Modern chain hotels have become design
beacons for the latest in hip, chic and stylish flare. Their lobbies are
adorned with progressive art installations. Their restaurants feature the
latest trends and crazes in high-end food experience. Their bars are some of
the swankest nightclubs in the city. However, is all this panache missing the
point and even alienating some patrons?
We are currently experiencing the rise in a
new segment of power players on a global business scene: the nerd. Lost are the
days of wedgies and name-calling; the nerd has now taken a prominent place near
the top of the social ladder. Champions of software in a digital age, fan-boy
gurus in an era of comic culture, entrepreneurial rebels in a time where big
business is giving way to the little guy – we are part way through a shift
where the nerd is becoming the cool kid.
Yet while many industries have embraced
this new four-eyed segment, the travel and tourism industry still feels to be
largely clinging to a past of letterman jackets and wet-towel whips. Where are
the ping-pong tables and bean-bag chairs? Where is the gaming room and fully-integrated,
hotel room Xbox system? Where is the hotel social networking site to help me
find a dinner guest? Where are the interactive bar tables? And perhaps most
importantly, where is my robot butler?
A handful of hotels have cropped up in
recent years that are capitalizing on this opportunity. Hotel Tomo in San
Francisco features anime-inspired décor and deluxe gaming suites with 6ft
screens. The Pod Hotel in New York has been nicknamed the “Facebook Hotel” for
creating an environment of sharing and connecting with other guests. The
Capsule Inn in Tokyo is designed around fully-integrated sleeping modules that
leave every needed device – TV, radio, clock, etc – accessible from the supine
position in bed.
However, the Marriotts, Hiltons and
Sheratons of the world continue to churn out clones of themselves designed
around appealing to their vision of the typical traveller – a segment which is
shrinking over time and may never have existed as they were perceived in the
first place. Typical is becoming atypical, people’s tastes are evolving and
hotel patrons are hungry for unique experiences. Who has the guts to step up
and try cooking something new?
