Hotel interior design is of great importance especially if you are looking to create a positive experience for your hotel guests.

So it’s quite obvious that you should set up your hotel design in a way that represents your brand and the audience that you’d like to attract.

Keep in mind that interior design goes beyond the type of furniture you get ⁠— it also entails other details like how the property is constructed.

Talking about new hotel design trends and what the future holds for the hospitality industry, new technology seems to be taking over that sector.

In the past couple of years, we have seen huge changes in the hotel industry in a quest to create a unique experience for the guests.

Hotels are leveraging smart glass technology in so many ways to ensure that they’re meeting their customer’s needs and staying ahead of the competition.

One thing is for sure ⁠— competition in the hotel industry is fierce and plain hotels will struggle to survive in the future.

Top Picks: 8 Best Hotel Design Trends in 2021

If you ask around, everyone would like to know what the future holds in different aspects of their lives. When it comes to the future of the hotel industry, there are a couple of indications that can tell us what’s going to happen this year and in the years to come.

This is very useful if you intend to stay at the forefront of your market.

While we are not at the point where beds make themselves or bathrooms clean themselves – yet, we have seen new and exciting changes in hotels. Most of these may be attributed to smart technological innovations like intelligent glass.

Let’s look at the physical nature of hotels and how we expect them to change in 2021 and beyond:

1. Smart Technology

Smart technology is, in some way, tied in with the idea of the Internet Of Things.

Incorporating this into a hotel requires only a couple of minimal changes but considering the amount of luxury, convenience, and efficiency they offer to guests, every forward-thinking hotelier ought to implement them quickly.

It enables hotel staff and guests to use internet-enabled devices that can transmit data amongst themselves. For example, the smart tech will allow the hotel guests to control the conditions in their room like the temperature, music, power ON/OFF, and brightness of bulbs through voice-activated controls.

Smart glass is a creative technological addition to the hotel room layout – it has been used to vary the privacy levels within a hotel room, allowing guests to switch up the opacity of the shower stall or bathroom’s walls.

Additionally, staff members can leverage a combination of motion or contact sensors to know if the room is empty or occupied. This goes a long way in eliminating awkward room service run-ins.

Guests can also designate their status as “Do Not Disturb” or “Maid Service” from inside using LEDs designed into the room number sign.

2. Facial Recognition And Biometrics

Smart glass is capable of recognizing faces and fingerprints without requiring sensors, circuits, or external power sources.

The data is stored in systems that quickly sort through information and automatically identify individuals.

This speeds up check-ins and also identifies who requires VIP treatment and who doesn’t.

One way in which this is useful is that the smart glass technology may be trained to recognize faces and then built into doors guarding the restricted area.

These types of doors offer advanced security because they’re free from electronic components that could be easily hacked into or overridden.

3. Self Service Kiosks

Self-service systems minimize the need for human-to-human interaction between guests and the hotel staff.

The guests can check themselves in and out at the reception, order food in the restaurant by scanning QR codes, and find their way around the hotel premises without necessarily asking for directions.

Smart glass Malaysia gives hotel guests exciting options when it comes to communicating, contactless check-ins, making payments, and actually experiencing their hotel stay.

The best part about interacting with digital platforms is that one doesn’t even need to download the hotel app.

Instead, they can use their phone camera to scan the QR codes. Reduced physical contact is an important concept within the concept of the coronavirus pandemic and the associated efforts to contain it.

4. Personalized Service

The need for personalization is a major trend, not just in the hospitality industry.

This is fundamentally driven by the rise of big data whereby there’s a growing number of hotel guests who want to be treated as individuals.

Guests feel more satisfied when you cater to their unique preferences rather than treating them like just any random customer.

Hoteliers can optimize their websites to store customer profiles for each one of their guests so that every returning customer is automatically provided with similar services as last time unless otherwise stated. 

Read Also: 5 Ways You Can Customize Your Smart Glass Technology

5.  Homely Lobbies

Most hotel guests don’t mind paying a lot more for convenience as long as they feel home, away from their homes.

To some of them, what this means is feeling comfortable for their entire stay at the hotel no matter how long it is.

They should be able to do anything they want without all the headache of trying to figure out how things work.

For example, with the rise of smart devices in hotel lobbies, guests should be able to use their gadgets and accounts on entertainment platforms.

It’s time to bring this awesome technology to your hotel to make your guests as relaxed as they could possibly be on a trip.

6. Environmental Friendly Designs

The world around us is quickly becoming environmentally conscious so much that it’s starting to influence travelers’ decisions on where to stay.

If your hotel doesn’t use green material and other eco-friendly products or services, you could miss out on great clientele because these environmentally-friendly trends are here to stay.

Nowadays hotels are starting to use solar power and are reducing plastic use.

Aside from that, they’re also attempting to conserve water and promote vegetarian or vegan choices on menus to effectively participate in the sustainability movement.

Overall, customers are becoming increasingly concerned with environmental issues and want to know if the hotels they stay in are behaving ethically and investing in energy-saving solutions.

7. Visual Appeal

Driven by the changing preferences of their guests, hotels are working hard to take up the challenge and ensure that their premises look ‘Instagrammable.’

There’s a focus on aestheticism as hotels stretch their artistic limits and get experimental with their social spaces.

If you’re looking to make your hotel Instagram-worthy, use unique lighting, funky furniture, eye-catching artwork, and creative color schemes.

Cool luxury hotels with great visual appeal are for those who crave novelty, creativity, and over-the-top experiences for their money.

Read also: 14 Ways Interior Design Trends

8. Functional Spaces

Hotel design trends also show a focus on functionality – beautiful interior designs should never outweigh the function.

What we mean is that the features, especially those in the guests’ rooms, should be easy to understand and use. It beats logic if you don’t match form with function.

You should also ensure that the furniture used in common spaces like ballrooms is lightweight, movable, and multipurpose.

Additionally, the areas should be open for foot traffic and accessible for guests with mobility issues.

How Smart Glass Boosts Hotel Ratings

The hospitality industry has gotten more competitive than ever before and hotels are trying their best to keep up with the latest trends to avoid being left behind.

Smart glass offers so much potential in ensuring that your business delivers the kind of customer experience that guests expect.

7 Types of Smart Glass Solutions That You Can Apply!

Some of the different types of smart glass that you can adopt include:

i.  Standard clear glass. This glass uses a laminated glass process to sandwich the PDLC glass between two layers of smart glass. The bond is strengthened with high-temperature pressure.

ii. Hollow glass. This is designed for exterior walls and offers high-performance sound and heat insulation as well as efficient energy saving.

iii. Brilliant color glass. Thus glass is developed based on standard smart glass technologies

iv. Fireproof glass. This glass is developed using fire-resistant glass and standard smart glass with special technology.

v. One-way glass. This glass is developed using one-way glass and standard smart glass with special technology.

vi. Blinds smart glass. This is an engaging smart glass technology that blends blinds effects together.

vii. Pattern blinds smart glass. This is an engaging smart glass technology that blends patterns and blinds effects together.

What Your Hotel Will Gain From Installing Smart Glass: 6 Benefits of Smart Glass To Your Hotel Design

Here are some of the key benefits that your hotel will reap for using smart glass:

1. Hygiene

Measures put in place to ensure that hygiene is strictly adhered to in hotels became especially important with the emergence of COVID-19.

Some of the measures that are a priority for hotels include the provision of hand sanitizer, disinfecting surfaces used by customers, implementing policies related to wearing masks, and ensuring that social distancing rules are followed.

Smart glass is easy to clean and maintain. Germs left on glass doors, windows, tables, or counters can be very easily eradicated. This makes them a hygienic alternative to the traditional metallic hotel doors, wooden tables, etc.

With smart glass, you can rest assured knowing that you’d be creating a cleaner environment for your staff and guests.

2. Enhanced Security

Smart glass is being used as a new way to open doors (with advanced biometric facial recognition software), thus preventing keyless thefts. It has proven to be a very helpful way of protecting valuable items like jewelry left in hotel rooms.

This kind of technology may be used for surveillance by encoding the glass with images of wanted terrorists and installing them in strategic places.

Switchable glass also offers remote-control solutions that can be operated from up to 25m away. This means that getting it installed in your hotel will increase the chances of your guests feeling safer within the premises.

3. Modern

The possibilities of using smart glass in modern designs are endless. There are so many ways in which you can incorporate smart glass into your hotel design to make it more modern whilst improving the customer experience.

For example, with smart glass, hotels eliminate the need for physical room keys.

Light sockets, water faucets, and wardrobe doors can also be modernized so that it’s easy for guests to control every experience on the property.

Apart from removing friction and improving the customer experience, modernizing your hotel increases its star rating.

4. Multifunctional

Technology in hotels has gotten so advanced to the point that they can now rarely operate without it. 

Most of the features that they install serve multiple purposes making them a good investment.

For example, voice control features installed in hotel rooms may respond to requests to turn on lights or devices within the room and also provide guests with answers to questions (more like Siri and Alexa).

5. Privacy

Smart glass offers great privacy when used in both interior and exterior installations. The glass panels can easily change from clear to opaque instantly once you flip a switch, guaranteeing high levels of privacy in bathrooms and shower stalls.

It may also hide away a section or even the entire room in the most stylish and ultra-modern way.

Smart glass has an electrical current passing through it, and this enables it to switch from frosted glass to clear glass within seconds. This makes it an ideal and flexible solution for your privacy needs.

6. Natural Light

Natural lighting in hotels plays a huge role in interior design. It has both practical and aesthetic implications for guests and staff. Unfortunately, it’s one element that is often overlooked.

The right amount of natural light creates a relaxing atmosphere that makes the guests feel refreshed and rejuvenated. Inadequate amounts of natural light can add to stress.

A smart glass window, panel, or skylight offers a next-generation alternative to old-fashioned blinds and curtains, offering greater control and comfort within any room.​

4 Ways You Can Apply Smart Glass In Hotels To Boosts Hotel Ratings

Smart glass technology plays a very important role in the hotel industry, with so many potential applications. This may be attributed to the appealing styling of the glass which looks great and creates relaxed environments.

Another reason why smart glass has become so popular is, as we have covered earlier, this glass is non-porous allowing for easy cleaning and disinfection.

Let’s take a look at the main applications of smart glass in the hotel industry:

1. Bathroom Walls, Shower Stalls

Privacy requirements are extremely important in the hotel industry and typical privacy solutions like curtains raise hygiene issues especially when used in bathrooms.

They are cumbersome to change and clean.

With glass, you’re assured of a more hygienic privacy solution ⁠— an alternative to the hard-to-clean germ-infested curtains and blinds.

2. Hotel Gym

Smart glass can be cleverly used as a partition between different sections of the hotel gym.

When incorporated in minimalist designs, smart glass makes the rooms appear larger and also gives the guests the option of privacy whenever needed.

This clever technology offers a practical solution for natural lighting, privacy, and maintenance requirements.

3. Skylights

Lots of high-end luxury hotels with sophisticated architecture use smart glass on their skylights, allowing light from the sky to flow in whilst protecting the inhabitants from the elements.

This way they can benefit from direct natural light without having to worry about high temperatures in the hotel or damaged furniture and artwork.

If you’re looking to bring life to dark environments by showcasing the fantastic weather outside, consider installing smart glass skylights as they offer a superior alternative to traditional roofing.

The height of the skylight also makes it difficult to install curtains and blinds if there are any privacy concerns. It would be so difficult to operate from below and would, most likely, look messy.

4. Functional Rooms

Smart glass is not a blackout screen so even in its frosted state, it still allows a little natural light to pass through.

This means that you can enjoy natural lighting during the day with a privacy guarantee as opposed to the potential inconsistent blocking of light if you use blinds.

This functionality is highly important in areas where ambiance and light are a priority.

Studies show that natural light has a dramatic impact on peoples’ moods and productivity levels in whatever environment.

So, What’s The Wait?

Smart glass is so important in hotel interior designs because it may be used to control light, heat, and privacy while still providing state-of-the-art security and aesthetics.

This is your chance to enhance guest experiences and hotel ratings.

At Chiefway Malaysia, we pride ourselves as the leading supplier of a unique range of smart glass with class-leading quality and performance. 

Contact us for more information and professional advice whether you’re looking to start your own hotel or upgrade an already existing one.

Our team of experts put in dozens of hours researching trends so they can answer all your questions and bring your ideas to life!