Sleep 2017: School of Love and Loyalty
Europe’s favourite hotel design and development event, Sleep, returns to London’s Business Design Centre 21-22 November with the tantalising proposition, “Loyalty: Lessons in Love”. In a world where everyone wants to try something new, how can hotel design not only attract new customers, but also keep them coming back? With ideas for both creative and analytical mindsets, the 2017 event considers this challenge through diverse partnerships and conversations that seek to define the seemingly elusive concepts of love and loyalty.
A perennial highlight is the Sleep Set challenge, which this year includes four international design teams who each bring a distinct perspective, culture and portfolio that will influence their interpretation of the Sleep event theme. The participating design studios are: Stonehill & Taylor, the hospitality-focused architecture and design studio from NYC; London-based MKV Design which specialises in the interior architecture and design of high-end hotels and resorts around the globe; Italian firm, Il Prisma, with studios in London as well as in Italy and a portfolio that extends across workplace, retail and hospitality; and 1508 London, the leading luxury residential design studio who are bringing their magic to hospitality. Ipsos Loyalty, global leader in customer experience, satisfaction and loyalty research, has helped shape the Sleep Set design brief by asking competitors to consider how their designs can instil enduring feelings and memories that guests are eager to share, recommend and repeat.
Glion Institute of Higher Education UK, dedicated to hotel and tourism management, is also working with Sleep to develop a new research paper that will investigate whether hotel membership programmes are essential to creating loyalty, or if “true love” can arise from a property’s brand DNA.
Sleep’s free-to-attend conference promises a captivating mix of panel discussions, roundtable conversations and rare opportunities to hear from some of the industry’s most influential designers hailing from around the globe. Tristan Auer, whose seminal hotel projects include Les Bains and Hôtel de Crillon, will open the conference followed by a second keynote that afternoon from Jeffrey Beers, whose NYC-based studio is acclaimed for projects such as El San Juan Hotel in Puerto Rico and Dune restaurant with chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten in the Bahamas.
Sessions throughout the two-day conference will reveal a global investigation of loyalty and love. On Day One, panellists Bob Puccini from Puccini Group USA, Ido Garini of Studio Appétit, Netherlands and Simon Rawlings from David Collins Studio, London will discuss F&B trends, and hotel brand identity will be considered by Candice Madrid-Dahlqvist from Millkeeper Studio, Stockholm and Matt Utber of London-based The Plant. Day Two’s speakers include Jason Holley of Universal Design Studio and James Soane of Project Orange, both from London, joining a debate about “post cool” hotels, followed by an exploration of “slow” design by Quentin Dante from Studio Q, Bangkok, and Motti Essakow of Rythms by Design, UK, amongst many other speakers to be announced soon.
Filled with design inspiration, Sleep will be open from 10am-8.30pm on Tuesday 21st November and from 10am-6pm on Wednesday 22nd November. BCFA member GROHE is the event’s Founder Sponsor and host of the VIP Lounge. Visit www.thesleepevent.com for more information and complimentary passes.