Celebrated hotel designers and their hotel designs
Hotel designer Bill Bensley
Among the best hotel designers is Bill Bensley, who has a company in Bali. And with his Hotel design he won 16 awards, which are listed on his website. For example, he has been awarded the Hospitality Design Platinum Circle in 2017. Another price he managed to get was the Brit List Award, which is an annual British recognition for the best hotel designers. And then in 2020 he was named interior designer of the year by the Interior Design Confederation Singapore. While the IDCS was created by merging the Interior Designers’ Association from 1984 with the Society of Interior Designers, which was established in 1996, in order to represent interior designers in Singapore. Also in 2019 interior designer Bensley got the Destination Deluxe Awards, which specializes in honoring achievements in the sector of wellness. And some of the many recognitions he received are specifically made for crediting sustainability. Among the many others also, he holds one of the China Hotel Starlight Awards. While in the year Bensley got it in 2023 it was held in cooperation with The Center of Asia Hotel Forum (AHF), who organize events in the hotel sector. The prestigious award is referred to as the “Oscar” of hotel design in China.
Hotel de la Coupole MGallery Sapa
Bensley and his team designed the Hotel de la Coupole MGallery Sapa. And the town Sapa in Vietnam used to be an office place for the French settlers in the beginning of the 20th century. Therefor Bensley created a hotel design for this place, which intermixes French luxury style with the Vietnamese style. And the hotel project is absolutely gorgeous.
Capella Ubud in Bali
Another hotel design the company created is the Capella Ubud in Bali. And even though this hotel was planned as a big building with many guest rooms, Bensley talked to the owner, to create it from smaller houses, in order not to destroy the nature in the area. And then made the project a symbol of conserving nature by creating it under the motto not to cut down one single coconut tree in the process. Which makes the luxury hotel at the rice paddies in the rainforest a symbol of sustainability. Also, this hotel design tells the tale of Dutch settlers who arrived in the area in the nineteenth century and putting up their tents. And so each building resembles not only a tent, but also is designed to resemble characters of settlers. Therefore, the hotel has a “tent” of the cartographer, or a “tent” of the explorer. Also, this luxury hotel features handmade teak floors from Java. Also, handcrafted carved doors were commissioned for the surroundings of this 5 star luxury hotel, which took years in the making.
Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui
Yet another Project of this hotel designer is the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui at the Gulf of Siam in Thailand. And There in Koh Samui ten years after designing Capella Ubud another project was designed without cutting down a single coconut tree. And so the team says, that the literally built around the trees, in such a way that some trees remained inside the buildings, such as the hotel restaurant. And they state that those trees enchant the hotel guests. While the design of this hotel is so astonishingly beautiful that we link to this project specifically, even though we link to all the hotels of this company later.
Hotel designer Tara Bernerd
Next up on our list of the best hotel designers is internationally renowned designer Tara Bernerd. She is the founder of the London based company Tara Bernerd & Partners. Her design project Maroma, A Belmond Hotel, Riviera Mara is a 5 star luxury hotel in Mexico. And this hotel is built between the tropical jungle and the Caribbean beach of Mexico. While the buildings are aligned to the sacred geometry of Mayan masons. It has four hotel restaurants that serve Mexican cuisine. The Maroma hotel is located at the largest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere
The Perigon Miami Beach
The Perigon hotel was also design by Bernerds Company. It is located at 5333 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33140, United States. The Perigon is a five-star hotel with 73 residences, which come with 2 to 4 bedrooms. Each of those guest quarters has its own kitchen and an “oversized” terrace, as they call it on their website. Also, the Perigon comes with a hotel restaurant that is partly in front of the building overlooking the pool and the ocean. Other than usual restaurants, the restaurant of the Perigon is only for guests and the people visiting them.
Four Seasons in Fort Lauderdale
Another hotel designer Bernerd created is the Four Seasons in Fort Lauderdale. And as you can hear from the name already this hotel is part of the Four seasons chain of luxury hotels. While this hotel was created together with Kobi Karp Architecture. So Bernerd’s company created the hotel interior design of the Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale in Florida. Also, the company designed the hotel lobby, which comes with a hotel bar where you also can eat all day. Also, her companies created the design for a big hotel spa. And the interior designers tried to create a design which is reminiscent of an earlier area. Therefor, the furnishings of the hotel look like they are from the sixties.
Thompson Chicago
The next hotel design we look at was done for the Thompson Chicago. And in this project the group around Bernerd designed a hotel as one would probably never design it. It actually combines industrial style with a cozy living room atmosphere. The project was completed in 1913, and it is located at the Gold Coast. While Chicago is not at the sea and, Gold coast refers to the coast of the big Lake Michigan. The Thomson Chicago has 246 guest rooms, which were design by her company. Also, they created the interior design concept for the 2 bars and a hotel restaurant called Nico Osteria.
Hotel designer Jean-Michel Gathy
The next hotel designer we will look at is Jean-Michel Gathy. Who lets us in on some of his thoughts about hotel design in general, when he says that a hotel is in itself a business. And therefore a hotel design must serve the purpose of making money, for which it has to be designed functionally, financially and commercially and on top of that be attractive. Gathy from a young age was fascinated with the countries of the world, using his milk money on maps which he thoroughly studied. Which later on made his family let him choose the spots for the family vacations. For which he then studied guide books setting out not only the place but also the sights that were to be visited. Later he studied architecture in Belgium and at some point moved to Asia.
So in order to find out which design styles he especially likes, he was asked buildings he would like to claim to have created. And his answer was that those would be the ancient temples such as those of Myanmar, Luxor or Belize. Another common element of his style is his wish to leave no point of distinction between the interior and the landscape. While for this principle, he uses one of his often used words: Seamless. And also he very much likes using a bigger element of water, like for example a pool area. Because those elements to him have a big advantage. As he says, that at night the outside is not visible, and therefore he likes the water to create reflections and with this create drama. While also he adds another advantage, as he says, that water can dilute the environmental sounds.
By now Gathy has created a hotel design company called DENNISTON ARCHITECTS which now has 150 architects and designers and three additional studios in Singapore, South Africa and Mexico and was actively working on 40 projects at a time. Which might be one of the reasons why Gathy states, that he uses to fly 2 times around the globe in one month. His design style has been described by someone as: “Sometimes dramatic, sometimes intimate, but always charismatic”. And Gathy himself comments on this statement by saying that this also reflects his personality, which he says was sometimes being that of a show-off while also being very romantic. Which makes him conclude, that his style represents his personality. And when asked how his design style changed over the years, Gathy says that he thinks in luxury hotels people come for living the lifestyle. Therefore, he watches for changes in lifestyle because he says that he just applies the lifestyle itself to his hotel designs.
The created interiors are a mix between his European roots and Asian styles. But also his fascination for other countries, which he already had in his childhood, still makes him use the style of the country where he builds a hotel as a part of his hotel design.
When asked what people search for when they hire a hotel designer, he answered, that they are looking for security, by which he means they look for people able to install a profitable business. Which makes customers search for stability, experience and background.
Another thing the hotel designer likes to emphasize in his concepts is, creating a place that couples or lovers can enjoy. So he likes to make his designs be places that suit couples well. And he himself talks about creating places of “emotions and togetherness”.
Just like Bill Bensley also Gathy likes to look at the sustainability, when designing luxury hotels. And so he calls this trait of designs one of his major considerations.