Comments on: Motel 6 Makeover

By: roger foster

roger foster — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 03:59:08 +0000

All budget hotels are going for this generic corporate look bright colours hard chairs sleek bathrooms but nothing like an appealing guest room . Watch these rooms date faster than you have ever seen previously . Why doesn’t some design a timeless room that has real appeal . Jokes about Ikea really are true with these designs and as with Ikea won’t last the test of time Lets use some materials that show style without having to put up with” plastic wood” on the floor. They may be vomit proof but who are we building these rooms for the guests or the owners or the pigs who vomit?

By: chikwendu

chikwendu — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 09:21:24 +0000

Good point of view, but still, I can’t agree

By: misterarthur

misterarthur — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:52:27 +0000

Jay, I travel all the time, too. (Not as much as you, but plenty). I take your point. But most of my trips are overnight (or possibly two nights), so the living room-like features of the Residence Inns aren’t that important to me. That said, I don’t think every chain needs to follow the same path. I’d like to have a choice in decor, since most are so alike. Also, (and please correct me if I’m wrong) the biggest growth is in ’boutique’ style hotels, which more often than not, are more modern than traditional in style.

By: Furniture project part 6.2: the second side of the case. « Damned Good Design

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:06:09 +0000

[...] had written a post about (of all things) Motel 6, and their proposed new look. Knowing that I love, love, love hospitality design (really, it’s my second favorite design [...]

By: Jay Maynard

Jay Maynard — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:31:40 +0000

I travel for a living. When I’m working hard, I spend about three times as many nights away from home as I do at home. That means that I want my hotels to be as close to being home as I can manage.

My favorite choice, when I can manage it, is Residence Inn by Marriott. Extra space, a kitchen (or something approaching it), and usually a separate bedroom where I can close the door and shut out more light are all major advantages. However, if they went to a modern, high-design look, like the pictures above, I’d be turned off. How many people who aren’t designers have that kind of thing in their homes?

They do use good quality solid wood furniture that I wouldn’t mind having in my home. I can’t say the same for the stuff in the picture.

Motel 6 does need to update their properties (or at least did as of four years ago, the last time I was in one), but I sure hope that high design like that doesn’t become the hotel standard.

By: bronxelf

bronxelf — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:33:59 +0000

I think that transitional is by its nature, dated. It’s really a refusal to really make a call one way or the other. You’ll notice that transitional never really updates itself. It’s always in the same time period limbo it always has been. It’s a firmly neutral sort of look- nothing stands out too much. It’s “resellable”.

By: misterarthur

misterarthur — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:43:32 +0000

I hate them too, Elf. The thing is, the ‘transitional’ design in most hotels is super dated…(I think)

By: bronxelf

bronxelf — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:15:05 +0000

The thing about the hospitality industry is that budget and midrange hotels are all about giving people “a home-like” environment, only (theoretically) cleaner.

When there *is* no modern aesthetic in the midrange, you wind up with a lot of hotels going with what most people seem to have- transitional/traditional spaces. I personally hate them, but I understand why it exists in the market. The lack of midrange options makes it hard to sell a hotel on buying into the aesthetic.