or branded properties, and allowing guests to immerse themselves in an environment and decompress.”[49] I presume that as stress-inducing factors continue to burden an over-worked population, the need for escape will increase. Parallel to this thought, I foresee an increased awareness and devotion to mental health, particularly the adverse effects of technology on social interaction, resulting in tremendous demand for ‘tech-detox' rehabilitation resorts, where escapism and collective engagement is at the core of their design. 

Resolution:

            Deep in the formwork of the hotel industry lies the historic function of being hospitable. Welcoming guests and visitors into memorable experiences, hotels should strive to exceed expectations, by transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. The transformative process of turning an idea into something truly magical requires more than just passion, or skill, or money alone. With magic, there is always a story.

            Through my extensive research, investigation and analysis, any concerns surrounding the effectiveness of an all-encompassing narrative in hotel design should be resolved. The narrative possesses clear benefits to both sides of the service industry. The implementation of a meticulously crafted storyline into the design elements of boutique hotels will help induce guest engagement, and even evoke escapist tendencies. The build up of bottled-in behavior is of great concern to the producers of the future. Scholars see the ‘bobo’ generation’s work-hard-play-hard dual mentality affecting their choice in places of leisure. Hotels have always provided refuge for luxurious leisure, but the demand for escape has never been higher. Short on sleep and physical interaction, the new generation seeks dreams at every hour. With the desire to depart from reality only intensifying as dawn transforms into dusk, the narrative must be adaptable, transitioning effortlessly into another rich chapter.

            Each of the examined hotels presented a unique solution to the requirement for a narrative based on their respective geographical setting, site history, demographic market, integrating the developer’s aspirations, and the designer’s expertise. While all three of the hotel narratives were executed with supreme craftsmanship, distinctions arose through the analysis of plot originality, ultimately expressing PUBLIC’s elaborate narrative as more successful than that of Sanderson’s or The Ned’s. Over the span of two decades, Ian Schrager redefined the relationship between hotel and guest, adapting and encouraging a collective, inclusive-yet-still-exclusive environment in his new hotel, bringing accessible luxury to the public. Across the pond in the rival capital of culture, Nick Jones, founder of the predominant private members club Soho House & Co., adapted his quintessential ‘restoration chic' style to a much more authentic sense of luxury inside The Ned. The Ned's narrative style may well be a deportation from the other Soho House properties, but the central plot remained stagnant. The separation of public engagement in the entirety of The Ned's strikingly exquisite narrative constrains the potential for an entirely immersed cast. Without guest engagement and design immersion, the probability of prolonged success decreases, and thus the narrative become transitory gossip, only lasting as long as it takes until the secret is out and ultimately old news.

            Originality feeds the mind like a bible, interpretable and adaptable to the reader’s liking. Not only does originality in the hotel narrative affect the design's longevity, but it also affects the human psyche concerning pleasure and emotional bliss. Ultimately as designers, we covet our designs to be well received and readable, yet unexpected, challenging the guest's perception of space, experience and design. Narratives enlighten guests equally as much as they encourage collective participation and brand loyalty. If as designers we can educate, enlighten, challenge, entice, produce, perform, engage and escape, solely through the implementation of an original narrative, I implore everyone to do so.

            “I don’t sell sleep. I sell magic.” – Ian Schrager

[1] Watson, Hotel Revolution, 9

[2] Watson, Hotel Revolution, 10-11

[3] Watson, Hotel Revolution, 12

[4] Oxford English Dictionary,  "Boutique hotel."

[5]Rauen One for All, Hospitality Design, 141

[6] Su, US-Based Hotel Brand Personality

[7] Debord, Society of the Spectacle

[8] Riewoldt, New Hotel Design, 7

[9] Brooks, Bobos in Paradise, 2

[10] Riewoldt, New Hotel Design, 8-9

[11] Oxford English Dictionary,  “Experience”

[12] Gao, Exploratory Study of the Boutique Hotel Experience, 13

[13] The Ned, The Story of The Ned

[14] Ralph, The Ned, Hospitality Interiors Magazine August 17, 2017

[15] The Ned,  Secrets of The Ned

[16] The Ned,  Restaurants & Bars

[17] Riewoldt, New Hotel Design, 7

[18] Riewoldt, New Hotel Design, 18

[19] Watson, Hotel Revolution, 168

[20] Watson, Hotel Revolution, 166

[21] Johnson, Ian Schrager and Philippe Starck Create Sanderson, Hotel Online Special Report 2000

[22] Sanderson Social. Instagram Accessed November 9, 2017 https://www.instagram.com/sandersonsocial/

[23] Volland, Shrager, “A world-famous hotelier Reflects on his projects”, Grand Hotel: Redesigning Modern Life

[24] Rozzo, Life of the Party, Architectural Digest

[25] Rauen One for All, Hospitality Design, 139

[26] Oxford English Dictionary, “Artifice”

[27] Brooker, Artifice Introduction, Adaption Strategies for Interior Architecture and Design, 92

[28] Rauen One for All, Hospitality Design, 138

[29] Rauen One for All, Hospitality Design, 139

[30] Brooker, Artifice Introduction, Adaption Strategies for Interior Architecture and Design, 92

[31] Rauen One for All, Hospitality Design, 140

[32] Rozzo, Life of the Party, Architectural Digest

[33] Klerk, What Are the Current Issues Affecting Hotel Design?. Architects' Journal

[34] Klerk, What Are the Current Issues Affecting Hotel Design?. Architects' Journal

[35] Klerk, What Are the Current Issues Affecting Hotel Design?. Architects' Journal

[36] Klerk, What Are the Current Issues Affecting Hotel Design?. Architects' Journal

[37] Koll, "Using themes and storytelling in framing guests' experiences in the Danish hospitality industry."

[38] Mossberg, Storytelling: Marketing in the experience industry

[39] Lewis, Design & Intuition, 24

[40] Lewis, Design & Intuition, 25

[41]Crocker, It’s Not (Just) About Sex and the Public, New York’s Hottest Hotel, Daily Beast

[42] Pearce, Hotel Focus

[43] Escalas, Narrative processing: Building consumer connections to brands. Journal of Consumer Psychology

[44] Su, US-Based Hotel Brand Personality

[45] Wormser, PUBLIC Acoustic Accounts

[46] Talwar, Hotels 2020 pg. 22

[47] Talwar, Hotels 2020 pg. 25

[48] Talwar, Hotels 2020 pg. 24

[49] Nieminen, The Great Escape, Interiors + Sources

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