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My Dad likes to remind me that wherever you go, you’re packing yourself. But increasingly hotels are looking to unpack you — and send you home calmer, happier or more connected to yourself.
In the quaint colonial city of Marinilla, Colombia, Brian Schon designed tranquility into the heart of his Cannúa Lodge.
Plans called for nothing less than the Fibonacci Sequence, what Schon calls “the mathematics of perfection,” and which is found in the structure of leaves, flower petals, seashells, sheep horns and bees.
“It’s easier for our eyes to process than ‘traditional’ shapes like squares or cubes,” said Schon.
His goal was to create a hotel that shifted his guests’ frame of mind toward relaxation on a subconscious level.
It sounds experimental, but he’s not alone. Whether it’s calm, happiness or excitement, hoteliers are looking to program emotion into every aspect of your stay.
Lisa Sternfeld, founder of NYC-based WLLW Studio, studies the intersection of design, neuroscience and emotional wellness. She believes that hotels can indeed manufacture emotional restoration through careful design. In fact, the interior designer calls this invisible layer of emotional design “invisible wellness.” The air quality, water, light, materials, acoustics and the sensory conditions in a hotel room “all become part of how we think about caring for the guest,” she said.
She predicts the next evolution of wellness hospitality will start “at the moment we begin designing the building and the room.” A spa treatment may last an hour, she says, but your body is experiencing the hotel for much longer.
Emily Johnson, the founder of Elevate Hospitality Collective in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, stressed that hotels do not always need a large spa or major capital investment to influence how guests feel.
“They can reconsider the arrival ritual, lighting transitions, music levels, fragrance, signage, meal timing, access to outdoor space and the number of decisions guests are required to make,” said Johnson, a hospitality strategist and wellness travel advisor. “The strongest experiences make the desired emotion feel natural throughout the stay.”
In Belmopan, Belize, the Rainforest Lodge at Sleeping Giant is all about serenity.
The lodge’s Rainforest Tented Camp showcases floor-to-ceiling glass walls peering out at the forest, Sleeping Giant Mountain and Sibun River. Sensory connection and a feeling of calmness were also top of mind when creating the hotel’s Lights Out at Grove House, a candle-lit dining experience meant to provoke conversation and reduce electricity consumption.
As Ian Lizarraga, chief operating officer of the Belize Collection, put it, when screens and everyday distractions are removed, guests begin noticing the river, the birds, the changing light and the people around them.
The Inn of the Five Graces in Santa Fe, NM, hopes to instill a sense of presence and self-connectedness in those who participate in its new $2,192-a-night the Sixth Grace experience.
The four-night package is a gradual sensory experience culminating in what the property calls the “sixth sense:” intuition and self-awareness.
You can expect offerings like tai chi, a Himalayan salt stone massage, a sound healing session, dinner at the Pink Adobe, a Santa Fe mainstay since 1944, complete with a guided mezcal flight, and a clairvoyant reading.
Meanwhile, NYC-based Suomi Design Works was tasked with summoning a variety of emotions for the Radical in Asheville, North Carolina, which opened in 2023.
Guest rooms were designed to stir up sensuality, inspired by 1980s pop culture like the movies “Tron” and “Wall Street” and the Palladium nightclub and feature giant sculptural furniture and rich textiles to spark tactile intimacy.
Up on the rooftop bar, exhilaration and belonging are the emotions du jour with sweeping views of the French Broad River for that excitement note, while inviting fire pits, circular seating and local art and music programming encourage people to gather and linger.
“We engineered the Radical so that emotional responses shift naturally as you move from space to space,” said Michael Suomi, the design firm’s founder. “A guest experiences intrigue entering the lobby through theater curtains, a sense of rebellion walking past raw street art, and deep sensuality inside the guest rooms with draped fabric canopies inspired by 1980s nightlife.”
In Paris, Maison Proust, Hotel & Spa La Mer evokes nostalgia for beautiful “things past” via interiors by Jacques Garcia: paintings and period furnishings, plus a brimming library.
The spa, La Mer, remembers the Moroccan-style salons of Proust’s Aunt Léonie.
So the next time you check out of a hotel feeling calmer, or even a little sexier, you may not be imagining things. The room is just doing its job.
