Over 250 hoteliers, architects, designers and major suppliers turned out in force for the inaugural Design Inn Symposium 2012 at Swissotel Sydney today (Oct 16).
The audience was treated to cutting-edge presentations and insights from some of the leaders in the hospitality design industry, a number of whom who had flown from across the globe to be part of the first pure think-tank on hotel design in Australia.
Presented by leading hotel and leisure refurbishment and fitout contractor ISIS, and co-hosted by HM, the Design Inn Symposium was created to bring together some of the brightest minds in the industry to talk trends, both present and futuristic.
Leading the way was a keynote interview with Design Hotels’ founder Claus Sendlinger who flew in from Berlin to talk about the lifestyle hotel segment and the emerging trend of pop-up hotels.
Sendlinger spoke about the growth in the lifestyle segment and how his company has been the instigator of many trends in the industry, particularly when it came to new concepts and collaborations.
He provided a key insight into how his company created a pop-up hotel in Tulum, Mexico, made possible by Design Hotels calling upon the expertise of a number of collaborators around the world.
Sendlinger, who was involved in a second pop-up hotel this year in Mykonos, Greece, said he believed more pop-up hotels would open around the world in the years to come.
Other key speakers included: Larry Lee, from Laurence Lee Associates in Los Angeles, who provided an insight into the company’s work at The Star in Sydney; Scott Whittaker from DWP Suters in Bangkok, who spoke about design in Asia; Michael Linczyc from Wilson Associates in New York, who looked at ‘designing for the Asian century’; and Darryn Johnson from Blueplate Studios in Singapore, who provided an insight into food and beverage design trends.
Attendees and speakers represented some of the region’s leading design firms, with the Design Inn Symposium also attracting staff from companies such as Hirsch Bedner Associates, DBI Design, A Plus Design Group, Blainey North, Woods Bagot, Chada, Dreamtime Australia, Paul Kelly Design, Elenberg Fraser and Dalman Architecture amongst others.
Sponsors for the Design Inn Symposium 2012 included ISIS (presentation parner), HM magazine (co-host) and silver sponsors Yardley Hospitality, Sealy, Reece, Brintons, Philips, Lightforce, Prototype, HotelHome Australia, McDonald Property Services, Classic Tiles, AH Beard and KD Furniture.