Have Your Say … Is It Instagramable?

In the Third of our new discussion series ‘Have Your Say’ we are posing the question ‘Is It Instagramable?’

At our recent Manchester Open event SPACE magazine Features and Product Editor, Tonje Odegard spoke with No Chintz Creative Director, Lucy Goddard about changes in the hospitality sector over the last 5 years.  Lucy introduced the audience to the concept of ‘Instagramability’:

‘I’m not sure if it’s in the dictionary yet, but the term “Instagramability” has become probably the biggest change in all of our design briefs; it used to be budget and now it’s ‘it needs an Instagram point’. 

Instagram (and social media) has not only changed the way that we’re designing hotels, but it’s effecting our behavior within the hotels.  We’ve probably all been guilty of leaving our partner at the bedroom door while we run and get all of our interior design shots to populate our feed and make sure we’ve got the best photo-worthy pictures, or stopping dinner for a flat-lay to put it on Instagram before carrying on.

People are obviously Instagraming interior shots and the bedheads and stuff but also things like the collateral in the bedroom, so the branding, the little extra bits that you get.  People want to capture the essence of the hotel and much of that is branding or the food they serve.  If you look on Instagram, there’s always somebody in bed with a nice coffee, there’s always a flat white with a nice swan on it and a nice interior design magazine next to it. And a bit of a bed sheet, and they’ve tagged themselves into that hotel because the hotel’s got a good reputation.

I also think what’s really interesting is that depending on the Instagramability of a project, people are picking and curating their stays based on whether there’s photo-worthy content. We did a tour recently in London, a concept called Lock Living, which is a service apartment. The designer and the developer said that they’re getting a lot of southeast Asian tourists and when they ask how they found it they say it’s an app called the Redbook in China where tourists see what the best Instagram shots are of a place. They are picking their hospitality stays based on how beautiful the hotel will be to stay in and what Instagram shots they can get to populate their feed to generate more followers and make them more interesting.

Instagram is a little bit wider than just the interiors, I think it’s making the hotel brands think about everything that they’re putting in. From the way you find it, the environmental graphics, the funny quirks in the lift as you go up and down, what breakfast looks like!’

How important in Instagramability to your designs, your business and the Hospitality sector?  We would like to hear your opinion!

Please join this discussion by leaving your comment below or by tweeting us at @DesignInsider1