Hospitality Design Sparkles in Las Vegas

Say goodbye to cookie-cutter hotel rooms and hello to unique properties. Expect more luxurious furniture and amenities, especially in outdoor areas. Look for splashes of color and more technology. And make sure to address wellness and the environment. Those are just a few of the trends found at HD Expo + Conference, an annual gathering for all things hospitality design that was held last week.

It is fitting that HD Expo is held annually in Las Vegas. Las Vegas boasts a massive hotel inventory, with over 150,000 rooms, making it the largest hospitality market in the U.S. It is also a hotbed for the restaurant industry. Some of the biggest names in the culinary world own and operate restaurants in Las Vegas.

The show itself was strong with nearly 20,000 gathering for the event held at Mandalay Bay, though it felt a bit less crowded than last year. The expo floor included everything needed to create a hospitality space, from guest room furniture to robes; from flooring to in-room refrigerators.

Based on what was exhibited and in talking to hospitality specialists, designers are going to have a lot of fun creating the hospitality spaces of the future.

Steve Bramson, CEO at DecoScape, an outdoor furniture company, said designers are demanding unique products to create cutting edge hospitality designs.

“They don’t want the same old thing,” he said. “That’s why we are combining materials and designing things differently. This isn’t your typical outdoor furniture.”

In fact, outdoor furniture was one of the stars of the show, proving how important outdoor spaces are to hospitality and corporate designs. DecoSpace not only counts traditional hospitality buyers like hotels and resorts as customers, but also huge companies like JP Morgan Chase and Google.

It was also apparent that some furniture makers are recognizing hospitality as a growing and vibrant sector. While no one really knows exactly how many hotels and hotel rooms are in the world, it is estimated that there are 17.5 million guest rooms in 187,000 hotels worldwide, making it a huge market. It is also filled with huge potential customers. The largest hotel company in the world, in terms of number of properties, is Wyndham Hotel Group, with over 9,200 hotels. While Wyndham has the most properties, Marriott International has the largest portfolio of hotel rooms with about 1.4 million worldwide.

Ethnicraft, a 30-year-old furniture maker, entered the hospitality market in 2018, said Valentin Vercruysse, U.S. sales manager. “Our roots are in residential,” he said, “but we have furniture in airports, hotels and lobby areas. Like the corporate market, the trend in hospitality is creating more homey, inviting spaces that aren’t sterile and our furniture works to do just that.”

Still, it’s not as simple as just jumping from the corporate market to hospitality. While office furniture is built tough, hospitality products take a literal beating, said Katrina Triska of Emu. “It has to be able to stand up to the traffic,” she said.

Hospitality is a different market, especially when it comes to distribution. You don’t find many dealers attending HD Expo simply because they aren’t used on many hospitality projects, though that is beginning to change ever so slightly.

Technology is changing the hospitality market as well. Robots are being used to check people into hotels and AI can personalize your room temperature. Guests are making decisions as much today based as much on the sustainability of a hotel room and its amenities as they are on price and comfort.

After taking a beating during the pandemic, the hospitality market has come back strong. In 2024, the global hospitality market expanded to approximately $4.9 trillion, driven by increased leisure and “bleisure” travel, rising international tourism, and higher profits due to demand recovery in key regions like the Middle East and Europe. The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) projected that the sector’s global economic contribution would reach an all-time high of $11.1 trillion in 2024, representing about 10% of global GDP. Between January and September 2024, global tourism grew to 1.1 billion travelers, up 11% from the same period in 2023.

The outlook is good as well. Between 2022 and 2032, the travel and tourism sector is anticipated to grow at an average annual rate of 5.8%, outpacing the projected global economic growth rate of 2.7% during the same period.

Once the market of bland tans and grays, the hospitality market is seeing pops of color, including hot colors like calming blues and rich greens. Companies are also trying to woo designers with high tech sustainable materials and smart design. Outdoor furniture maker Dedon introduced several projects at HD Expo using a woven fiber made from sugarcane waste that will last for 10 years, even in the harshest climates. Its Atolo product was designed by Claudio Bellini.

Doug Olson of Coast to Coast Furniture said his company uses HD Expo to connect with designers who specialize in hospitality design. And he’s found they want unique designs. “There’s so much more curiosity from designers in the last few years to try something different,” he said. “There is this trend in hospitality toward truly creating spaces that offer a sense of wellbeing.”

Benchmark was at HD Expo showing off its new outdoor cafe series of metal chairs and tables – called the Enlo Collection — designed by Qdesign in Chicago. Rick Joutras, design director of Qdesign, was at the show for the launch and explained the design thinking behind the collection.

“We created the chair with sloping arms so it tucks under the table easily and without scratching the paint on the arms,” he said. “Stability and materiality were both important in this design.”

After visiting HD Expo last year, 9to5 Seating became an exhibitor at this year’s event. Director of Marketing Su Pak said the company had good discussions with several hotel chains about using the company’s seating products.

HD Expo is about more than just products. There was an extensive lineup of speakers on the floor of the show at the HD Park, hospitality design icons and visionaries including Kit Kemp, the creative mastermind behind Firmdale Hotels, hotelier Sam Nazarian, Wynn Design + Development’s Todd-Avery Lenahan, and the founding partners of AvroKO: Kristina O’Neal, William Harris, Greg Bradshaw, and Adam Farmerie.

Visitors also found innovation in unexpected places at HD Expo. One company was showing off a new luggage rack for hotel rooms with an expandable surface that will actually support your case better. Another was displaying PursePegs, hooks for holding your purse off the floor of restaurants and other public spaces.

“HD Expo + Conference is more than an exhibition; it’s a launchpad for the future of hospitality design,” said Tim Fearney, show director, Emerald, HD Expo + Conference’s parent company. “This year we have 80-plus never-before-seen exhibitors showcasing cutting-edge products. It’s where new ideas, business insights, and connections converge in a thriving collaborative ecosystem.”