Hotels future forum

Hybrid thinkers go beyond the boundaries of convention at the 2010 sixth Design Hotels Future Forum in Berlin.

Hosted by Claus Sendlinger, founder and CEO of Design Hotels, the Future Forum was held this June in Berlin to deal with the subject of “Hybrid Thinking” in the context of hospitality.

This year, for the first time, Design Hotels teamed up with DMY, the International Design Festival in Berlin, and with the Bauhaus Live Workshops of the Bauhaus Archive. The sheer number of events meant that Berlin turned into an arena for the discussion of architecture and design this June.

The speakers at this year’s Future Forum were pioneers and personalities from the fields of hospitality, architecture, design and art. The symposium, which took place at the Bikini House in Berlin’s Charlottenburg neighbourhood, kicked off with a welcome event following the topic of “Challenge Your Senses” by Ottmar Pohl, chef de cuisine at Cosmo Hotel in Berlin, Hans Becker, chocolatier from Lapp & Fao, and winemakers Irène Tolleret and Michael Trenz.

Sextantio, The Civita Caves, Matera, Italy.

Sextantio, The Civita Caves, Matera, Italy.

Image: Design Hotels

On day two, Chris Sanderson and Martin Raymond of the Future Laboratory in London gave an insight into social movements and business trends of the coming years. Dr David Bosshart, CEO of the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institut in Zurich, outlined why hybrid thinkers have the ability to shape entire industries. Editor-in-chief of Frame Robert Thiemann then presented a vast selection of hybrid concepts from around the world, followed by Sissel Tolaas who talked about her fascinating work as a smell researcher, chemist and scent artist. Tolaas, who has exhibited at MoMA in New York, is a professor at the Harvard Business School, and works with international companies. Finally Lars Krückeberg and Wolfram Putz of Graft architects, Berlin, spoke about interdisciplinary techniques and global networks, before designer Werner Aisslinger presented the top ten design talents from this year’s DMY.

Hybrid thinkers blend different skills and fields of thought to develop innovative concepts. Hybrid thinking requires much more than a multidisciplinary team – it requires a team of multidisciplinary people. Like-minded hoteliers around the globe have begun to create hybrid properties. Multidimensional hotel concepts focusing on authentic experiences are on the rise, combining elements from galleries, hospitals or film theatres with the traditional idea of hospitality.

Aimed at investors, forward-thinking hoteliers, architects, designers and creative minds, the symposium served as a very good platform from which to predict the future of the travel industry. Three major trends emerged.

Future Forum.

Future Forum.

Image: Design Hotels

“Betapreneurs” describes a new entrepreneurial mindset that is about an understanding of business and possibility that is formed entirely by knowledge of the web and the power of launching ideas in “beta” mode into the non-virtual world. Their approach is flexible, daring, risk-friendly, small-scale, networked, highly responsive and in continual development, perfectly suited to these unpredictable and volatile times.

“Leanomics” is the approach of creating a lean and efficient business with economic criteria and simple, clean, social, natural and aesthetic messages and products – basically, a decluttering environment with cognitive simplicity, to allow a recreational and unobtrusive residence for the guests.

“Valuenomics” describes the blurring of value and economy. Customers turn away from mass markets and chain hotels to look for a more individualized niche market. They expect an encounter, an experience or a story, which means a holistic hospitality concept. More and more the human side of dealing with different people gets into focus, – the hotel as a social hub.

At the end of the day, the perception of hybrid thinking in terms of hospitality is summed up into the fusion of multiskill, open-mindedness and creativity coupled with lots of passion. Already, visionary hoteliers around the world have started to create hotels that are far beyond the original purpose of simply providing a bed.

Design Hotels Future Forum designhotels.com
International Design Festival Berlin dmy-berlin.com

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Published online: 1 Dec 2010
Words: Sylvia Robeck
Images: Design Hotels

Issue

Artichoke, December 2010

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