interihotel BCN23 was presented “The Journey of Change”

On March 16, 2023, the presentation of the next edition of interihotel took place at the WEcontract BCN showroom, attended by media, collaborating entities, and professionals in interior design and architecture. The hotel and restaurant design event, organized by AMBIT Living Spaces Cluster, will be held in Barcelona from October 18 to 20 at the Barcelona International Convention Center (CCIB).

interihotel has consolidated itself as the leading event on hotel and restaurant design in Europe, with a clear differentiating value proposition. It addresses the hospitality sector from the perspective of interior design, architecture, product design, and customer experience, with a focus on creating the most innovative hospitality spaces for people and brands dedicated to designing and creating them.

“The journey of change” 

Is the theme of Interihotel BCN23, which, through a proposal of five challenging themes, invites hotel and restaurant design professionals to deep reflection and action in creating successful projects and advancing towards a better future for the sector. The creative concept of Interihotel BCN23 reflects a commitment to tackling the challenges of the transformation of the hospitality sector towards responsible, sustainable, and inclusive business models, healthier and authentic spaces, and humanistic, integrated, and efficient technology.

‘Wonderful business’ focuses on interior design and customer experience as a key tool for the success of hospitality projects. 

“Inside Out” centers on the design of interior spaces that promote emotional and physical well-being, as well as the creation of authentic and memorable experiences.

“Regenerative Hospitality” addresses the need to go beyond sustainability to create positive impact for communities and cultural heritage improvement, through the regeneration of local ecosystems. 

“New Materiality“ focuses on the search for more sustainable and environmentally friendly materials, and how designers and the industry embrace this change in raw materials.

Finally, “Brightech“ explores how the integration of artificial intelligence will affect the design discipline in general, and the hospitality sector in particular, by using advanced technology to improve creativity and efficiency, and create new solutions that improve our quality of life. 

In the Interihotel BCN23 edition, these five thematic axes will be addressed through conferences, workshops, brand exhibitions, and interactive activities that allow attendees to firsthand knowledge of the latest trends, solutions, and tools for designing and decorating hotel and restaurant spaces.

Meeting the needs of future travelers

The AMBIT Interiors Living Lab materializes in Interihotel in the form of conceptual hospitality spaces or physical and virtual Concept Rooms. The aim is to respond, from the perspective of interior design, to the needs of new customer profiles and thus project how hospitality spaces will be for new travelers in the future. In this edition, the Capella-García Architecture studio, led by architect and designer Juli Capella, architect Miquel García, and designer Cristina Capella, and Francesc Rifé Studio, led by designer Francesc Rifé, have taken up the challenge of designing one physical Concept Room each.

The process begins with a hospitality trends study elaborated by AMBIT, a selection of emerging customer profiles, and a design thinking workshop with a hotel chain and a restaurant group. The briefing is translated into a design challenge in the design studios and materializes in Interihotel in these two spaces, in collaboration with exhibiting brands. The spaces serve as a laboratory to analyze their usability, user interaction with objects, and emotional response through neuromarketing and artificial intelligence techniques. The generated knowledge is transferred to the participants so that they can incorporate it into their future projects.

On the other hand, the event will feature innovative Concept Rooms in Holographic Virtual Reality, developed by AMBIT, in which two people connected from different locations meet through their hologram in the same virtual space and interact. It is a novel way to teach the interior design of hospitality spaces in a digital environment, as a preliminary step to the construction of a physical prototype.

A top-level program of conferences, debates, and workshops

The unquestionable leaders of the sector pass through the stages of interihotel: interior design and architecture studios specialized in hospitality, hotel entrepreneurs, restaurant group executives, and design managers of hospitality sector companies. More than 90 speakers from more than 10 countries will participate in conferences, debates, and workshops. The conference program will feature keynote speakers such as Luis Gil and Lorenzo Gil (Plantea Estudio), Luis Felipe Mendieta (One Shot Hotels), Diana Espejo (Six Senses Hotels and Resorts), the National Architecture Award 2021 winner, Carme Pinós, Felipe Turell (Conscious Projects), Daniel Truran (B Corp), Daniel Ibáñez (Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia), and Cristina Mateo (IE School of Architecture and Design).

In addition, in this edition, interihotel once again incorporates the “Dialogues” space to give voice to emerging interior design studios with whom exhibitor brands will establish conversations..

A design event, with a lot of business

And design permeates everything at interihotel: from the stands of the more than 150 exhibiting brands to the common areas (from the reception to the conference stage or the rest areas). These common spaces are produced in collaboration with the brands to achieve a boutique setting. However, this does not conflict with business; in fact, interihotel attracts over 2,000 professionals with hospitality projects among its 6,000 attendees.

interihotel is international

The visitors from more than 40 countries who attended interihotel in the last editions have officially given it international status. In addition, the organization invites an exclusive group of top executives from prescribing studios and international hotel groups from the United States, Mexico/Caribbean, United Kingdom, and United Arab Emirates. Hospitality design firms such as Gensler, GVA, HBA, or Wells International and hospitality brands such as Marriott, Hilton, or Hyatt have already participated. For these guests, interihotel creates a privileged networking environment with brands interested in selected markets.

Awards for innovation, space design, and professional trajectory

The interihotel awards recognize the effort of those who contribute to improving the sector in 5 categories: innovation in product for hospitality interior design, best stand at interihotel, best hotel interior design project, best restaurant interior design project, and recognition of professional trajectory. As in previous editions, the awards jury will be made up of individuals designated by representative entities of the hotel sector, architecture, interior design, design, and academia, in the city of Barcelona. The award ceremony will take place on Wednesday, October 18, 2023, at 6:30 pm on the main stage of the interihotel event and will conclude with an exclusive party with speakers, VIP guests, awardees, exhibiting brands, and event sponsors.

More information: www.interihotel.com