Combining commercial analysis and design expertise for the ultimate hospitality experience

It’s been an exciting year for hospitality at Benoy, with the evolution of Pragma as the in-house Commercial Strategy and Advisory team, the appointment of Paul Boldy as Director of Hospitality Futures, and the return of Zaynib Khan, Senior Associate Director and Architect specialising in hotel design. The gears are now in motion for the next chapter, combining comprehensive data analysis and design expertise to deliver a truly unique offer to hotel owners, operators and developers across the globe.

To unpack the ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ of this new approach, Paul and Zaynib sat down for a Q&A, revealing their vision for the future of hospitality at Benoy.

Zaynib Khan: We are visionaries and storytellers, translating our clients’ briefs into tangible spaces that hold memories, reflect cultures and give a sense of place. While our design process involves extensive research and constant innovation, our design visions are sharpened by the analytical work of the strategy team. We understand that hotels are a lot more than just a place to stay, and our mixed-use design strategies reflect this. Every destination has a story to tell, and we consider it our responsibility to interpret the spirit of a place through design and create global experiences with local sensitivity. We see the potential of hotels to be places of wonder that lift the spirit and touch the senses.

Paul Boldy: Ultimately, Benoy is a design-led firm that’s backed by data-driven insights. Bringing data science and analytical decision-making into the design studio allows us to back up our decisions with evidence and guide our clients through the process. That’s what sets us apart and gives us a unique perspective, allowing our designs to generate commercial, sustainable and experiential impact.

PB: We’ve built comprehensive models to analyse datasets based on industry reports. Now that we’ve got all this information at our fingertips, we’re able to refine metrics such as chain scale, number of rooms, region, type of hotel, capex budgets, revenue and more to provide our clients with accurate predictions within seconds. These models are invaluable for conducting market research, determining concepts and financial performance, and predicting a client’s return on investment – all before we’ve even started the design process.

By harnessing industry data and interrogating hotels as well as their services at a granular level, we can make informed decisions that can drastically impact the bottom line.

ZK: This data also supports our design decisions, from the number of rooms and total massing of a project down to the capacity of a restaurant and space allocation in back-of-house kitchens. But beyond the numbers, we’re also led by research into cultural shifts, future-focused planning and guest insights. We look at guest personas, stakeholders and brand identities to unpack the essence and mood of a place and generate a holistic design vision. Part of our design methodology involves studying macro trends and insights, looking at guest behaviours and mindsets to make design decisions that will cater to guests’ expectations of hotels into the future.

PB: Working with our client Ports of Jersey, we were brought in to help transform the historic Merchants’ Quay site in St Helier, Jersey. Blending heritage, hospitality, and waterfront regeneration, we conducted a review of the site’s development potential, hospitality positioning, and financial feasibility to advise on the optimal land deal structure and hotel concept strategy. The result is a commercially viable, design-led destination that celebrates Jersey’s maritime heritage while unlocking long-term value for the island.

ZK: One of our projects which is currently on site is the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Tashkent for the Marriott Hotel Group. Our masterplan combines three landmark towers housing the hotel and residential apartments. A retail and leisure podium unites the towers and wraps around the site to create a new public square. For the finer details, we conducted a study of local buildings and historical motifs to reference in our design, such as the architectural details from Registan Square and Shah-i-Zinda, as well as the intricate tile work of the Chorsu Bazaar. By combining historical touches, a robust commercial strategy and variety of uses for guests and local residents to enjoy, we’re creating a contemporary, luxury destination that encourages community integration.

ZK: We love finding the magic, the spark that brings hotels to life and makes people want to stay. It’s a joy to see our designs built and operational, allowing people to experience the genuine, heartfelt hospitality from the staff, who foster relationships with guests and make people want to return.

We see hotel design as facilitating memories and connections to a place; hotels are spaces that delight and enhance guests’ experience of the world around them. We design for how people will feel in our spaces, not just what they’ll be doing. In a way, hotels are theatrical spaces. They can be other-worldly and fantastical, with mystery and excitement bubbling behind the scenes.

Getting to use data, research, creativity and design every day to bring hotels to life is a privilege, so we’re excited to expand our services and continue creating these incredible spaces.

PB: We’re passionate about finding the best solutions and using metrics and scenario analysis to get it right – it's a really impactful way to prove the design works. It’s incredibly satisfying work, and we’re excited to see how our unique combination of design and strategy can impact the industry going forward.