Unveiling Interior Design’s 2024 Hospitality Giants

2023 marked a year of very strong recovery for the Giants in general, with almost all metrics surpassing the 2019 levels: salaries, staffing, billing rates, fees. But when it comes to the sector-by-sector temperature-check, the landscape is more uneven. Hospitality joins corporate in the recovery-pending zone. Giants working in this vertical are still struggling to surpass pre-pandemic fees: They’re down 44 percent compared to 2019. In fact, hospitality is faring the worst of all sectors. Chalk it up to the expected revenge travel surge that never came to pass, and that business travel remains sluggish.

“blank cells” = did not report data

But looking more closely at individual data points, hospitality fee income did increase 12 percent year-over-year, and Giants are predicting another small 5 percent bump-up for 2024. So, the needle is moving in the right direction. Moreover, these are quite high fees: $645.6 million in 2023 (versus $576.2 in 2022)! To put things in better perspective, the verticals experiencing double-digit growth—including government/civic and transportation—make up a much, much smaller piece of the Giants pie in comparison. It stands to follow that hospitality has a comparatively bigger dollar-amount gap to recover.

Typical for this sector, the greatest growth is happening in luxury hotels, comprising almost a quarter of fees, with restaurants in second, resorts in third, and boutique hotels in fourth— together driving some serious dollars. Many other segments, including cruise ships, remain flat, however. Segment predictions for 2024 are dead-even with 2023 actuals, with a majority expecting the most growth in luxury hotels.

Project totals are also way up, to the tune of 40 percent year-over-year and 63 percent higher than 2019. The hard numbers are fantastic: almost 8,000 projects, a figure that doubled over the last decade. And Giants are expecting another 11 percent project growth for 2024, which would bring the amount very close to 9k.

You may be scratching your head thinking something doesn’t track: How can hospitality projects balloon so much over the last five years—but fees overall remain down from 2019? A likely explanation is that Giants are working on smaller projects for less dollars, and/or more renovation projects versus new construction. This would be in line with anecdotal reporting. Interestingly, FF&C value also increased robustly between 2022 and 2023: from $14.7 to $22.4 billion. That’s 53 percent year-over- year and surpassing the 2019 numbers by 15 percent. Again, these big digits to some extent reflect the inflating cost of products and construction. But Giants expect a strong 22 percent growth curve for 2024, which implies an upward trend that’s independent of hard costs. (The FF/C ratio has been consistent over the last decade but is currently trending higher towards furniture and fixtures.)

In terms of locations, Hospitality Giants tend to have the highest percentage of overseas projects in comparison to other verticals. While most sectors hover around a 90/10 split between domestic and international, hospitality has traditionally held steady around 80/20, and this year is no different, albeit skewing toward domestic. Once again, the biggest growth markets are Asia, Canada, and Europe overseas and, in the U.S., the southernmost regions.

Editor’s Note: Take a look at recent coverage of our Hospitality Giants most admired firms of 2024 below. Yabu Pushelberg tops the list followed by AvroKO, Rockwell Group, and Meyer Davis Studio.

Percentage of Firms Projecting Regional Growth Over the Next Two Years

Methodology

The Interior Design Giants annual business survey comprises the largest firms ranked by interior design fees for the 12-month period ending December 31, 2023. The listings are generated from only those surveyed. To be recognized as a top 100, Rising, Healthcare, Hospitality, or Sustainability Giant, you must meet the following criteria: Have at least one office location in North America, and generate at least 25% of your interior design fee income in North America. Firms that do not meet the criteria are ranked on our International Giants list. Interior design fees include those attributed to:

1. All aspects of a firm’s in­terior design practice, from strategic planning and programming to design and project management.

2. Fees paid to a firm for work performed by employees and independent contractors who are “full-time staff equivalent.”

Interior design fees do not include revenues paid to a firm and remitted to subcontractors who are not con­sid­ered full-time staff equivalent. For example, certain firms attract work that is subcontracted to a local firm. The originating firm may collect all the fees and re­tain a management or generation fee, paying the remainder to the performing firm. The amounts paid to the latter are not included in fees of the collecting firm when determining its ranking. Ties are broken by rank from last year. Where applicable, all per­cent­ages are based on responding Giants, not their total number. 

All research conducted by ThinkLab, the research division of SANDOW Design Group.

Standout Projects by 2023 Hospitality Giants Reflect Their Locales

After a quiet stretch for hospitality design during the pandemic, INTERIOR DESIGN’s 2023 Hospitality Giants report calls for celebration. With project numbers increasing and projected to continue rising to figures healthier than pre-COVID numbers, the sector’s uptick is well on its way.

Take a look at three projects from this year’s Hospitality Giants report that showcase the desire for experiential hotels, restaurants, and everything in between.

Hospitality Design Projects From Manhattan to Bahrain

A Boutique Hotel Draws on a Manhattan Neighborhood’s Local Flair

Stonehill Taylor, Workshop/APD, and MVRDV

Washington Heights, located way up at the northern tip of the island, is known for its parks, food, and community. Now, it has its first-ever boutique hotel. Designed by MVRDV and Stonehill Taylor, Radio Hotel’s exterior is comprised of LEGO-like “blocks” in bright primary colors, anchoring a mixed-use development that includes a Santo Domingo-inspired restaurant, dedicated event space, office and retail space, courtyard, and a rooftop lounge. As for the hotel itself, it boasts 221 rooms and suites that draw on the neighborhood’s own local flair, with interiors from Workshop/APD. Read more

Southern Hospitality Abounds at an Atlanta Hotel

KTGY Simeone Deary Design Group

KTGY Simeone Deary Design Group drew on Georgia State symbols such as the peach, the honeybee, and the Cherokee rose to bring design cohesion and a strong sense of regionalism to the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta. The vibe is well-bred meets well-traveled: Guests enter the lobby, awash with the tone of a formal yet welcoming manor house; the design of rooms and suites embodies the archetypal southern belle, with channel-tufted emerald-velvet headboards and sofas as well as the rugs’ lacelike floral patterning; and the presidential suite evokes the masculinity of southern gentlemanliness via chocolate-brown hues, tailored upholstery, and geometric elements. The space deftly balances elements of both warmth and sophistication, nature and culture. Read more

A Luxurious Airport Lounge in Bahrain

Champalimaud Design and Tony Masters Design

Refined New York firm Champalimaud Design, spearheaded by Interior Design Hall of Fame member Alexandra Champalimaud, was invited by Australian travel specialist firm Tony Masters Design to partner on an airport lounge competition entry in Bahrain. The 29,000-square-foot Pearl Lounge in the new billion-dollar Bahrain International Airport terminal incorporates traditional Arabic hospitality with a host of intimate spaces including a café, bar, and restaurant. Five-star hotel amenities dovetail with nuances of regional hospitality: Rosewood and gold-plated details on cozy wingback chairs; snakelike sofas recall traditional majlis seating areas and help to facilitate a natural flow of foot traffic. Of course, all 450 seats include smartphone charging ports for travelers in need of a boost. Read more

Read more hospitality design projects: Hospitality Design Projects Featured on INTERIOR DESIGN, The 2023 Hospitality Giants Report, An Updated Sedona Spa, The Renovation of the Historic Georgian Hotel

Introducing Interior Design’s 2023 Hospitality Giants

Ever since the pandemic devastated the hospitality industry, we’ve been waiting for the comeback—and 2022 might be it. Interior Design’s Hospitality Giants brought in $576 million total fees, up 36 percent from the previous year. It’s a welcome surge: When 2020 went viral, so to speak, fees dropped by more than half, to $423 million in 2021, after having enjoyed a decade-long ascent from $600 million to a record $1.1 billion in 2019.

Hotels still make up the lion’s share of hospitality fees—about 49 percent—but that figure has been in gradual decline since peaking in 2013 at 59 percent. Everyone likes nice things, which helps explain why luxury properties account for two-thirds of hotel income overall ($212 million) with boutique and mid-economy income declining—though the $93 million they brought in is nothing to scoff at.

Restaurants ($80 million, 13 percent) and resorts ($67 million, 11 percent) are the next biggest seg­ments, with gaming and country clubs providing steady fees ($51 million combined). Multiuse remains a wildcard. That sector’s mix of hospitality, residential, and retail accounted for 5 percent of all fees ($34 million) last year but has spiked as high as 18 percent in 2019, and 14 percent in 2021. Who wants to bet big on 2023? Inside info: These Giants predict growth in the number of projects they’ll do—if not necessarily fees—in the boutique hotel, resort/spa/country club, restaurant/bar, and yes, multiuse categories.

Another plus is that Hospitality Giants logged a record 5,700 projects overall, 350 more than the previous high in 2018—and they forecast that an additional 2,000 (!) will be delivered in 2023. Furniture, fixtures, and construction products also staged a rebound, after having plummeted from a cool $19 billion in 2019 to $6.2 billion in 2021 (that tremor you felt was the sector hitting rock bottom). Climbing back to $14.7 billion in 2022, we’re firmly on the road to recovery—although this uptick might be attributed to post-COVID right-sizing rather than a sign of exponential growth.

That’s the story: a general trend upward from pandemic lows. How much and how quickly? Well, the group projects $602 million in fees in 2023, a return to where we started in 2013, beginning that long climb back to the billion-dollar mark. Here’s hoping it doesn’t take as long this time.

Editor’s Note: Take a look at recent coverage of our Hospitality Giants most admired firms of 2023 below. AvroKO tops the list followed by Yabu Pushelberg, and Rockwell Group.

Growth Potential Over Next 2 Years

Asia

Methodology

The Interior Design Giants annual business survey comprises the largest firms ranked by interior design fees for the 12-month period ending December 31, 2022. The listings are generated from only those surveyed. To be recognized as a top 100, Rising, Healthcare, or Hospitality Giant, you must meet the following criteria: Have at least one office location in North America, and generate at least 25% of your interior design fee income in North America. Firms that do not meet the criteria are ranked on our International Giants list. Interior design fees include those attributed to:

1. All aspects of a firm’s in­terior design practice, from strategic planning and programming to design and project management.

2. Fees paid to a firm for work performed by employees and independent contractors who are “full-time staff equivalent.”

Interior design fees do not include revenues paid to a firm and remitted to subcontractors who are not con­sid­ered full-time staff equivalent. For example, certain firms attract work that is subcontracted to a local firm. The originating firm may collect all the fees and re­tain a management or generation fee, paying the remainder to the performing firm. The amounts paid to the latter are not included in fees of the collecting firm when determining its ranking. Ties are broken by rank from last year. Where applicable, all per­cent­ages are based on responding Giants, not their total number. 

All research conducted by ThinkLab, the research division of SANDOW Design Group.

Interior Design Unveils the 2022 Hospitality Giants

The results for the 2022 Interior Design Hospitality Giants, our survey of the top 75 firms working in the sector, are somewhat like taking a construction elevator in an unfinished hotel project: It may be uncomfortable, but it will still get you where you want to go. Predictions say we will, and results are better than expected, but there’s still post-pandemic corporate pain. Business has been down, but data points to a rebound. Let’s have a look.

Hospitality design bounces back

Hospitality Giants Rankings 2022

Overall fees for the group fell from $576 million in 2020 to $423 million in 2021, a 27 percent drop. But the group forecasts a recovery in 2023 to $491 million. The latest Hot Market Growth Report from ThinkLab, the research division of Sandow Design Group, lists the usual pandemic suspects as reasons for the headwinds: lack of corporate travel, supply-chain issues, rising costs, employment challenges. The good news: Like the pandemic, these issues are predicted to gradually resolve soon.

Editor’s Note: Interior Design’s 2023 Top 100 Giants are in! See what experts are saying about the current state of the industry. Read more.

Most Admired Design Firms

Where did the hospitality firms take these hits? Right in the moneymaker: hotels. Always bringing in the lion’s share of fees, hotel work fell from 57 percent of fees to 47, coming in at $208 million. Furthermore, luxury hotel work, source of some of the biggest earnings, has been responsible for nearly a third of hotel fees the past two years; now it’s just 25 percent. But nearly every business segment was down in 2021. Hotels are just the most glaring and devastating to the overall bottom line. There are bright spots, however, such as resorts and restaurants now making up more than 22 percent of fees, from 17 percent. Growth is definitely happening.

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Hospitality Firms with Largest Increase in Fees

International projects are down with only 17 percent of firms doing that work, from 24 percent last year (in 2015, it was about a third of firms). But the Caribbean is clocking in with 60 percent of international firms taking projects—that’s up from 52 percent in 2020. This dovetails with what we’re seeing up and down the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, as approximately 20 percent more Hospitality Giants see the Southeast as a growth hotbed, and nearly half are looking toward the Northeast. But biggest growth region is the Southwest, where 73 percent of respondents see an uptick. ThinkLab’s report breaks regions down even further, highlighting Texas, Arkansas, Florida, and New York as states ready to grow.

Global Growth Potential for Next 2 Years

And yes, let’s talk about optimism for a second. Because that’s the word here. Here’s some sunshine:

—When looking at the U.S regions primed for growth, the Hospitality Giants’s overall enthusiasm is much higher this year: Over a quarter are more bullish than a year ago.
—Firms are using their experience and skills to bring hospitality know-how to other segments. Example: “We’ve made a strong and concerted move into residential, parlaying our hospitality experience into shared spaces and amenities,” CHIL Interior Design senior principal Paul Morissette says.
—Hotel work, luxe and boutique in particular, is expected to rebound starting in 2023. Same for multiuse, as well as resorts, spas, and country clubs.
—Meanwhile, a report from Dodge Data & Analytics shows lodging construction to be one of the most robust growth areas not just next year, but through 2026.

In short: A solid business is still there, and it’s very possible the worst is over.

Fees by Project Segment

During the next 2 years, do firms expect to see more or fewer projects in these segments?

Hospitality Project Categories

Methodology

The annual business survey of Interior Design Hospitality Giants ranks the largest design firms by hospitality design fees for the 12-month period from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021. Hospitality design fees include those attributed to:

1. All hospitality interiors work.

2. All aspects of a firm’s hospitality design practice, from strategic planning and programming to design and project management.

3. Fees paid to a firm for work performed by employees and independent contractors who are full-time staff equivalent.

Hospitality design fees do not include revenues paid to a firm and remitted to subcontractors that are not considered full-time staff equivalent. For example, certain firms attract work that is subcontracted to a local firm. The originating firm may collect all the fees and retain a management or generation fee, paying the remainder to the performing firm. The amounts paid to the latter are not included in fees of the collecting firm when determining its ranking. Additionally, where applicable, all percentages are based on responding hospitality Giants, not their total number. The data was compiled and analyzed by Interior Design and ThinkLab, the research division of Sandow Design Group.