Room design as a Trend in the  Hotel  Industry

Davis et al (2012:32) suggests that first impression of a hotel or a guest room is very important. The creation of a hotel contributes greatly to the creation of its image. Customers  passing by  may like the look  of the establishment and decide to come in to rest and will feel pleased with the design .The interior design of the guest room  is composed of different aspects which  is the size and shape  of the room ,the type of furniture and fittings and lastly the colour scheme .

Trends are emerging in room design. Today’s guests are more into health and physical fitness. People who travel often for business or pleasure want a hotel that will fit their lifestyle.

The trend for new hotels is larger guest rooms with a separate space for guests to be able to exercise or maybe do yoga while they are away from home. In 2001 the motion was  that design,design,design  has replaced location,location,location, as the three most important aspects of hotel management .It is also suggested  that the success of hotels  is now not based on location but on design which creates a sense of style ,distinction ,warmth and intimacy. The first type of hotels to be newly built with interior  and exterior design was called the Boutique hotels in New York. It is further stated that technology also enhances the design and ambience of the room and in most cases people visiting hotels are those on their early 20s and mid 50s who are mostly interested in the use of technology in the hotel rooms such as the use of computers with high speed internet access and the use of fitness rooms with yoga classes (Jones 2002:41).

According to Jones (2002:43) a well-designed guest room should have enough space   for the customer to do what they wish to do in it and the following features should be well included in a perfectly designed hotel room: Honeymoon packages.

Art and painting   studios, music and in-room DVD players with flat screen television sets.

REFERENCES

Peter ,J.(2002)Introduction to Hospitality Operations 2^nd edition. South-Western Cengage learning, United Kingdom

Darvis,B. Lockwood, A. Alcott,P. and Pantelidis ,L.(2012)5^th edition .Routledge Education ,  USA and Canada