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Sensory Design: When Luxury Becomes a Feeling
Luxury is no longer defined by thread count, square footage, or marble finishes. It is defined by emotion.
At IHS25, the conversation moved from aesthetics to neuroaesthetics, revealing how hotels can use sensory design to evoke specific feelings, create memory, and shape brand identity.
The next era of hospitality design is not about how things look, but how they make us feel.
From Visual Appeal to Emotional Impact
The most sophisticated hotel spaces are now being designed with all five senses in mind. Light, scent, sound, and texture work together to create what experts call biologically rewarding environments that comfort, inspire, and calm the brain.
Tina Norden, Principal and Partner at Conran and Partners, captured this perfectly:
“As designers, neuroaesthetics has always been what we’ve done, but maybe we didn’t have the name for it and maybe we didn’t have the science for it. Now, very excitingly, there’s a science to that, and we can actually measure and quantify it.”
Design, in this new context, becomes a tool for well-being, not just beauty.
️ Immersive Design That Transports
Few examples illustrate this better than The Mandrake, where the guest experience begins the moment, they step inside.
Eljesa Saciri, General Manager at The Mandrake , explained how the entrance is intentionally designed to create a powerful emotional shift:
“As you walk into the property, it’s a black entrance, completely dark, and you cannot see any of the doors. You don’t know where you’re headed. That is intentionally done, so as you enter our property, you are separating from the world and everything you thought about
before.”
This kind of experiential design moves beyond aesthetics. It acts almost as a form of theatre, allowing guests to leave their external world behind and step into a curated emotional space.
Harmony of the Senses
As Professor Charles Spence of the University of Oxford noted during IHS25, the real power of sensory design lies in congruence. When visual, auditory, and olfactory cues align seamlessly, they reinforce one another, deepening the guest’s emotional response.
A mismatched sensory environment can feel jarring, while a harmonized one can feel effortless, memorable, and deeply human.
This is what transforms a hotel stay from a visit into a feeling.
The Competitive Edge of Feeling
In an increasingly competitive market, sensory design is becoming a key differentiator. Guests may forget what they saw, but they remember how they felt.
Independent hotels, with their flexibility and creativity, are uniquely positioned to lead this evolution. They can design experiences that reflect their identity, evoke emotion, and build long-term loyalty in ways that formulaic chains cannot.
As the IHS25 discussions revealed, the luxury of tomorrow is intangible. It is not what surrounds the guest, but what stirs within them.
The new definition of luxury is empathy.
Hotels that intentionally design for emotion will create experiences that last far beyond the stay itself. When every sense is considered, design becomes more than decoration. It becomes a connection.
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