Hospitality Industry: Next Level of Transformed Spaces

We as designers are keenly waiting for new design guidelines in order to incorporate them in hotel designs ensuring their rapid reopening which is a challenge in the current scenario. Also, assimilating the new alters intelligently in the existing design of all the typology of hotels, including guest houses, budget hotels and luxury hotels without jeopardizing the aesthetics, is again crucial and of utmost importance. We, as designers, expect the authorities to introduce a universal touchstone where properties can be categorized into Covid-19 compliant for the comfort, safety and satisfaction of the guests.

The hospitality industry, which is customarily considered to be pretty decent in terms of hygiene will now be required to practice clinical hygiene and the same will be true for other public buildings. In fact, even with no regulation in the norms by the government yet, numerous brands have already taken the aspect into account and have incorporated certain SOPs, maintaining considerable amounts of hygiene levels and social distancing. These SOPs and evident transformations concerning health and hygiene will also cause amendments in design. The alternation will be manifested from habitual changes where sterilization may be subsumed as a part of the design itself and we may need to introduce pre-sanitization areas in hotels. Also, the current air conditioning systems, return air quality, indoor air quality and other technical aspects would need major attention ensuring that apt standards are maintained.

The design fraternity should come together and find solutions to the anticipated problems which may occur for built environments post lockdown in order to curb this global menace

Khozema Chitalwala, Principal Architect & Designer, Designers Group

Social distancing has become an exigency today. The need of the hour for the designers is to look at interior spaces with accommodational functionality or limited areas, where practising social distancing can be problematic. These spaces may include banquets, F&B outlets, meeting rooms, diners where buffets are served, bar areas and even the public areas. Avoiding human interaction/intervention in the hospitality sector is near impossible as the experience of a hotel without hosts can never be the same. Although, we can confer technology like e-menus, virtual voice assistance etc. to some extent, they might come at a huge cost. Also, India, while acquiring great scientific knowledge of planetary composition and being a birthplace of Ayurveda and Yoga, can become a wellness retreat for the world. We can incorporate wellness and recreational centres in our hotels to market a vertical revenue.