Trends in the Industry

The technology and hospitality industry occasionally overlap a bit. In today's case they share the trends of "Being Green" and one I like to call "Ergonomics".

Being Green is a buzzword in the computing industry and in the hotel industry. Hotels these days are finding new ways to be energy conscious. From the development phase - environmentally conscious building materials, environmentally safe solvents, vegetation roofing and more - to the interior of the hotel - products made from recycled paper, low flush toilets, and programs where linens are changed only when needed instead of every day, lights and heating are activated as a guest checks in, instead of being on all the time - hotels are jumping on the green train.

One hotel in California recently received the world's first LEED (Leader in Energy and Environmental Design) GOLD certification. This is the highest LEED certification awarded to a development to date. Check out the article here.

Another article of interest that I came across is one that tells of guests not knowing what Green initiatives are going on around them. What the study found is that guests are more likely to know what's going on environmentally or in a Green sense if they were from a certain generational demographic. Certainly an interesting read, if not a little statistic heavy. Check the whole article here.

The final thing I wanted to talk about today is the trend of Ergonomics. This is the trend of increasing comfort, reducing distraction and making sure our immediate environment is as healthy as possible. This includes integrations, visual aesthetics, acoustic aesthetics and tactile design. Hotels are jumping on board with new visual and tactile designs, making sure hotel spaces are absolutely quiet or able to control the noises in the environment.

I have been a strong supporter of acoustic ergonomics in my life. I find I can work and play better when I can eliminate certain sounds from my surroundings. Now hotels are doing the same. Lobbies, rooms and common areas are prime targets for acoustic redesigns. If you aren't sold on the idea of how an intelligently designed room can affect your revenues, read this article here. When I stay at my home, or my home away from home, I expect a certain environment to be available to me. I want a nice quiet space (in my case extremely quiet, less than 20dBa at 1m, I've measured...). I want a space that smells nice, that feels like home, and looks good. Visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory. These are our senses, and we must make sure they are happy if we want to be happy.

Sheesh, it all comes down to happy for me. I'm certainly easy to please.