Why hotel check-in moved to the bar
The front desk is dissolving into a seat, a tablet, and a welcome drink — hospitality's most practical design change, and the one with the clearest lessons for hosts.
Rosa MarchettiHospitality
Hotels, resorts and short-stay homes read two ways at once: the design of a room, and the occupancy and rate math that keeps doors open.
Spa design principles that work in an ordinary bathroom
Real spas engineer calm with heat, water, sound, and sequencing — techniques that translate to a standard five-by-eight bathroom better than you'd think.
Peter Almeida
Hotel lighting has lessons for every room in your house
Great hotels never light a room from the ceiling — they layer four jobs of light and dim each one. The technique copies to a house for a few hundred dollars.
Rosa Marchetti
Motel conversions and the boutique revival on the old highway
America's mid-century motels — too dated to compete, too well-located to die — are finding second lives as design hotels and monthly housing.
Peter Almeida
What a branded residence actually buys you
A condo with a hotel's name on it can mean white-glove everything — or a licensing deal wearing a tuxedo. The difference is in the paperwork.
Rosa Marchetti