The hotel lobby: A tale of two stories
“The lobbies are always the best-looking place in the hotel — you wish you could bring out a cot and sleep in them.” Andy Warhol
The lobby is often considered the "DNA" or nerve - centre of the hotel. Whilst serving as a central hub that reflects the style of the hotel, it simultaneously provides a space for guests to interact - be it to check-in, check-out, ask questions to the front desk staff or concierge or wait for taxis or shuttles, and maybe engage with other guests. At its best, the hotel lobby isn’t just a transitional space; it’s a destination. A well-designed lobby invites, orients, calms, and excites, all at once. It acts as a stage where luxury is not merely seen, but sensed.
Hotels have known the importance of the arrival experience for decades and there are many fine hotels that are energizing their efforts to dazzle guests during the first, crucial 15 minutes of their entrance at the lobby - or at least avoid annoying them.
The moment a visitor steps into a hotel lobby, they should feel a sense of warmth and comfort. In hospitality design, no space brings as much weight or expectation as the hotel lobby. It is the handshake, the welcome note, the first frame of the guest experience. The key ingredient here is space. The amount of open space in a hotel lobby is a balance between stylistic design and practicality.
Alas, there are some hotel lobbies that have failed in overcoming this quintessential challenge. I’ve walked into hotels where there was too little floor space, making the lobby feel overcrowded and awkward to move around or entered huge empty lobbies that felt soulless and cold with marble surfaces that shone brightly under unflattering lighting and a long reception desk that posed a somewhat intimidating focal point.
A general yardstick used by hotel designers, is to aim to have enough open floor lobby space to accommodate roughly 10-15 percent of the hotel’s guest capacity at any given time. This will ensure the lobby retains a healthy balance of breathing room and coziness.
What’s true for almost every hotel is that the lobby is the entry point for your guests. In other words, it’s where you are likely to make your first in-person impression – and first impressions are everything. Mind you though, first impressions don’t always start at the reception. It can begin at the entrance, before a guest has seen the lobby. That first interaction sets the tone for everything that follows; vis-à-vis with the first person encountered and the acknowledgement of one’s presence and the energy – is it warm enough to break the ice?
Research has shown that the first 60 seconds of a guest's visit can significantly impact their perception of a hotel. Within that time, guests form opinions not just about the space, but about the brand, the service, and the story.
I’ve worked in hotels for nearly four decades. Apart from that, I’ve also stayed in many hotels as a guest. If I were to walk into any hotel lobby today, what their front desk staffs tell me in the first 60 seconds, by and large mirrors the type of leadership behind the scenes. Within that first minute, not only do I notice the team member/s – but also get to feel the standards, the culture, and the expectations set by the hotel’s leadership.
Hotels that fail the test are those where attention is scarce, decisions are made under pressure and explanations ride roughshod over facts. Many such hotels are managed by leaders who focus on high-altitude issues to the extent that they become detached, disregard what’s going on in the frontlines, thus losing touch with what the guests want on ground-level. Such leaders tiptoe around mediocrity, normalize subpar performance, and then blame the staff, the generation, the talent pool, the city they are in or the government…and so on.
Shafeek Wahab - Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Motivational Speaker, Mystery Guest Auditor, Ex-Hotelier
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