Carpets have always held an undeniable charm from the design perspective. Nevertheless, the last few years saw it cede ground to other floor coverings like hardwoods, tiles and vinyls. Richard Morris, Global Business Director of Carpets Inter is confident, though, that this plush covering is set to make a comeback soon, especially in the hospitality segment.
He points out that the right choice of carpets, especially during the pandemic, can help improve breathing for employees as well as the overall environment of the hotel. Therefore, whilst picking one, architects and interior designers should not focus merely on the design and aesthetic appeal but also its eco-benefits. Morris tells Vinita Bhatia that with their updated styles, carpets can complement existing flooring and add definition, durability, and comfort to guest spaces.Â
How can architects and interior designers improve the guest experience at hotels with flooring design?
The right flooring solution provides appealing texture, colour and design in any environment. Moreover, modular carpets can be installed quickly, cost effectively with negligible waste, easily maintained and provide luxurious underfoot comfort to the occupant, whilst providing durability and long term appearance retention to the interior.
Squares and rectangles combined to add flexibility and to ensure that modular carpet can work for any hospitality space from meeting rooms, public spaces, walkways and guest rooms. It is a favourite among interior designers and architects that want to bring the benefits of textile flooring to their projects. With such a diverse choice of colour, structure and pattern, carpet provides vast creative possibility, transforming the mood of interior environments and defining a space.
Do hard flooring options lack the diversity in style, design, texture and construction type that hospitality carpeting can offer?
Hospitality interior spaces are specifically chosen to ensure aesthetic appeal, ease of maintenance, health and safety and overall high performance across the whole space. Every space has very different requirements. The guest experience is one of the most important factors, as is the well-being of all who inhabit the space. From the vast array of flooring products in today’s market, smarter choices are available to ensure a fit for purpose solution for every requirement.
Smarter design choices take into account acoustic control and underfoot comfort to ensure the best health, comfort and relaxation for the guest, performance and productivity for the employees, and the general wellbeing of everyone. These also help the environment and the world we live in by choosing from environmentally conscious suppliers that actively help the planet, develop and choose materials and partners that echo the same philosophy, not just spin marketing stories.
What are some carpet trends for the hospitality industry in the immediate future?
Hospitality interior spaces are using a combination of flooring types, chosen specifically to ensure an aesthetic appeal, health and safety, ease of maintenance, and overall high performance in the whole space. When deciding the selection of flooring, the primary consideration is that it should be ‘fit for purpose’ – the functional performance of the flooring must match users’ requirements for a specific facility and purpose.
This definition not only covers the physical or functional performance, but also the many factors that impact users and occupants, and are a recognized part of the occupant’s experience, e.g., acoustic control, wellbeing, underfoot comfort, health and productivity.
Historically modular carpets have been used primarily in the corporate commercial sector but with the increasing sophistication of design capable tufting machines, more extensive solution dyed yarn palettes, and cushion backing systems, modular carpets now offer the broad decorative appeal and underfoot comfort characteristics preferred by leading interior designers for use in hospitality locations such as hotels, serviced apartments, theatres, convention centres, airports and other public spaces that lend themselves to using creative patterns on the floor.
With hoteliers now accustomed to using modular resilient flooring, the challenges of preventing smooth surfaces triggering airborne dust always an issue in India and suppressing annoying sound travel as a result of poorer acoustic flooring properties, hoteliers were asking what next, as reverting to expensive wall to wall carpets and the cleaning and maintenance challenges were not an option.
How can hotels and restaurants explore areas like corridors and guest rooms for carpets to add a little bit of personality?
Every interior has different challenges and needs with respect to aesthetics and ambience, just as every designer has a different vision for their projects.Whether you are defining different areas with different aesthetics, transitioning from one area to another or helping to navigate safely around a building, our carpet products gives you so many options.
Soft neutrals can be suited to rest areas and guestrooms, add a little vibrant colour to meeting spaces and dynamic environments, and add character to corridors and walkways using coordinating combinations. Smart design is not simply about aesthetics, but how the right choices can make the everyday brighter, more comfortable and help to preserve our environment for future generations.
