Hotel Design Podcast

"She's actually going to be 100 years old. My father's parents are both Holocaust survivors. She survived. And it was a journey to survive, but her outlook on life has always been one of hope. And that has resonated with me throughout my life." –Cheryl Lauren Spigler on The Healthcare Interior Design 2.0 podcast Today, we're diving into the world of compassionate design with Cheryl Lauren Spigler,...

In this episode of the Hotel Design Podcast we welcome Siobhan Barry, Design Director at Gensler. Like everything we see with hospitality design lately, projects are grounded in 'experience' – something that Barry says is essential to satisfying today's customer. Good thing that she has had plenty of experience doing just this sort of thing since the 1990s. That's when she spent a considerable amo...

In this episode of the Hotel Design Podcast we welcome designer  Kimberly Daoust,  who  is principal at  Tandem  – a Las Vegas-based interior design firm that she co-founded in 2005. While she lives in Austin, TX, she commutes by plane to Vegas. The conversation starts out with how Las Vegas is a great place for design freedom. Kim loves that by nature, the city is impermanent and so is its design...

In this episode of the Hotel Design Podcast we welcome Tina Wichmann and Craig Palacios of the Las Vegas based design firm,  Bunnyfish . They have been involved in some major projects, such as helping entrepreneur and CEO of Zappos Tony Hsieh reinvent downtown Las Vegas. The conversation starts with the duo dissecting a project they did in Reno, Nevada to reinvent the Renaissance Reno Downtown Hot...

In this episode of the Hotel Design Podcast we welcome the founder of TAL Studio, Todd-Avery Lenahan. Based in Las Vegas, TAL Studio has been an integral part in designing huge projects for many major companies, including Disney and Wynn. In fact, since we recorded this show last spring, TAL Studio is merging with Wynn entirely. While there has been a slight change in the company's structure, its...

In this episode of the Hotel Design Podcast we welcome incredible hotelier Larry Broughton, CEO of the boutique hotel company broughtonHOTELS. We also welcome the general manager of the Park James Hotel, Weston Spiegl. This show was recorded on the evening of the Park James Hotel's opening celebration, which is located in the Silicon Valley city of Menlo Park. The incredible luxury hotel has 61 ro...

In this episode of the Hotel Design Podcast we welcome Tom Ito, Principal at Gensler. Tom Ito is a force in the hotel design community and created the hospitality division of Gensler back in the late 1990s. Since then, it has been a whirlwind of creating some of the most incredible hotel designs we've ever seen – some of which have had far more impact than the building itself. Tom Ito and host Gle...

In this episode of the Hotel Design Podcast, we welcome Lisa Simeone and Gina Deary - two of the principals of Chicago based Simeone Deary Design Group. Host Glenn Haussman, Lisa and Gina start by discussing the state of hotel design in 2022.   Both guests feel optimistic about the state of design during the past few years and believe the future is open to new design concepts and creativity. Incre...

In this episode of the Hotel Design Podcast, we welcome award-winning designer Therese Virserius, Founder of Virserius Studio. She's worked on projects such as W Atlanta Midtown, Renaissance Paris La Défense Hotel, Hyatt Regency Montreal and others such as the Arizona Biltmore. Host Glenn Haussman and Therese start off by discussing how she envisioned some of the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas' suites...

In this episode, Glenn speaks with Laurie Woliung, Senior Director Interior Design at Marriott International about Marriott lifestyle brands as well as the specific designs she was involved in creating. Laurie starts by speaking on what guests who stay in lifestyle-branded hotels are looking for. She says they want something that speaks to their lifestyle. She says they handle designs by seeing wh...

In this episode of the Hotel Design Podcast, we welcome Ron Swidler, who is the Chief Innovation Officer of the Gettys Group companies. Host Glenn Haussman and Ron start by discussing how we're at an interesting intersection in history and how it's created the rare opportunity to reinvent everything we do in hospitality design from scratch. It's the Great Reset; a chance to try new things with les...

In this episode of the Hotel Design Podcast, we welcome Malcolm Berg, who is the founder, President and Design Director of EoA Group. He also was named the Designer of the Year during the 2020 Gold Key Awards.  Host Glenn Haussman and Malcolm start by discussing his background, and Malcolm shares what motivated him to be a hospitality focused designer. He attended graduate school for architecture...

In this episode of the Hotel Design Podcast , we welcome Glen Coben, President and Owner of Glen & Company. Coben is a huge driving force within the hotel design community, and brings a unique point of view from the retail environment where he previously worked with Nike. They start by discussing his background, and how stories are told in various sporting cultures globally. Coben reveals how he k...

In this episode of the Hotel Design Podcast we welcome design industry icon Paul Steelman. He's been involved in some of the most influential casino resort and hotel projects around the globe. His company  Steelman Partners , has been closely tied to the leaders of the casino resort business such as Steve Wynn, Sheldon Adelson and Kirk Kerkorian. Glenn and Paul touch on it all, from his start in a...

In this episode of the Hotel Design Podcast we welcome Valeriano Antonioli, CEO of the Lugarno Collection, an ultra-luxury hotel company reinventing the luxury hospitality experience. The company operates properties in Florence and Rome. The company's newest brand Portrait is designed to be an extension of the community in which its located and Antonioli shares the critical nature of this strategy...

In this episode of the Hotel Design podcast, we speak to Mike Suomi from Stonehill & Taylor, who discusses his and his team's work on the iconic Eero Saarinen's TWA building at JFK along. For Suomi, it's a matter of getting into what Saarinen wanted to originally create when designing this incredible space. They talk materials and expected experience, how the original terminal was designed without...

HBG Design  is a Top 10 National Hospitality Design Leader with offices in Memphis, Tennessee and San Diego, California. The company has designed over 21 million square feet of hospitality and entertainment space in the last 20 years. In this edition of the Hotel Design Podcast we are joined by Principal, Mark Weaver, FAIA and Melanie Newport, Interior Designer – both of whom worked on The Guest H...

On this episode of the Hotel Design Podcast we're featuring Amy Hulbert, Vice President, Boutique and Upscale Brands at Best Western® Hotels & Resorts. Though Amy no longer has the word design in her title, she's been responsible for creating the look and feel of the company's brands such as Glo and Vib, and actively helped create its newest brand entrants. In this episode Amy reveals her design a...

Today on the Hotel Design Podcast we have Lauren Rottet FAIA, FIIDA, Founding Principal and President of Rottet Studio. Lauren is one of the most celebrated interior designers and architects in the world and holds fellow status of both the American Institute of Architects and the International Interior Design Association. Lauren is a Lifetime Appointee to the U.S. General Services Administration's...

Today on the Hotel Design Podcast we a have Mitch Patel, President & CEO of Vision Hospitality Group, one of the most highly regarded developers and owners in North America. Mitch is a second generation hotelier, starting his company in 1997 with seed capital of just $3000 after cashing in his 401k and divesting his career as a civil engineer. He makes light of his modest startup funding by tellin...

The Gettys Group consistently ranks amongst the top hospitality design firms in the world. In this edition of the Hotel Design Podcast, we are joined by Ron Swidler, Principal and VP of Branding & Design. Our discussion takes a deep dive into the history and formation of the boutique hotel business, Ron gives a tip of the hat to boutique founding father Bill Kimpton and fast forwards to today's se...

Today on the Hotel Design Podcast we have Raul Leal, CEO of  Virgin Hotels . Raul is a career hotelier who followed his father into the business with the ambition to become the GM of the Miami hotel his father worked at for 43 years. He got his start as a busboy at the same hotel. We learn how Virgin's inaugural hotel became the #1 in the US and #6 in the world ( via Conde Nast Traveler ) and how...

In this inaugural edition of the Hotel Design Podcast, we feature an incredibly engaging discussion with Mr. Larry Traxler – interviewed at the  Hilton Worldwide  HQ in McClean, VA. Larry outlines the challenge of working with the world's largest development and construction pipeline with over 2,300 projects under the management of his team's 11 global design offices. We take an in depth look at t...