Changes Afoot: Hotel Flooring Design Trends
The latest flooring trends are quickly making their way through the industry. People are traveling again and staying in hotels, with a new set of expectations influenced by the pandemic. Shifts in guest preferences are making flooring more practical, warm, and designed for comfort and cleanliness.
In this post, we’ll discuss what’s new in flooring, why it’s an integral part of your hotel, and how Innvision Design Studio keeps ahead of the curve regarding flooring trends.
The Latest Trends in Flooring
Compared to a year or two ago, colors are getting warmer. We see truly neutral warmer gray tones, which bring warmth to a space without yellow or red undertones. Sometimes, the cool and warm neutral colors are present simultaneously, which helps tie everything together.
There has also been a shift to abstract patterns, textures, terrazzo, and some stone look when it comes to LVT—Luxury Vinyl Tile—a popular hard surface that costs less to install than tile. The latest LVT technology makes it durable, water-resistant, and long-lasting, although tile with epoxy grout is still the most durable and easiest to maintain.
Recently, machine-tufted carpet manufacturers have introduced a precision-sculpting technology that creates multi-level texture and definition. This creates a hand-crafted look that communicates quality and the feel of home.
The most significant shift we’ve seen is a preference for more hard flooring in guestrooms with area rugs to offer a sophisticated and residential feel. This flooring combination also gives the perception of better cleanliness, a key focus in response to the pandemic. Hard surface flooring is easier for housekeepers to clean and sanitize.
The Importance of Flooring In A Hotel
Flooring plays a vital role within a hotel’s operations, functionality, and design. Functionally, it helps with sound reduction, as softer flooring can absorb noises such as footsteps or hallway echoes. Flooring can also designate different areas, create circulation, identify seating groups, and help guests find their way. It’s also essential to select the appropriate material based on usage. For example, heavy-duty flooring like tile would work best for wet or highly trafficked areas.
Flooring also impacts the guest experience. For example, no one likes to step on cold tile from their bed in the middle of winter. When designing, we try to make the area around the bed carpet, which could be as simple as adding an area rug beneath the bed that is slightly larger than the bed itself. This adds to the residential feel that guests love.
Flooring, especially carpet and rugs, can help tie everything together with color. Typically, tile and wood flooring do not get replaced with every renovation. Carpet, however, is an easy medium to bring together the base and accent colors in furniture and finishes as they often get replaced with the soft goods during renovation.
How Innvision Design Studio Stays On Top of Flooring
We find that custom-designed and boutique hotels are all about the locality and regional flair. For example, we’re currently working on a project at an old grist mill in Columbus, Georgia: the City Mills Hotel. We reclaimed the wood in the building and used it for flooring in the hotel’s restaurant.
In a couple of projects recently, we’ve used Definity carpet from Durkan. They are always ahead of the game in terms of flooring trends and their product offers lots of texture and details. We anticipate that the design element of hard surfaces paired with rugs is here to stay. After implementing this combination, many of our clients wonder why they hadn’t done it sooner! The pandemic certainly played a role in prompting this trend, as cleanliness became one of the top priorities in hotels.
Although colors and patterns tend to change every few years, we don’t simply design for the trend. Instead, we plan for timelessness while in keeping with the design concept.
ID Studio brings together a team of talented and experienced professionals with full-service design capabilities and processes. To learn more about how your hotel’s new construction or renovation can get access to the latest trends, contact Innvision today.
