Hybrid Spaces—Jumping Out of the Box
At this year’s Thailand Tourism Forum (TTF), QUO Chief Branding Officer Catherine Monthienvichienchai invited attendees to consider how hotels might transcend the boxes they traditionally occupy.
Hybrid space is by no means new to hospitality—look no further than the proliferation of co-working and co-living spaces for assurances to this. Even so, the pandemic has catalysed its adoption, driving a fundamental change in the way we use and relate to space.
Until recently, a typical place would serve a singular function. Take the traditional hotel as an example. It exists in a defined physical space and offers a collection of fairly defined—mostly singular—purposes. The lobby is for checking in, the guest rooms for sleeping, the restaurant for eating.
Outside of hotels, we shop in supermarkets, drink coffee in cafés, exercise in gyms and work in offices. The spaces where we live and work are siloed according to function.
However, the pandemic has taught us that single-use spaces are no longer relevant, that we can do many things—eat, shop, sleep, work—and lead hybrid lives from anywhere, often within one space.
In QUO’s recently published white paper, we defined two kinds of hybrid spaces:
- A physical space with multiple purposes—e.g. a hotel lobby with a co-working component, or student accommodation that doubles as a summertime holiday rental.
- A hybridised space with a digital component, or vice versa—e.g. an events space with virtual wayfinding capabilities or a restaurant with immersive digital menus.
A hotel is no longer a hotel. At least not one that will resonate with our guests of tomorrow. One thing is certain: hybrids are here to stay. Don’t get left behind.
Discover more about hybrid spaces in our free white paper, available for download HERE.
