The event included a full program of conferences with 44 speakers and an international mission, with 10 top-level purchasing managers, generating 1,170 business opportunities between the attendees, in the form of hotel projects.
This edition of InteriHOTEL Barcelona has consolidated its status as a leading event in southern Europe in the contract-hospitality sector, welcoming professionals from 21 countries. The success of this edition was based on six key points: the Exhibition Area, the main exhibition area that acts as a showroom for the brands to present their products and which, in this edition, revealed its innovative new layout, organized into 7 islands, making it easier and more intuitive for visitors to make their way around the displays; the Knowledge Area, which provided the venue for the presentations and round tables on hotel interior design, as well as the Tapas & Contract networking activity at lunchtime, and which was decorated with the collaboration of some of the exhibiting brands; the Materials & Tech. Area, which showcased innovative and technological products for the contract-hospitality sector aimed at opinion leaders and project managers in hotel companies; the Design Area, consisting of three signature design spaces in which the studios of Denys & von Arend Studio, Mercè Borrell and Verum Hotel Development presented their creative concepts for hotel settings; the Experience Area, a space curated by Ilunion and the Fundación ONCE displaying a hotel space designed in line with invisible accessibility criteria, showing that being accessible is not incompatible with great design; and the Lounge Area, the large hotel lobby located in InteriHOTEL’s own entrance hall, which was curated by RED-AEDE, and furnished with products of 11 of its brands, a key feature of which is Spanish design.
When it came to the awards presented by InteriHOTEL, the award for the best blog entry on hotel interior design went to PF1 Interiorismo for the post “The Isla Pancha lighthouse: living in the shoes of a lighthouse keeper”, while the award for product innovation went to one of the event’s exhibitors Zennio for the IWAC Display, a customizable hotel access control system that identifies guests accessing rooms or communal areas using an NFC card, allowing or refusing access depending on the permits assigned.
Over the course of the three days, a total of 15 presentations were given, covering various topics of interest for both hotel professionals and opinion leaders. Dennis Sheridan Hooper, an architect at Oseocreativo (Guadalajara, Mexico), Ginnette Garrido, a project coordinator at GVA (Dominican Republic), Verónica Sánchez, an architect at Interarq (Cancún, Mexico) and Federico Carstens, the CEO of Hamak Hotels (Mexico), began the first day of the IH Talks program of InteriHOTEL’s international contract congress with a presentation entitled “Leading contract markets in Latin America: Mexico and the Dominican Republic”. After this, it was the turn of Isabel López Villalta, who gave a talk entitled “Experiences: the evolution of hotel projects”, in which she shared her experience in the sector and outlined the most important trends.
Towards the middle of the day, two of the studios taking part in the Design Area, Jordi Cuenca and Mercè Borrell, gave us an insight into their projects and professional vision of hotel interior design. Jordi Cuenca’s presentation focused on hotel conceptualization, target market and design, while Mercè Borrell shared her thoughts on what she called “TEN hotel interior design”, based on creating a compelling experience for guests and profitability for the hotel.
The following session, “New methodologies for hotel projects”, gave us a more technical perspective, with a presentation by Ignasi Pérez Arnal from BIM Academy, and Gisela Santillana and Albert Sierra from Autodesk. BIM, Lean Construction, Offsite buildings and Modular Spaces were some of the topics covered in the session, with an explanation of the benefits of using BIM technology in hospitality projects, which is set to become the standard to be used in the short term in this type of projects.
Participants in the reverse international trade mission from the United Arab Emirates, Fadi Banani from the studio Leo a Daly, and Anna Szonzyi, in collaboration with Ángela Lalatta from Amec Ascon, headed a presentation in English on the key factors for entering the emerging contract market in the UAE.
The IH Talks on Thursday 26th October got under way with a presentation entitled “The ‘tropicalization’ of the European product range for business development in markets in the Americas”, with the participation of Pedro Pla, a project manager at Club Hemingway, Enrique Valera, an architect at Optimus GLI, Juan Carlos Seijo, the CEO of Seijo Peon and Jesús León, the purchasing manager at Blue Diamond Resort, all hailing from Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
Next, Teresa Sapey gave a presentation in which she shared her insight into designing ‘something more than just a hotel’, based on her own experience in hotel projects. Michele Corbani, a founding partner of Ilmiodesign, then ran a session entitled “New hotels: The importance of design for setting a hotel apart”, in which she presented her latest projects, including the Tatel in Ibiza, Marquis Issabel’s in Granada, the Dorado Ibiza Suites and The Tropicana Ibiza Suites.
The next session was run by Rosa Álvarez de Arcaya, an interior and lighting designer at BMLD, with a presentation entitled “Lighting design: A key element in the creation of the customer experience”, in which she gave an overview of some relevant projects in different hotels.
Thursday’s program of events drew to a close with a round table discussion headed by RED-AEDE. Juan Mellen, the director, and Mireia Cervera, the contract business developer, were the moderators of the discussion between Beatriz Gancedo (Gandedo), Marc Nogués (Simon) and Diego Vicedo (Inclass), representing the Spanish design brands exhibiting at InteriHOTEL.
On the last day of the event, 4 conferences were held. The first of these, entitled “Sustainable hotel purchasing policies: criteria and opportunities”, was run by Daniel Montoya, the CEO of Green Room Hotels, Julio Rodrigo, the Director of R&D&I and sustainability at CENFIM, and Jordi Monjo, an accredited LEED professional at COMMTECH.
After this, in the presentation “Lighthouses in Spain: Our destinations have a start rating”, Loli Moroño, the director and founding partner of PF1, winners of the blog award, presented the project of the Isla Pancha Lighthouse, the main topic of the award-winning blog post.
After the Tapas & Contract lunchtime event, Lluís Escarmís and Carla Bach, a partner and an architect at GVA Architects respectively, gave us an overview of a project that they have under way in Kelowna in a session entitled “Design from urban planning to interior design: Tower block in Kelowna, Canada”.
The program of conferences was brought to a close by Montse Garrigós and Gemma Salas, an interior designer and a brand manager respectively at Selenta Group. In their session, entitled “Interior design as a marketing tool: I'm Sofía”, they gave us an insight into their approach to the latest refurbishment of the Hotel Sofía, which, under the umbrella of a single personality, encompasses different brands depending on the type of guest.
The next edition of InteriHOTEL Barcelona will be held from 24th to 26th October 2018 at the same venue (CCIB). Moreover, InteriHOTEL also organizes a couple of pop-ups: in spring in Mallorca and, in June, in Gran Canaria (dates and venues to be confirmed).
