Hotel customers are becoming more and more demanding; on the other hand, hotels have for decades constituted a fortress of minor changes and service concept development. Customer needs are also changing – customers are transforming from a faceless mass of revenue-creators into individual experience-seekers, whose interests and requirements change from day to day. How does the hotel business cope with this changing situation, and how does it carry out concept development for the years to come? The ability to see what is around the corner and the ability to act according to this knowledge form the basis for the skills of any successful manager.

Concepting the Hotel for Tomorrow is a book about the making and concepting of a living laboratory – that is, two hotel rooms that give us a glimpse of what the hotel rooms of the future could look and feel like. One concept is a next-generation sustainable room, and the other a room of individual customer technology, with the ability to alter itself according to customer wishes.

The main focus of the concept planning in this book is on megatrends in the framework of the Experience Society. The book gives the reader a clear picture of how to carry out concept development in a customer-oriented manner, how customer feedback serves as a basis for further product development, and how to network with innovative companies.

This is a book for hospitality industry professionals, concept designers, academics dealing with concept planning, and university students studying accommodation management and concept planning alike.

Programme director Ari Björkqvist, M.A., MBA, is a long-time hospitality industry professional who has held several management positions in the industry while also developing his academic career in hospitality education.