The basics of a good hotel room design

Designing interiors for hotel rooms can be challenging. There are many types of hotels, and each one likes to standardize the design of their rooms to fit a certain image. The luxury hotel genre, for example, strive to make their rooms opulent and majestic, while the novel boutique hotels try to imbue character and vernacular qualities into theirs. Then there’s the middle class of the hotel genre – 3 stars at the most – whose rooms tend to have economical, generic interior style without any distinguishing qualities.

Rethinking the Hotel Room Layout

In simple terms, a layout is the basic blueprint of any room. It determines where the furniture will be placed, and how it would affect the circulation space of the room. Layout is an important part of any interior design formation, and for a hotel room design, it should be designed according to the typology of the room.

Single hotel room design

A room for one person with one single bed. The single room design differs from hotel to hotel; but the basic commodities remain the same – a bed, side tables, and a small, cozy sitting area; something you would find in Lorelai Gilmore’s Dragonfly in from Gilmore Girls. While it is a very generic layout, it is far more advanced than the single bed-locker-table combination. A single room layout should be warm and inviting, while making the space seem capacious within its contained boundaries. For this, you could emphasize the window; let in as much natural light as you can and design the color scheme around white hues and a minimal design. White color has reflective qualities, which could make the room seem more spacious.

Double hotel room design

A room for two persons with a double bed. The double room is a more spacious version of the ‘single’ and can be used by a couple, or even a single person who likes more bed capacity. This kind of a room design comes with all bedroom paraphernalia and a small seating. Even though most of its layout is similar to the ‘single’, a double bed hotel room is more spacious – its furniture is plusher, the seating nook is larger and there is more circulation space.

Twin hotel room design

A room for two people with two single beds. The core of the twin hotel room design should be around individuality. Usually, people residing in twin bed hotel rooms seek to conserve their privacy, so the layout should be designed to accommodate that. Aside from that, the color scheme could be selected to create a friendlier ambiance – lots of mood lamps and a chic, minimalist furniture design can also help the space seem uncluttered and larger than it already is.

Triple hotel room design

A room for three people with either one double and one single beds sometimes known as ‘double rooms with an extra bed’ or with three single beds. The general layout of the triple hotel room resembles that of a twin room. It is, of course, more spacious, with the same amenities as any other bedroom – a side seating space, media walls, etc. Like in the twin, there is much emphasis on individuality, and much of the room layout is designed to enhance the circulation space.

Suite design

A suite is most probably always found in a 3 star hotel and above. The basic idea of a suite is to accommodate a big family, or a distinct corporate party. So the layout of suite is designed with a communal space – a living room – as the center, with the bed rooms to the periphery of it to preserve privacy.

Suite living room

The living room of a suite can be a grand affair, depending on the size and type of the hotel. Usually a suite living room consists of a large couch set in the center to promote social activity – family gathering, meetings, etc.

Suite Bedroom’s

The bedroom in a hotel suite design come in hierarchy – a big, master bedroom, and other smaller bedrooms. They are deliberately tucked away on either side of the living room to maintain a more private setting.

Communal Spaces in hotel rooms

The recent trends in hotel room design all lean towards a very certain idea – the addition of a public space in a private room. Sometimes, even in single rooms, the occupants can get visited by guests and it is always nice to have a tiny nook tucked in a corner for such visits. The ideal placement for these alcoves would be somewhere in between the bed and the door. Sometimes, they are even set up along the window to provide a better view.

Furniture style for hotel room design

Any hotel room is booked for only a short amount of time by the occupant, and in order to make sure that it leaves an impression, you could make the basic components of your room impressionable.

Creative Furniture Design

Furniture design is an integral part of hotel room design, and it is the idea of this furniture that can stamp its mark on the user. Creatively designed furniture tends to attract the user to cherish the positive experience by photographs and word of mouth. It also enhances the character of the design, and can even start new trends.

Classic Furniture Design

However, high end upscale hotels like the Ritz Carlton tend to have a more classic furniture style. This is mostly because their desired clientele is of the upper echelons of society and new-age retro style do not suit the desired ambiance they are going for.

Simple Furniture Design

Regular 3 star hotels that want to go for a generic, comfortable ambiance also use simple furniture design styles. These are not exactly minimal in design, but they aren’t especially customized to leave an impression either – it is usually just a simple bed and a simple chair with no fun flair of anything to set it apart from other generic furniture sets.

Themes and Styles

A hotel room design always follows a theme – be it modern, contemporary or even undefined. A curated set of themes tend to enrich the user experience and inspire a sense of awe. Each time a customer is galvanized by a theme or a style, it can be a plus in the hotels positive points. A themed hotel room leans towards the style that is designed around. It can be anything and everything – there are so many trends in interior design today that it is hard to define a genre. Any of these styles can be applied to fit the image of a hotel room design. Of course it also depends on the location, budget and vernacular of the place, but in the end, a theme/style can define the very ambiance of a room.

Art Nouveau Style

An art nouveau style hotel can inspire the artistic side of the user. The uncharacteristic style of the furniture and ambiance would definitely inspire the user to come again. It is an avant-garde theme that is not usually used in generic hotel room design, but for an especially themed hotel, whose specialty is the stylistic expression of the art nouveau style, it can be a good choice. It has the warm, wicker feel that can tap into the whimsical side of the guest.

Contemporary Style

On the other hand, a contemporary style hotel room is all the rage these days. A ‘contemporary’ style is all about the progressive and futuristic themes. A contemporary style hotel room’s design can be as organic as a ‘glass domed hobbit hole’ to an ultra-modern ‘aquarium’ theme. Underwater hotel rooms in Dubai and other places are a veritable tourist attraction. These kind of hotel room designs have an undeniable charm of their own. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to live under the sea for a day or two.

Modern Style

In that case, you can definitely go for a sleek, sophisticated modern style hotel room. The clean lines and attractive lighting styles of modernism can never go wrong. Its unfettered grace make the user experience more upscale and grand without any of the frou-frou accoutrements that come with any classical or contemporary style. The modern style hotel room can emulate the swanky ambiance with less expenditure on the interior than any other theme. That is why it is one of the most common hotel room themes in the whole world.

Contemporary Rustic Style

But if you are inspired by a more rustic theme, or if that is what the locality calls for, there are always ways to incorporate that genre in the hotel room design. A chic country vibe is much appreciated in some regions. In that case the hotel room can be designed according to that unsophisticated charm and still retain a cultured look about it. These kinds of hotel room designs however, are usually found in upscale boutique hotels.

Interlinking to the Outdoors

A multinational luxury hotel is all about the tourist attraction, so blurring the boundaries between the indoors and outdoors is part of any good hotel room design.

For luxury hotels

The customers pay to get a taste of the city from within the bounds of their temporary residence, so that is what most luxury hotels do; they provide an excellent view of the outsides. Large, huge-span windows at a certain height can give a beautiful look out, especially in a city dominated by mid-rises.

For boutique hotels

The boutique hotel genre has also been inspired by this style. Though the windows of their hotel rooms are not quite as big or modern, they do give out a beautiful view of the local surroundings. This kind of a hotel room may or may not have a small balcony for the user to enjoy the view in a more relaxed setting.

Reinventing the penthouse genre

The penthouse suite is the literal Big Daddy of all hotel rooms. This kind of a suite is only available in huge, multinational hotel chains and is reserved exclusively for guests of the highest paying order. These kinds of rooms are synonymous with the word ‘luxury’ and come with a high end interior scheme. A penthouse suite can either be located at the very top of the hotel – to ensure exclusive views – or it can be at the very bottom of the hotel – with an adjoining garage to boot. The penthouse suite is like a small house of its own, with several rooms, a humongous communal area and many amenities including a kitchen, dining room and minibar.

Living room in penthouse suite

The living room is more often than not, a cavernous affair. It is usually designed with an open floor layout and has no visual barriers between the kitchen and dining rooms. A staircase is almost always lading to the upper floor, which comes with several rooms.

Bedrooms in penthouse suite

The rooms in a penthouse suite have an exclusivity to their design as well. They are flashier, more spacious and swankier than any other hotel room design. This high-end, fashionable style makes them the most desired aspect of a five-star hotel.

Flexible planning layout

While a usual hotel room can be classified in the three typologies of hotel rooms explained above, the luxury hotel genre has started to break out of these conventions. A luxury hotel room design breaks the usual design constraints and allows for more flexible planning layouts. For example, isolated bathtubs along feature windows, have been slowly but surely trending on every Instagram design page around the globe. This specific design element can add an element of exclusivity to the hotel room design. Aside from that, spa like bathroom features and French windows are also a trapping of luxury hotel room design.

Conclusion

Hotel room design is a vast genre, with a lot of emphasis on various different features, including architecture, interior design and themes. Now that there are more avenues of design, the hotel room design is taking a venture into exclusivity and high end style. Overall, it is a successful commercial amalgamation of the construction and services industry.