stoweboyd:

I think that hotels are a great reflection of the future workplace: they are a leading indicator of what businesses will be trying to achieve (except with less sleeping space and less drinking booze).

Here’s Greg Oates writing about Marriott’s new Moxy chain:

an excerpt

Marriott’s first Moxy Hotel opens this summer near Milan’s Malpensa airport, followed by Munich at the end of the year. Another 10 openings in Europe are slated for 2015, with 150 anticipated altogether over the next decade. Moxy was designed from the ground up for Gen X/Y based on fundamental shifts in consumer behavior within the hotel industry.

[…]

A big emphasis is placed on multi-zone lobbies that shift from quiet areas to buzzy social scenes around the lobby bar. Internal lingo at Marriott describes the separate-but-connected lobby areas as: “One end talks, one end rocks.” The bar and lounge area will feature DJs and video walls with music and social media messaging, while the quiet side is designed for intimate conversation and chilling out with your devices.

Anchoring the lobbies, the restaurant/bar concept called “The Now” will offer healthy comfort food local to the specific region. A defining characteristic with Moxy is that the restaurant/bar won’t be located “off the lobby”—it is the lobby.

Replace the bar with a cafe, and we are seeing the future workplace, like the new innovations at Square (see Another take on offices: something other than open or closed), which makes the office more like a city or an open public space, like a hotel lobby.

[Marriott’s VP of brand consulting, Indy] Adenaw is optimistic that the brand will also appeal to older generation travelers seeking the same trendy vibe and affordable rates.

“There have been very, very few competitors that we have really admired in this space,” he says. “We have visited a lot of different hotels that we thought might be close, and we have been very surprised that the average guest is clearly not just the Gen X and Gen Y traveler. You will see people in their 50s because they will respond to the attitude and the personality. We expect that to be very much a thing.”

Or 60s, in may case.