Shoppable Hotels: An Emerging Design Trend

Traveling this holiday season? Then you are probably keenly aware that hotels are rapidly adapting to a hospitality landscape that now includes Airbnb. Design is playing a pivotal role for hotels in that transformation.

There’s nothing quite like relaxing in an luxe hotel room in a beautiful destination. The whimsical wallpapers, exquisite bedding, and particularly decadent toiletries — all the things contributing to a pleasant stay. It is those very elements that are catalyst to newest and most exciting trend in the hotel industry — shoppable hotels. Love the bed in room 412? Order it to your front door. Enjoy the paint color on the wall or the area rug on the floor of room 821? Purchase them for your own living room.

Image Credit: 100%`￥afe

In 2018 home décor mainstay West Elm plans to open their own branded hotel chain — with the first location in Detroit and additional locations planned for Minneapolis, Savannah and Charlotte, according to Fast Company. Each hotel will feature local design elements, as well as furniture and décor that guests can purchase directly from the hotel.

Image Credit: Todd Van Hoosear

Parachute, purveyor of high-end bedding and linens, has a one-room Parachute Hotel in Venice, California. Watchmaker and leather goods company Shinola plans on crafting “a thoughtfully-curated hospitality experience” in 2018, per the Shinola Hotel’s website. The shoppable hospitality experience is even something traditional bed and breakfasts are exploring, notes Architectural Digest.

Consumers can essentially take elements of their hotel experience — elements of a trusted brand — home with them. This elongates the guest’s interaction with the hospitality brand, therefore, creating a more fully immersive customer experience. In a number of instances, these shoppable hotels are establishing partnerships with other local luxury brands to sell their goods within hotel walls. This offers guests a one-of-a-kind experience. For example, Eden Being, a lifestyle and luxury brand under the Oetker Collection umbrella of hotels, offers cashmere by famed designer and architect India Mahdavi.

Because of its ability to drive sales and prolong engagement with a brand, design — now than ever — is paramount in the hotel industry. Will design ascend to top priority within the hospitality industry? Has it already?