The narrative-led hotel experience

Creating a brand foundation and narrative “enhances a guest’s experience by providing meaning to interior design, encouraging them to become more aware and engaged with their environment. It offers a world within a world for experience hunters but ultimately it aims to engage, delight and transport,” says studio co-founder and creative director, Fabio Ongarato.

Studio Ongarato has partnered with many international hotel groups to elevate the guest experience in this way including the Marriott International’s W Hotels, Event Hospitality and Entertainment including its QT Hotel brand, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts Asia Pacific, The Hilton Group, Louis Li’s Jackalope Hotels and Dubai’s Sharjah Collection.

The goal of narrative is to tell a story and to create an authentic and engaging guest experience that goes beyond what a typical hotel brand is or does. A myriad of influences including the physical context, the architecture and interior scheme, as well as social, historical and cultural cues help to inform the creation of an engaging theme that translates to an elevated brand experience.

Hotel design can span brand strategy, construction of a narrative, direction of architecture, interiors and landscaping, environmental graphics, placemaking, signage and wayfinding as well as art curation and commissioning.

Read more about the rise of narrative led hotels in Alice Blackwood’s article here