Because business and leisure travelers have pivoted—and continue to pivot—in how and why they dine out, hotel restaurants are no longer just for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. By the same token, bars are expanding their reach beyond the boundaries set by “happy hour” and late-night bites.
In response to evolving travel preferences, hotels and resorts are making an extra effort to ensure their in-house restaurants and bars establish their own distinct identities apart from the other areas of their properties. These pursuits, in collaboration with specialized interior designers and architects, have been successful. The best results are intentionally designed spaces that further define a property’s lifestyle mix to make it even more inspirational and aspirational for out-of-town guests and locals. Some designers also cite the influence of data-driven guest journeys talking eating habits and personal tastes.
“We’re trying to make spaces multipurpose and flexible enough that they can be activated by different uses—everything from boardrooms and co-working reading nooks to arts and crafts maker spaces,” says Casey Scalf, director of The Society, whose niche is “novel, narrative-driven hospitality design” for both independent boutique properties and several Moxy Hotel and Hotel Indigo locations, according to its website.
“Design and branding for both restaurants in hotels and standalone restaurants are approached with the same research, design, and thoughtful consideration around the restaurant type. That being said, restaurants found within hotels, broadly speaking, fall into one of two categories: independently designed and branded as its own unique concept, or interconnected with the public space, which typically features branding and design that speak to one another.”
Adaptation With Intention
“We believe no space should ever sit static,” says Greer F. May, associate principal at Dallas-headquartered Studio 11 Design, whose hospitality portfolio includes Canvas Hotel Dallas, Nashville’s Countrypolitan, and the Thompson Backhead and its “Fleeting” restaurant in Atlanta. According to May, bars within restaurants can be an activation nod and drive the energy of the restaurant as a whole. The overarching design must match the energy of the desired guest, and should be cohesive if different spaces are within the same area. On multi-level projects, “energy zones” should be defined by adding details that create a “vibe” for each one.
“We look at how a restaurant or bar space can be activated throughout the day,” she says. “Bar surfaces can be used for an elevated pastry setup during breakfast. Mid-day, you may find portions of the restaurant partitioned off for boardroom-style meetings. Discreetly integrating AV connections in a PDR turns the restaurant into an extension of your meeting offering with an elevated catering menu. Offering alfresco dining that could be suitable for weekend brunch buyouts or hosting local events are things we consider when space planning and designing areas.”
May believes that each client's property has a different inspiration or muse. In some cases, the hotel brand’s direction informs the restaurant and bar design. In others, depending on the shared goals of the restaurateurs and the hotel management, an aesthetic can be designed as a “fantastical creation that allows the guests to escape from their day-to-day,” or project guests into the future or the past of the property. She adds bars often provide hotels and restaurants the opportunity to take things further.
Jeffrey Teuton, interior design director at Phoenix, Ariz., architecture and interior design firm Ideation Design Group (IDG), agrees that hotel restaurants are no longer one-size-fits-all, and should be further adapted to serve diverse guests—business travelers, leisure travelers, and the growing “bleisure” market—since they now need to be pivotal activity hubs at different times of day. He sees adaptability as, “one of the most powerful design tools.”
Lighting, drapery, and modular furniture allow spaces to shift from day to night, season to season, or from one occasion to another effortlessly. Good planning on the design end ensures staff later on can easily create transformations without disrupting the flow. Multi-tasking indoor and outdoor furniture should also be flexible enough to serve multiple functions without feeling generic.
“[Business travelers] should be able to focus without competing with the energy of a bachelorette party,” Teuton explains. “Thanks to the growing popularity of co-working, the days of the sterile business center are over. A balance of lively zones and quiet corners ensures that no experience overrides another, ensuring guests have room to work without feeling exiled. Hotels can offer cooking or bartending classes or showcase local food artisans in bar and restaurant spaces, as they bring value and connection to guests spending extended time at the hotel. As boutique event spaces for 5–20 people are increasingly in demand for private dinners, screenings, or intimate celebrations, they should feel stylish and inviting, and not like a repurposed boardroom with harsh lighting.”
According to Erin Nichols Walker, associate principal, creative director of Wimberly Interiors in Los Angeles, ergonomics matter too, especially in lobby lounges that double as F&B venues. Restaurants need to be multifunctional spaces that respond to the rhythms of different traveler and local demographics, occasions, and seasons, keeping them relevant year-round. A bar has to stand on its own, and should not feel like a spillover from the restaurant. She observes hotel managers in client properties recognize that the local community is just as important as hotel guests. Restaurants, therefore, should be designed as neighborhood anchors with tasting events, seasonal gatherings, and activations built into their identity from the start.
“We use what we call ‘continental height,’ that sweet spot between a coffee table and a dining table, so guests can comfortably enjoy a full meal in a more casual setting,” she details. “At Grand Hyatt Scottsdale Resort & Spa’s ‘Tiki Taka,’ vine-covered trellises and firepits allow the restaurant to feel just as inviting in the desert heat of summer as it does on cool winter nights. Business guests may want a quiet corner for a working breakfast, while leisure travelers may seek out a celebratory dinner or a lively bar scene.”
Achong observes that the Conrad New York Downtown has seen an uptick in “stay all day” culture rather than a place only to start or end a day. Its range of spaces are designed to accommodate a typical 24-hour lifecycle, as well as special events. In the rise of the work-from-anywhere culture, he says it is common for guests to use its spaces for co-working opportunities, blending hospitality into their overall workday. IDG’s Teuton, meanwhile, finds that bars in some of his clients’ hotels are increasingly being treated as separate "destinations" rather than simple extensions of restaurants.
“The design challenge becomes about creating a sense of cohesion without uniformity,” Teuton says. “The bar and restaurant should feel like they’re in conversation with one another, but not mirror images. Cohesiveness can come through shared details such as materiality, lighting, language, or spatial flow, but identity emerges from contrast. The restaurant might be light and airy, while the bar leans dark and moody. They don’t need to be 'matchy-matchy,' rather, they can serve as complementary perspectives to the same story.”
Lay of the Land...and the Brand
“When you’re designing for hotel restaurants versus standalones, the approach shifts depending on the landscape, the guests, and the locale,” observes Dala Al-Fuwaires, CEO and Founder of House of Form in Scottsdale, Ariz., adding that multi-tasking design can also be informed by chefs invested in sustainability practices, culinary programs’ adherence to locally sourced ingredients, and the need for family-centric spaces when necessary. She and her team determine if a restaurant or bar needs to live within the hotel ecosystem, or should stand apart as a destination in its own right. This decision drives choices like the seating mix, storytelling layers, and the level of drama or intimacy in the design.
“In a hotel, the restaurant often needs to integrate with the property’s larger brand and guest experience," says Al-Fuwaires. "Sometimes it’s an amenity that extends the hotel’s story, sometimes it’s meant to be the highlight of a traveler’s stay. In those cases, restaurant branding might lean toward cohesion with the hotel identity while still carving out its own personality. With stand-alones, [we’re] designing more directly for the local community. The brand and space need to feel rooted in place, relevant to the neighborhood, and adaptable to the dining patterns of locals.”
Walker says that, depending on the management’s assessment of guest preferences, the spaces can be tied to location, cuisine, cultural references, or even the hotel brand’s ethos. At La Zozzona at Grand Hyatt Scottsdale Resort & Spa, for example, the narrative starts with its name, Italian slang for “messy delicious.”
“We combined that spirit with subtle Southwestern cues so it feels rooted in Scottsdale without being literal,” she says. “Plaster finishes, geometric tile floors, and a mural that reinterprets desert light all tie the concept to its place. It is an Italian American chophouse, but one that belongs in the desert.
"Tiki Taka draws inspiration from global street culture, from the Ramblas in Barcelona to Japanese izakayas. We shaped it to resonate with the Scottsdale market by giving it a cosmopolitan, high-energy feel [that is] full of art and movement. In other areas, like the Grand Vista Lounge, storytelling is embedded. That space was oriented directly toward the McDowell Mountains, so the desert itself becomes the backdrop.”
Although hotels and restaurateurs may have different objectives for a restaurant or bar’s success, Teuton argues hotel restaurants should feel connected to the hotel’s geographic and cultural context. Whether it’s a nod to the city’s history, the hotel’s own narrative, or the chef’s personal story, design should help answer the question, “Why here, why now?” Without specific design elements, a restaurant without a sense of place feels untethered, while one with a story will be memorable.
Dan Mazzarini, principal & creative director of Mazzarini & Co., in contrast, believes that the inclusion of branding is subjective and often influenced by head count, budget, and operations of a particular hotel client. While some designers stress branding creates cohesion between hotels and restaurant/bars, his clients lean toward having bars in restaurant spaces, or associated rooms, which contributes to the buzz and energy, and the ease for the operator.
“We find that locations in restaurants need to marry both the brand’s aesthetic and the hotel’s parent narrative,” he says. “The best versions of this are not ‘stand out’ F&B locations, but thoughtful adaptations to the locale and narrative of the property. However, private event spaces need enough specificity to make them desirable, as ‘beige’ spaces should be dynamic spaces crafted with a point of view. Some of our most successful private spaces are discoverable. Think secret rooms or entries. It adds a layer of mystique to the event itself, which planners love. From a design POV, it’s important to think about pre-function (aka, cocktail hour) as well as a dining opportunity—too often these rooms are too small to accommodate both.”
Maggie Morales, general manager of Hilton Motif Seattle, says specific details make Frolik Kitchen + Cocktails restaurant/bar a product of its environment. Consistent use of warm styling materials and textures like wood, rattan, and greenery elevate ties to its surrounding Pacific Northwest geography and softens transitions between distinct social areas. Its indoor and outdoor seating arrangements allow for shifting seasonality and weather. Flexible furniture and mixed seating arrangements allow for a variety of different party sizes. Large windows frame natural light during the day and ambient lighting to emphasize atmosphere in the evenings.
“We continue to see a heightened focus on sensory and unique experiential ‘community’ spaces that feel connected to their local environment and further blur the line between indoors and outdoors,” says Morales, noting the hotel features principles of good storytelling and geographic specificity, with the venue leaning heavily into Seattle’s surrounding geography. "Guests can physically interact with and enjoy the spaces they visit. It is designed to be a gathering place for a diverse range of customers.”
In some properties, the sense of place is inspired by a specific part of a larger city or geographic region. “We often provide a separate look and branding for bars specifically,” explains Mazzarini. “While the menu can influence the design, our team prefers to develop a stronger narrative. This can be influenced by locale, but more often is influenced by culture: Are we in an arts district? Is the site historically significant? Who built the building originally, and what’s their weird story? Storytelling is great for placemaking and bringing meaning to spaces and menus.”
At The Sable Hotel, on Chicago’s Navy Pier, firm KOO LLC was responsible for the interior design of the property, including the Offshore Rooftop, which at press time was on record as the world’s largest. OKW Architects, Inc. was the architect for the Lirica restaurant and bar space.
According to Laurent Boisdron, general manager of Sable at Navy Pier, Offshore Rooftop, and Lirica Restaurant, all designers involved intentionally leaned into the natural beauty of the property with a focus on views of Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline as well as Navy Pier’s history as a shipyard. “Though each generation of guests may have differing tastes, they all want the same thing; to have both an enjoyable and memorable experience during their stay,” says Boisdron. “Utilizing those design guidelines, The Sable’s Offshore Rooftop and Lirica have been able to cater to a variety of visitor experiences with the uniqueness of having standout F&B outlets, event facilities, and an open lobby. Solo travelers, families on vacation, business travelers, and locals all appreciate the landscape and experiences at the Pier as they want to enjoy it."
“Conrad New York Downtown’s Achon says they separate their F&B venues from the overall stay in an effort to create distinct spaces for leisure, downtime, social gatherings, and more. “Branding and design in both standalone and hotel-based restaurants should aim for familial connection rather than duplication, as well as consistency in brand DNA," says Achon. "All spaces should be part of a larger identity while reflecting their own personality. Throughout our hotel’s many F&B spaces, we’ve created intentional opportunities for guests to indulge in dinner, cocktails and special events both large and small. Having a wide range of opportunities really helps guests form a meaningful relationship with the hotel beyond the stay.”
Leonessa, on the 16th floor of Conrad New York Downtown, is designed to be as much of an escape from bustling Manhattan as it is a trendy hangout. Its adaptable features include a custom-built awning with retractable ceilings, sliding glass walls, and discreet heat lamps ensure year-round comfort for regular service and private events. The rooftop is brought to life with Amalfi Coast–inspired fountain, lush lemon trees, and vibrant seating to create a versatile and chic palazzo terrace, suiting everything from casual cocktails to elegant celebrations. A striking bar design inspired by Milanese artist Piero Fornasetti allows the space to transition seamlessly across seasons, occasions, and guest demographics.
The Conrad New York Downtown’s ATRIO, meanwhile, is New York-centric from its sleek minimalist design to the hotel’s rooftop garden, powered by Brooklyn Grange, designed as an “urban farm” providing ingredients for the food and beverage menus. While it yields 150 pounds of organic produce weekly across 1,200 square feet of raised garden beds, it can morph into a creative space when local partner Sip & Script hosts a modern calligraphy workshop where guests learn pointed pen lettering with hands-on instruction and take-home materials while sipping, socializing, and purchasing food and drinks.
Other Considerations
“We always look for a hyper-local story, but it doesn’t have to be that,” says Gina Leone, Designer at The Society, regarding design influences beyond geographic location or a building’s back story. “It can be a white space in the F&B market that the location just doesn’t happen to have, like a great sushi option or an Asian fusion place. That can drive a restaurant’s design and narrative, rather than history or a local story—it can just be what’s going to work and appeal to both travelers and locals in that location. In the case of Wildwood Still, it was a great whiskey bar that was the white space in the market.”
Design trends and the firms bringing them to life are expanding what makes a restaurant or bar a destination in its own right by bringing different moods and settings into the picture with well-curated ideas, furnishings, and treatments. Through a combination of inventive decor, food and beverage presentation, and a variety of exclusive features, on-property food and beverage outlets are being designed with more versatility in mind, leading to greater intention to be photographed, discussed, and shared on social media. While something can’t be all things to all people, it can be an example of inspired adaptation.
This article appeared on Hotel Management's sister site, Bar & Restaurant.