Your hotel’s lobby is a customer’s first impression of your business, so you want the layout to feel welcoming and complement your values. Whether you’re renovating your hotel lobby or designing a building from scratch, you will need to learn about hospitality design. Keep reading to discover more about the key elements of hotel design with this ultimate guide to setting up your lobby.
Consider the Functionality of Your Lobby
Before diving into your hotel lobby’s design, consider its functionality. It won’t matter how well-designed the space is if it isn’t functional. The goal of this space should be to serve your customers and provide welcoming, efficient service. Think about how your guests will use your lobby, whether they need to check in or out of rooms, use the space for meetings, or wait for their group to meet up.
Guests can also use the lobby space as a hub to learn more about your hotel and the surrounding area. Consider ways you can improve your entrance area’s functionality, such as incorporating a concierge desk to accommodate your guests.
Take Note of Your Hotel Lobby’s Scale
Once you are ready to start the design process, the first step is to determine the dimensions of your lobby. Measure your lobby’s surface area, height, and capacity to understand how much space you have to work with. Always keep these dimensions in mind during the design process to avoid overcrowding and creating an uncomfortable space.
If you have too much open space in your lobby, it can create an uncomfortable feeling of a sterile and manufactured business. Balance various elements to create a welcoming space for your guests.
Start With Your Front Desk Before Expanding
The front desk is the most important element of your hotel lobby. This is where most of your customer interactions will take place, so your front desk should stand out. However, it should be proportional to the rest of the lobby. If your hospitality business is relatively small, there’s no need to have an expansive front desk with several check-in stations. Since the front desk is the most important piece of your lobby design, you can expand from there after determining its placement and size.
Offer Plenty of Seating Options
Seating is another crucial point of any hotel lobby’s design. The lobby is perfect for guests to meet friends, wait for ride-sharing services, or even pick up food deliveries. You’ll want to provide plenty of seating elements for guests to wait comfortably. Consider how much floor space is available in your lobby when designing seating arrangements. While you want to provide plenty of seating options, you don’t want to overcrowd the space. An overcrowded lobby can feel cramped and make your busiest days difficult to manage. Incorporate plenty of space for walkways and wheeling luggage carts when furnishing your hotel lobby.
Amenities Every Hotel Lobby Should Have
No hotel lobby would be complete without amenities and features to make your guests more comfortable. Here are some amenities to consider during your design phase to ensure enough space for your additions.
Modern Technical Amenities
Guests visiting your hotel will be looking for modern amenities in the lobby. Since they could spend extended periods in your lobby, consider spreading electrical outlets and charging stations throughout the area.
Many guests look forward to free Wi-Fi connectivity as soon as they check in, so make sure the Wi-Fi network extends to your lobby and is stable throughout your entire building. Finally, including modern technology in the lobby, such as hospitality televisions and displays, can make your hotel feel more high-end. Consider installing Samsung hospitality televisions or other popular models to display the news, weather, and entertainment for incoming guests.
Access to Food and Drink
Having food and drink stations is a smart idea for hotels of all sizes. Some lobbies in large-scale hotels have cafés or restaurants. Your guests will be tired after traveling long distances, and the last thing they want to do is leave the hotel after checking in to pick up food. Offering meals or even a snack bar in your hotel lobby can be the perfect pick-me-up for tired guests who need nourishment. Additionally, include a water fountain or refrigerator with various drinks where guests can refill their water bottles or purchase drinks to stay hydrated.
Luggage Transport
Luggage transportation options are essential for any hotel lobby, big or small. Guests who book long trips could be carrying bulky bags and suitcases. Luggage carts take some of the burden off and make it easier to bring their bags to their rooms. However, luggage carts can take up a lot of space in your lobby, so it’s important to designate a place to store them and ensure they don’t get in the way of the comings and goings at your hotel entrance. You may want to establish a cart policy that requires guests to return them within a certain period so they’re always available for your next check-in.
Be Strategic With Lighting
The final step to designing your hotel lobby is to think about the lighting. Now that you have a general idea of where your various amenities and elements will be, you can complement these features with the right light fixtures. You don’t want the lighting to clash with the atmosphere of the lobby you’ve meticulously laid out. When you choose lighting for your lobby’s design, consider the color and strength of the light as well as the design and aesthetic of each fixture. Opt for soft, warm lighting that illuminates a space while offering a comfortable and welcoming tone.
Use this ultimate guide to setting up your hotel lobby to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere for your future guests. If you need some of these key amenities for your hotel, you can find a wide selection of hospitality TVs and other appliances at Transworld Services. We provide high-quality hospitality devices for hotel lobbies, rooms, and any other areas of your business where you need technical support.
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