More often than not, when most people hear the words “interior design”, their minds automatically jump to home renovations and decorating. With HGTV programming and TV personality icons like Joanna Gaines, we can’t blame them. However, beyond the residential realm is a much broader spectrum of specialized commercial design fields – Corporate, Educational, Healthcare – that present different needs and challenges. One of these fields that is frequently compared to residential design is hospitality.
But design is design, right? In the medical field, a nurse practitioner and a surgeon can have some similar training and work side by side, but you probably wouldn’t have a nurse lead and perform an operation. That analogy may sound like a reach, but when it comes to interior design, the common misconception is that if you can design one, you can design the other. “It’s easy.” While this is a definite possibility with the proper knowledge and skills, there is still a line separating hospitality from residential that one must be made aware of. This doesn’t mean that designing a hotel is harder than designing a home; they are simply different. In this post, we’ll take a deeper look at what makes these two disciplines diverse.
Clientele. A space should always be designed for the client. Normally in residential, you are working with a single client (or a handful of family members at the most) who is making decisions based on their personal preferences, styles, and tastes. Developing a close, personable relationship with them is key. In hospitality, you must be prepared to work with several individuals and produce a design for a larger audience. The owner of a hotel may say they’re making the final decisions, but before you know it, they bring in their business partners and hotel employees to offer their opinions, and your client base has grown from one to ten. Keeping the hotel brand in mind during the design process is extremely crucial as well. Understanding the identity and message of the brand must be considered, along with the target market for that particular brand. When multiple people are involved in the process, you must be willing to design for multiple needs, wants, personalities, cultures, etc.
Timeline. Project timing is perhaps the most notable difference. A residential timeline is usually dependent on a single client, opposed to the numerous approvers often associated with hotels. Of course, gut renos and new-build home construction can slow down the timeframe (more hands involved can add time to any process), but new-construction hotel projects consist of several phases and can require up to five years. During this time, some phases are fast-paced and require immediate attention, such as responding to a sample or a prototype. This is important in hotel projects because higher volumes of product have longer lead times for production and sometimes one decision can halt the entire process. Other phases have slower progression and require patience, usually when waiting for answers or decisions from the client, hotel brand, or other parties. Additionally, a four or five-year timeline means deep trend forecasting; designers must understand and predict where trends are heading in the future to prevent having an outdated design.
Codes & Compliances. If you aren’t up to date with commercial building codes and aren’t aware of special guidelines, requirements, and permits for a particular project, this can make the designing tricky. Building codes are sets of regulations governing the design, construction, alteration, and maintenance of structures at the local, state, and international level. Home design has its own set of regulations, however, there is much more flexibility with space planning since the design is focused around the specific needs of a small group of users. This is what allows residential design to be so unique and much more lenient. In the hospitality industry, codes become stricter in order to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of all occupants. Some of these codes relate to fire safety and fire ratings, circulation, means of egress, plumbing, and mechanics. Because hospitality design targets a wide range of users of various genders, age, ethnicities, and disabilities, interior spaces must comply to meet the needs of these diversities as well. These requirements permit design to be universally accessible for all individuals.
Materiality. Like the depth of codes and regulations, products and materials used in hospitality projects require greater amount of specifications tailored to a commercial environment. Residential furniture and materials can be high quality, but they are not typically constructed to withstand the wear and tear of high traffic areas and strong cleaning solvents for an extended amount of time. In the commercial and hospitality markets, textiles must undergo flammability testing, abrasion testing, and have protective coatings or finishes against stains, scratches, mildew, or fading. Although improvements are being made, this is why the hand of some fabrics are much tougher than the ones used in residences where comfort is key. The same goes for flooring – Residential carpet is much softer and plusher than carpet you would find in a hotel room, but it is much more susceptible to soil & dirt and difficult to maintain. The design industry is making enhancements to produce hospitality products that enable users to feel more at home and comfortable, however, durability must remain a high priority.
Budget. Project budgets between residential and hospitality can vary slightly or vary greatly; they are all dependent on the client’s preference, project size, scope of work involved, product use, and customization. Both areas of design can be approached similarly, however, residential furniture and finish expenses can sometimes have a higher price point because they are purchased in smaller quantities and not stocked, where furniture and finishes in hospitality are prepared for bulk orders. Design styles and trends can also influence pricing on items based on the amount of detail they consist of and whether they are in high demand. And, let’s not forget about going custom which can increase costs. Customizing isn’t just for homes anymore and our lives are focused around personalization, which explains why many hotels have made a greater push towards custom design. This presents a challenge in these large-scale projects though when budgets don’t account for it, and that one-of-a-kind real marble table the client loved must be value-engineered or worse, eliminated. No matter what type of project it is, saving money will always be a tricky essential.
Despite the differences between the two fields, design is a creative process that demands effective, strategic, and functional decisions and should be explored with passion. We needn’t forget that residential spaces can often offer inspiration to hospitality spaces, and vice versa. The ultimate goal of interior spaces is to create a lasting, memorable experience from beginning to end, at home or away. Contact Millcraft today to begin your ultimate hospitality project experience.
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