Crunches, cutbacks and quality design

It doesn’t seem so very long ago that for your average Gulf visitor, the ‘credit crunch’ was the sound your AmEx card made when you accidently sat on it in a luxury yacht. Now of course it’s become an overwrought phrase and lazy shorthand for the world’s general decline in spending.

While the phrase has become rather banal, what it represents is still important, particularly when it comes to hotel design. Those of us who are still looking forward to international vacations are making our accommodation choices based on price, rather than luxury.

The quality of a hotel’s interior design has a massive role to play in the luxury of a hotel, and so at this time when we’re all using price comparison websites to get the best deal, it might seem an unwise move for hotels to splash out on the gold bathtubs and the jewel encrusted carpets.

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However, let’s not forget that while we’re now all judging on price, appearances still matter. We’re booking hotels online but we’re also seeing the photos first. While guests might no longer be looking for luxury, it’s no excuse for hotels to skimp on basic, good design.

Given the choice of two hotels, one costing $150 a night and the other costing $170, there’s still room to sway a potential guest’s opinion. The hotel with the best looking interior is going be the one pocketing the cash.

Guests might not be after the sort of interior that would make an Ottoman palace look austere, but they don’t want their stay to be marked by poorly furnished, unattractive rooms.

Expensive furnishings aren’t a deal-breaker anymore; attractive, well designed spaces can be a deal-breaker. Any good designer should be able to maximise the impact of a space even with limited, non-luxury tools, and it’s that skill that’s going to make the difference for any hotel wanting hear the crunch of a credit card again.