Liz recently had the opportunity to talk with multi award winning hospitality interior designer, Karen Hay who is the Founder and Creative Director at IN-Dulge based in Hong Kong. The topic was latest trends for hotel guest room design.

Scottish born Karen has over 25 years’ experience in designing for the hospitality industry in both Dubai and Hong Kong. She is also on the judging panel for the annual SLEEPER AHEAD Asia design awards and so definitely knows a thing or two about hotel guest room design.

Starting with flooring, Karen mentioned the trend is going away from fully carpeted guest rooms to incorporating porcelain or ceramic tiles with area feature rugs. The latest Spanish and Italian ceramic/porcelain tiles look so amazing mimicking wood or natural stone that it’s hard to tell the difference. They are a little cooler under foot hence the use of area rugs around the beds, where these are usually  semi inset into the floor or inset fitted carpets.

The beauty of using these type of tiles is they can also continue to run into the bathroom and wet areas so making the room look much bigger. They are easy to maintain and durable. This also means less use of natural stone like marble which can be hard to maintain.

Lighting trends. Most new hotel guest rooms incorporate pendant lights above the bed, often non-identical to give an interesting look. This removes the need for bedside lights on the night stands. Wall scones are also amazingly effective,  no bulkier ugly table lamps. This trend also allows for some quirky new nightstand designs with rounded edges and no drawers.

Other furniture and fixture features include built in control panels for lighting and all the technology along with open style, smaller wardrobes with more creative positioning, not just at the room entrance.

Minibars have now become more part of the room aspect, sometimes incorporating a feature cocktail bar and seating next to a window to make it a focal point.

Bathrooms which open into the room have become a trend with a  free standing vanity as part of the furniture.  Free standing luxury bathtubs are also a feature. To remain practical the bathroom can be closed off from the room with sliding panels and the toilet in a separate space.

Colours and palettes vary from hotel to hotel however the look is definitely trending towards incorporating the local area or neighbourhood. This is embedded into the look and feel of the guest room with use of local colours, patterns and small touches capturing the local culture.

In the latest AHEAD awards resorts focused on natural, chunky wood, simplicity with luxury and top quality everything. Light natural colours prevailed. Winners included for best suite,  Kalesea Mikonos in Greece with an all-white interior – potentially a Housekeepers nightmare! Best guest room was the Monastero Arx Vivendi in Arco, with other highlights in the newly opened The Londoner in London, and the W in Dubai.