Hyatt acquires hotel booking service Mr & Mrs Smith, tech pioneer Geoffrey Hinton quits Google, and the hospitality design industry convenes at HD Expo in Las Vegas. All that and more in this week’s Five on Friday.
ICYMI: Highlights from HD Expo + Conference 2023
Photo by PWP Studio
Thousands of industry colleagues attended HD Expo + Conference 2023 this week at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Opening day featured captivating sessions hosted at three activation spaces: HD Park (a collaboration between Williams-Sonoma Business to Business and Tarkett Hospitality), the DesignWell Pavilion (crafted by Highgate Hotels and Crème), and the Social Hub (conceived by Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants).
This year’s Best Booth awards saw Williams-Sonoma Business to Business take home Best in Show, while Bryan Ashley and Concretti Designs nabbed Best Large Both and Best Small Booth, respectively. Other highlights included a happy hour hosted by the Hospitality Diversity Action Council (HDAC) in collaboration with Valley Forge Fabrics, where the board welcomed prospective members and mentors to join its mission of expanding inclusivity and equity across hospitality and design industries. The ever-popular HD/ISHP Owners Roundtable also returned and the 26th annual IIDA/HD Expo Product Design Awards.
The “Godfather of AI” issues a warning
Tech pioneer and academic Geoffrey Hinton has exited Google after more than a decade and joined a chorus of fellow tech leaders urging corporations and consumers to heed a warning. The New York Times reports that Hinton, whose technological innovations—like neural networks—set the foundation for today’s emerging AI systems and earned him a 2018 Turing Award, now even “regrets his life’s work.” Of AI technology, he tells the Times, “Look at how it was five years ago and how it is now. . . . Take the difference and propagate it forward. That’s scary.” Hinton stokes mounting fears over technology like ChatGPT and Google Bard evolving into tools for misinformation and automation, further unsteadying a shaky job market. More than 1,000 tech leaders and researchers recently signed an open letter calling for a six-month moratorium on the development of new AI technologies for the risks they pose. Nearly 20 members of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Technology issued a similar letter as well.
David Adjaye’s bronze artwork on display in London
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Ghanian-British architect David Adjaye is the focus of the inaugural exhibit at the new Carpenters Workshop Gallery flagship in London. The gallery is now housed within historic Ladbroke Hall following three years of renovations, which were assisted by Adjaye. A series of new Yaawa bronze furnishings expand the architectural maestro Monoform collection, ranging from elongated banquet tables to fluid dining chairs all defined by rounded edges and smooth, polished surfaces. “Yaawa is an exploration into the nature of bronze,” Adjaye tells Surface. “Normally affiliated with artisanal craft or weaponry, I see bronze as a noble material that has a deep lineage and history in Africa.”
Hyatt buys hotel booking platform Mr & Mrs Smith
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Hyatt has revealed plans to acquire UK boutique hotel booking site Mr & Mrs Smith for nearly $66 million. Skift reports that the deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2023, would add direct booking access to properties within the Mr & Mrs Smith platform through Hyatt’s website and mobile app. The platform offers booking for 1,500 handpicked luxury and boutique properties and touts a membership base of one million users. The transaction could even double the number of global boutique and luxury properties in Hyatt’s direct booking channels. More than 100 Mr & Mrs Smith employees are expected to join Hyatt’s commercial services team, with Tamara Lohan remaining CEO and James Lohan serving as chief creative officer.
MAD Architects reveals mixed-use tower in Ecuador
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Beijing-based firm MAD Architects has unveiled its design of the Qondesa tower in Quito, Ecuador. The mixed-use complex, which is the practice first project in South America, will soon be the tallest building in the Ecuadorian capital. Situated at the threshold of the 165-acre La Carolina Park, the tower comprises apartments and numerous amenities and common areas to establish a new vertical community. ArchDaily reports that the design draws upon the natural surroundings to promote an ecological future as well.
