Top international hotel trends

Boardrooms are being converted to music studios – giving artists, producers and guests the chance to drop a track. Global chain W Hotels launched its first studio at W Bali recently, with W Hollywood, W Barcelona and W Seattle set to follow suit later this year. It has been a feature at boutique hotels Hotel El Ganzo in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and Nhow Berlin in Germany for some time.

Artworks in hotels are by no means a new concept as we’ve seen with the Olsen, Cullen and Blackman in Melbourne, but hotels globally, like the soon-to-open Andaz Scottsdale in Arizona are now increasingly offering visits to local art studios, where guests can paint, draw and potter.

Hotel owners are increasingly creating their own boutique brands, such as ProvenanceHotels in the US; Art Series in Australia; Ace Hotels globally; Unlisted Collection in Australia, Asia and the UK; Le Germain Hotels in Canada; Highgate Hotels in Miami; Walker Hotels in New York; and Hotels Paris Rive Gauche in France. This means even more choices for the lifestyle-minded traveller.

Hotels are looking to gardens and rooftops for not just kitchen produce, but also cocktail ingredients. At the Mondrian London’s Dandelyan bar, drinks are made with homemade garden bitters, while at the Fairmont Washington, DC, honey from the rooftop beehives is served up in cocktails.