Comfort, cleanliness, location – these are all critical aspects of any good hotel stay. Many hotel guests simply focus on these few features when selecting a hotel. They probably never realize there is one other significant attribute hoteliers focus on: the color scheme. Yes, colors in a hotel matter. Guests have a natural, emotional reaction to them, often without thinking about it. Colors can work to psychologically calm, stimulate, or intrigue an individual. The feeling one gets in a hotel may greatly influence their stay in the room, and by extension, the stay in the city they are visiting. To better understand this inspiring phenomenon, let’s look at some of the most well-known hotels, and how color has shaped their atmosphere:
1. The Ritz-Carlton San Francisco – Blue
The Ritz-Carlton brand is well-known and loved around the world for its elegant design and ambiance. Its hotel located in the Financial District in San Francisco is no different. Each room in this hotel consists of periwinkle blue bedding and furniture, an excellent color for several reasons. First, the color blue is often associated with serenity, calm, and relaxation, which are feelings that hotel guests seek after a busy day in a new city. Secondly, a bright blue hue will make a room feel light and airy if paired with a darker color, encouraging the practice of mixing and matching.
2. The Plaza New York City – Pink
Famous as the setting of multiple film shoots, including Home Alone and North by Northwest, The Plaza in New York City makes use of one particular color: pink. While often correlated with femininity, pink brings a sense of sweetness and light-heartedness that can add spark to any hotel room and hotel stay. Different shades of pink will also bring more severe or more subtle effects. For instance, hot pink will add an air of glamour, while rose pink paints a picture of grace and class.
3. Hotel Negresco Nice – Yellow
Yellow is generally universally associated with brightness, fun, and optimism. The designers of the Hotel Negresco in Nice, France, understood this and used yellow in several of their sophisticated rooms. Yellow is also the perfect color to use in or around a desk or workspace in a hotel room. The color tends to energize those who are surrounded by it. Additionally, yellow may be used to brighten up a room that uses predominantly darker tones, such as gray or black.
4. Ambassade Hotel Amsterdam – Black
The designers of the Ambassade Hotel in Amsterdam knew that black is a go-to color, but only in moderation. People are prone to associate black with power, mystery, and sophistication. The color (or, technically: shade) should be used as an accent to dress up or modernize a room. This hotel uses black bed covers and pillows, contrasting the look with white sheets and curtains, giving the room a modern, sleek feel. Yet another room uses black as well as red, toning down the overbearing presence that the color red may have when used by itself.
5. The Langham New York – Neutral Tones
It is not just the color of the bed, wall, or furniture that matters in a hotel — it’s also the space. In fact, the psychology of color in spaces can affect a hotel guest’s emotions as much as the rest of the room. The Langham in New York makes use of a multitude of neutral tones, including pale gray, beige, and cream, in every corner of their hotel rooms. This creates a sense of familiarity and tranquility in guests. Neutral tones are comforting, unchallenging, and psychologically linked to cleanliness.
Color affects individuals worldwide on an everyday basis, whether they are aware of it or not. In the hospitality industry, a guest’s emotions are imperative to maintaining customer satisfaction and, therefore, are always considered when designing a space. Color schemes in hotels are no different. With the choices of bold and bright to neutral and comforting, every hotel carefully selects its color schemes to showcase the environment they would like to create for their guests.
