The 2025 HD Awards Project Winners

BUDGET/SELECT SERVICE HOTEL PUBLIC SPACE
Motto by Hilton Bentonville Downtown, Arkansas

With the opening of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in 2011, Bentonville solidified its reputation as a cultural destination. The 175-room Motto by Hilton Bentonville Downtown taps into that spirit by putting music and art front and center. Nearly 10,000 records are placed in the hotel, including shelves of vinyl in the lobby that channels the 1970s and the adjacent restaurant Junto Sushi. Melding wood and brick with vintage sake bottles and Japanese ceramics, it has the atmosphere of a Tokyo listening bar.

Guests can also chill out in the green-toned Kohi Coffee and the backyard, where tropical murals and bamboo touches give Bar Kapu the feel of an alfresco hangout along the Lake of the Ozarks. “It just so happens that my college roommate is from Bentonville, and when we were first awarded the project, I asked her about the city,” recalls Riley Kalinowski, designer at Curioso. “She called it ‘a little place with a lot of heart.’ That description stuck with us as we designed this neighborhood hotel with a vibrant, characterful personality. That phrase is now engraved into the sidewalk outside the front doors. I love that the sentiment of a true Bentonville local is what drove the design concept and became our North Star throughout the process.”

Architecture Firm: BGKT Architects, Memphis, Tennessee | Interior Design Firm: Curioso, Chicago | Owner and Developer: Windsor Aughtry Company | Operators: Hospitality America and Indigo Road Hospitality Group (F&B) | Purchasing Firm: AK Designs