Abstract
Tourism tends to make the world look the same. There is homogeneity in the chains and franchises proliferated by the business sector. Although seeking the unique characteristics of different areas, tourists tend to reduce the individuality of the place by carrying their cultural baggage with them wherever they go. This is the paradox of tourism and therefore its design challenge (Gunn, 1997: 106). Many hotel chains develop properties across the world that are similar regardless of their location, thereby detracting from a tourist's sense of place. This paper analyses why it is that hotels tend not to reflect the image of their chosen destination, what role hotels have in strengthening a destination's image, what challenge hotels face in doing so, and what strategic opportunities a hotel can act on in order to build competitive advantage for itself, and the destination in which it is located. As an in-depth discussion of all the issues behind the development of a hotel is beyond the scope of this paper, an overview is provided of the main issues involved in designing a hotel to match the destination in which it is located. Here hotel design means its physical facilities, such as the architecture and floor plan, as well as its tangible attributes, such as the interior design and visual symbols including logos, motifs and employee uniforms. To illustrate points and support the arguments of the paper, a couple of examples of hotels are discussed throughout. In summary, in an era of globalization, many hotel chains have developed and expanded, catering mass tourism, and the principles of McDonaldisation have underpinned design schemes. As a result, brand hotel properties have similar design attributes across multiple global locations. This paper has argued for design differentiation based on the destination in which a hotel is located as this will strengthen the image of the destination, which will have a positive effect on market share for both the destination and the hotel, leading to improved economic results for each. Hotel design should follow a systems approach, where marketing considerations are as important as functional and operational concerns.