The mood enhancer

A hotel structure is now moving beyond a designed accommodation facility with hoteliers and interior designers focussing on creating the right ambience for the guest. The atmosphere created with soft furnishings not only lifts the guests’ mood, but also brightens up their day, spreads warmth and provides a feeling of home away from home.
A clear concept, colour scheme and a pinch of design elements complete the ‘hotel look.’ Typically, soft furnishings tend to offer the much needed comfort and cosiness, thereby playing a vital role in crafting the overall experience for the guest. Selection of soft furnishings completely depends on the type of hotel – business, leisure or resort and is also influenced by architecture and the surroundings of the property.
Furnishings are defined and designed based on the entire look-and-feel as well as the concept of the hotel. The colour of the room and the furnishings are also selected based on the theme and type of hotel – luxury, resort, business, etc.The designers conceptualise a specific look for different sections of the hotel and hunt for fabrics that are the best fit for the desired look. Ideally, guests would not prefer to visit or stay at a hotel that is dark and seems to close upon them, whereas soothing and fresh colours are an instant feel-good factor.
Soft furnishings act as silent contributors to create the right tone and are the link between a guest and the interior designer’s vision of the hotel. “Soft furnishings are very important as it helps in creating the personality for the hotel. The way you do up the walls will bring out warmth and add character to the space,” explains Payal Joshi, housekeeper manager, Park Hyatt Hyderabad.
While it does add warmth and comfort to the overall experience, soft furnishings also have a story to narrate. A resort may choose local influence to create the ambience, while a luxury hotel is likely to use ornamental décor to give the grandeur effect. “In a well-designed hotel, they have a story to narrate as they speak volumes about the thought behind the design, the practicality of maintenance and the beauty of creativity. They are the elements that bring in life and fun to a hotel,” says Rimi Verma, executive housekeeper, Dusit Devarana New Delhi.
As much as curtains, drapes and upholstery cannot be missed, hoteliers are seeing a strong pull towards wall coverings, largely as there is a wide range available and they also offer a chance to innovate with design. In a hotel set up, wall coverings are used on all the walls of a room, unlike in a residential space where it is used only on one wall. With over a million options and suppliers willing to customise wall coverings, hotels are experimenting with themes, floral patterns, digital and geometric prints, as well as fabric blended wall papers.
Selecting a wall paper has to be done very carefully with look and maintenance as key points to be considered before procuring the product. A wall covering will aesthetically look good at a business hotel and is easy to maintain, whereas it becomes difficult to maintain at resorts catering to families and kids or at a restaurant, as it can get stained. “Wall coverings have to be carefully chosen and be well thought after for the hotel area where it has to be used. Personally, I think a wall covering takes away the soul of the wall, restricting the scope to play around with different options,” opines Joshi.
While each hotel requirement is different, trends too keep changing time to time. Hotels these days use blends of fabrics like silk, raw silk, cotton, polyester, leather, suede and linen. Surprisingly, cotton is getting popular and is used in different density. Cotton sheers with patterns and embroidery with thin thread and low density are currently in trend. Suppliers are seen innovating with fabrics that are anti-stain and fire resistant, while also keeping in mind the durability and ease of maintenance. The fabric and carpet trends today are creating a co-ordinated dramatic or classy impact, by selecting and using fabrics that are simple to exotic, which helps to create a style statement. “Many times special fabrics are developed by us for these concepts. If the fabric selection is done in a correct way, it will definitely make a lot of difference in the appearance,” says Pranab Mahajan, director, Maspar Industries.
As a general trend, saturated colours like grey, beige, hues of navy and plum are popular for hotels. Navy has become the new choice as it has the ability to blend well with the other neutral colours and styles. In terms of design, the modern take on classic patterns are gaining popularity. Floral patterns are ‘in’ and will always be. However, they are used in an interesting manner to create a bold approach by mixing patterns to modernise the entire look.
Moving on from the regular options, colours do not necessarily have to be bound to a specific palette, but can be played around with to create interesting visual interpretations. Different colours, textures and finishes are put together into the space to create a cohesive look, along with different categories of styles such as traditional, rustic, country. “Based on the innumerable hotels we have done, we see there is no current trend in soft furnishings, carpets and walls. It totally depends on the architect’s vision on how he has conceptionalised the look of the hotel based on which the soft furnishings, floor and accessories will be designed and incorporated into the concept,” opines Sujata Mehta, director, Zeba Furnishings.
As much as maintaining the look and quality of the material gets top priority, there are other parameters one must keep in mind while selecting the type of soft furnishings. “While selecting any soft furnishings for the hotel, some key factors taken into consideration are the ambience of the hotel, wash cycle and its durability, heavy and low traffic area, type of colour for daily maintenance, the actual look and feel of the fabric, count of wrap (horizontal threads count) and weft (vertical threads count) in the fabrics,” says Shilpa Kosambia, executive housekeeper, Sofitel Mumbai BKC.
Fabrics selected must be anti-stain and anti-crease, fire resistant and should not run colour. “The design and procurement team sometimes tend to get cost-centric and want to keep it to the minimal. However, most fire incidents happen at restaurants and rooms which makes it necessary to use fire resistant fabrics. It is important to keep safety norms in mind and spread awareness about this to the visitors,” says a spokesperson at D’Décor.
For linen, hotels prefer to use white sheets with 300TC (thread count) at least, while thermo-bonded duvets and microfiber pillows are used widely. A hotel’s green theme policy also contributes to the longevity of the linens and towels. “Initially, designers only considered the look they wanted to create with the furnishings. However, they must also keep in mind the durability, easy maintenance and longevity of the fabrics used. It is important to invest correctly in the right kind of furnishings,” says Sanjeev Kumar Jain, vice president – technical and projects, Premier Inn South Asia.
Every aspect of the hotel experience is crafted with utmost detailing, but it is only the soft furnishings that in a true sense complement and blend well with the hard furnishings. The presence of soft furnishings enriches the guest experience with comfort and warmth and stay true to the Indian principles of ‘Athithi Devo Bhava’.
No wonder, soft furnishings are hard to miss.