Future of city business hotel

In collaboration with the Association romande hôtelière (ARH) and the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL), the Institute of Tourism of the HES-SO Valais recently participated in a project supported by Innotour. The results have just been published and distributed in the form of a "playbook" for the hotel industry, which offers food for thought and strategies for recovery.
The Covid-19 pandemic has indeed had a lasting effect on the business hotel sector and the objective of the project was to propose creative solutions to attract new customers and meet the new needs of old ones.

A think tank and 4 courses of action

The project partners brought together people from different backgrounds in a "think tank" of discussion groups, from which ideas emerged that were grouped into 4 themes:

1. Hosting tenants: the hotel favors flexibility in its offerings to host long-term residents (renting rooms or independent housing)

2. Workplace: the hotel becomes a work space for people who no longer have a private office or those who telecommute

3. Social hub: the hotel acts as a social hub in its neighborhood, a place for the local population in addition to its regular residents

4. Destination in itself: the hotel is no longer just a place to pass through, but a place to stay, with a focus on wellness or recovery offerings for certain types of patients, or on specific entertainment or events.

The playbook is available for download in the section below. For more information or questions, Emmanuel Fragnière or Roland Schegg will be happy to answer you.

Project website : www.futureofbusinesshotels.org