With HD Expo + Conference 2022 less than two months away, here’s a preview of some of the industry professionals you’ll hear inspiring insights from during the three-day event at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, April 26th–28th. Register today!
Alvaro Montoya Mora
Regional Vice President + Lifestyle Studio Head
Hyatt Hotels
A native of Chile, Alvaro Montoya Mora cut his teeth with tonychi studio in New York and as the design director at SEE, a renowned interior design firm in South America before joining Hyatt in 2016. In 2020, he ascended to the role of regional vice president and studio head for Hyatt Design Services, where he has been the driving force behind some of the brand’s most notable projects, overseeing the design development of Hyatt’s lifestyle brands, including Alila, Andaz, and Thompson. “Having the opportunity of conceiving spaces where we can have a real impact in people’s lives is meaningful,” he says. Here, he discusses lessons learned and Hyatt’s new role in the ever-changing lifestyle segment.
What are your biggest takeaways from the last two years?
The biggest lesson I’ve learned is the importance of human relationships and connecting with others, and how the lack of these interactions affects our wellbeing. Being forced to isolate ourselves in our homes for months has showed us that as humans we need each other to grow as a society. This creates a lot of value for the hospitality industry, as it is in the core of what we do to create the spaces for these relationships and experiences to happen. Now more than ever, we should focus our work on creating unique spaces and personalized service, allowing people to connect and explore beyond their own environment.
An eclectic gallery wall at Bar Lis in the Tara Bernerd-designed Thompson Hollywood
How do you continue to evolve Hyatt’s lifestyle portfolio?
We’re learning this new wave of travelers is looking for unique experiences with a desire to feel that they belong to the location they are visiting. Hotels for many years were designed as a carbon copy that could be replicated anywhere. Nowadays, personalization and uniqueness are important assets. At Hyatt, the way in which we approach our lifestyle portfolio is by delivering enriching experiences in new and exciting ways.
How do you differentiate Hyatt’s offerings from the many lifestyle brands out there?
While trends help guide our design process to an extent, it is more important to listen to our guests and deliver upon their desire to uncover honest and unique experiences. Personality and authenticity are two characteristics that should prevail beyond any trend when creating lifestyle products. When we encase ourselves as designers in a trend, we limit our creative process to a specific aesthetic, which limits the opportunity to create an authentic product. We should be looking for things that reflect the individuality of a destination, the sense of belonging to a neighborhood, or the unique lifestyle of a local.
Hear more from Alvaro:
Lifestyle and Beyond
Tuesday, April 26th
3:30–4:30 p.m.
Location: HD Social Hub
Dyonne Fashina
Founder + Principal
Denizens of Design
Denizens of Design, the Toronto studio Dyonne Fashina founded in 2014, is guided by the notion of empathy. This is evident in projects like the McMichael Café at McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, where she sourced everything locally, reflecting the gallery’s emphasis on Canadian artists. In 2021, Fashina was honored with HD’s inaugural HDAC Awards of Excellence, which recognizes exemplary work in the industry by those working to advance the field through the promotion of diversity, inclusivity, and equity. Here, she discusses how her work reflects her compassionate mindset.
Denizens of Design collaborates with a curated network of individuals and smaller firms for each project. How do you think the firm’s name speaks to your ethos?
Initially, what it represented to me was this idea of traveling and hospitality, because the word means inhabitants of a particular space. I see it as inhabiting the design process as an idea, and then being able to translate designs across boundaries—working internationally or locally, in small or large communities.
The penthouse suite at the Fives Downtown in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico evokes the ocean with blue and green hues
What does empathy mean to you?
Empathy as a mode in business has become something where people roll their eyes a bit. I want to challenge that. I’m an emotional person. I’m an empathetic person. I come from a family that devotes themselves to charity, and throughout my career, I’d learned that emotion and empathy didn’t belong in business. Or that’s what I was told. As creators, we have to use things like emotional investment to connect with our clients, to connect with users, to even connect with the past.
What draws you to hospitality?
There are so many aspects of hospitality that care for human needs and human beings. I love that interaction and engagement with new communities, and what it brings to not only the person coming to the space, but the people working there. That feeling like ‘I’m helping somebody,’ I love that.
Hear more from Dyonne:
HDAC Series: Holistic Wellbeing and Community by Design
Wednesday, April 27th
Noon–1 p.m.
Location: DesignWell Pavilion
Tom Ito
Hospitality Leader + Principal
Gensler
Tom Ito launched the hospitality division of Gensler in the ’90s with the renovation of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Ever since, he has been behind some of the firm’s most audacious projects, including the 18-million-square-foot CityCenter on the Las Vegas Strip and the eco-friendly Shore Hotel in Santa Monica, California. The Los Angeles-based Ito credits Gensler’s diverse portfolio and loyal clients for the firm’s continued success. Here, he discusses technology’s role in evolving the guest experience and more.
Gensler is one of the largest architecture firms in the world. What do you attribute the firm’s longevity to?
Our diverse practice allows our work to be enriched by the deep network of experience from our designers. Many projects that are hospitality-based are mixed-use, so we’re able to provide a diversified experience that integrates hotel, office, retail, and residential by tapping into our experts who specialize in everything from workplace and residential to product and digital experience design. Additionally, we owe a lot of our success to the fact that we often receive work from referrals and repeat clients. In fact, 85 percent of our business is repeat clients. Because we’re a global practice, we’re able to capitalize on shifting economic cycles between countries. As some regions’ needs decrease, others increase.
White-oak veneered slats clad the lobby walls at the Hilton La Sabana in Costa Rica
What’s next for the hospitality industry?
Leisure travel is starting to pick up again, but lifestyles are also changing. People are traveling for a variety of reasons. They’re looking for experiences, learning opportunities, relaxation, or a chance to socialize. People have different needs, and hotels will need to respond to all of them. The greatest opportunity for operators is embracing technology even further, which can allow for more personalization and ease of travel for today’s tech-savvy guests.
For the next generation of travelers, sustainability and environmental concerns are a large factor for how they make decisions or associate with certain companies or brands. Hotels will need to show their commitment to these evolving expectations. This is where design can play a role. It may be from material selection to back-of-house functions that can streamline operations or convert underutilized assets into hospitality spaces. We’ve found that work, retail, and even healthcare services can be successful in a hybrid world, therefore there is no denying the desire for travel. This is going to drive the experience sector and hospitality is right at the center of that.
Hear more from Tom:
The Agility Playbook
Wednesday, April 27th
12:30–1:15 p.m.
Location: HD Social Hub
Kelsey Sheofsky
Founder + CEO
Shelter Co.
Acknowledging a gap in the events industry, Kelsey Sheofsky, along with her husband and cofounder Mike, created Shelter Co., an outdoor-focused event and production company headquartered in Northern California. The multifaceted business has since expanded into the retail realm with outdoor gear offered via the Get Out and will debut a permanent hospitality outpost, camping resort and pool club, the River Electric, in Sonoma County, California in the next year. Below, Sheofsky explains how experiential design should emphasize guest comfort and satisfaction above all else.
Since launching Shelter Co. in 2012, how has the business evolved?
In 2012, most people didn’t even know what glamping was. The idea of throwing a camping event has grown a ton since then, and people are much more excited about bringing their guests to far-flung locations. We launched with only five sleeping tents and thought we would grow to maybe 20 or 30. We now have more than 500 tents of varying sizes with all sorts of furnishing options. We’ve grown the business based on what we see as holes in the market. Because we design most of our own furnishings and soft goods, we are able to be nimble and meet current demands quickly.
Shelter produced a retreat for venture capital firm Sequoia in the Santa Cruz Mountains in California
How has increased demand for outdoor events over the past two years shifted your business model?
The big change for us was adding longterm rentals as a category. The different needs during COVID-19 opened a whole other side of business to us. We worked with Google beginning in fall 2020 to build longterm outdoor meeting spaces on several of their campuses. (We are about to install our sixth in June.) We’ve now replicated this model for other businesses on private properties looking to add additional bedrooms or office and play spaces safe from the elements.
What does experiential design mean to you?
It’s peeling back to what’s essential and creating a flawless support layer to build upon. I always say no one will remember the flowers or nine-course tasting menu if the toilets are gross. All too often, emphasis is put in areas that don’t contribute to guest comfort and that’s a mistake. Everything we do at Shelter Co. is for the guest experience, not for our own portfolio or Instagram feed. We know what areas of design matter to the success of the event and guide our client’s budgets accordingly.
Hear more from Kelsey:
Leading-Edge Experiential Design
Wednesday, April 27th
1:30–2:30 p.m.
Location: DesignWell Pavilion
