Dear Karsten, we are very happy that we finally managed to sit down together. Since it’s likely not all readers were present at our last conversation, could you please give us a brief insight into your work and IDA14?

I am very pleased to receive the invitation to an interview from you, Magdalena, and MAp! For me it is an inspiration and an invitation to reflect on my work with you! In a nutshell, I work with my team of mostly around 10 young interior designers and architects on mainly hotel projects. We see ourselves as a boutique style design and architecture studio: the team size is deliberately kept manageable, our clients are mostly smaller - individual hotels or small hotel chains in Switzerland.

This has to do with the small-scale hotel structure in Switzerland on the one hand, but also with our preference for individuality on the other. The mutual appreciation is often more noticeable here than in international hotel groups. I see my work in this context as a contribution to a high-quality hotel culture, as it has historically emerged in Switzerland.

Here I am addressing a point that is important to me: as we all know, culture does not only take place in the opera. Culture is diverse, a high-quality craft; the maintenance of traditional knowledge and the respectful handling of it are an important part of my motivation to always tackle new projects without lapsing into repetitive thinking and acting.

Personally, I have been working in this profession for almost 30 years. As described in my first interview with you, I was interested in art, history, literature and politics from an early age. This interest in the world and my study of history and politics before studying architecture are probably the driving force and also the basis for my work as a specialist author. I write in the relevant media on topics related to the hotel industry. I am concerned with the social context of the industry. Here you can read developments and observe trends that go far beyond the usual understanding of design and architecture.

I have worked as a consultant for hotel chains like Swissôtel around the world. I also support various hotels with my knowledge of the correct interior design conception and proportioning. But also banks like Credit Suisse for larger projects.

One topic that we have talked about a lot recently is sustainability. How do you integrate this into your work? Was there a moment or maybe a place for you that put you on this path?

When I'm looking for a place or time where and when my interest in sustainability began, it seems to me to be a natural development, a kind of evolutionary design process.

I remember that many years ago, design, visually tangible aesthetics, was dominant and central. In Switzerland, there was traditionally an additional attitude that valued aspects such as material authenticity and high-quality craftsmanship.

As Director Interior Design, I spent several years for a Swiss 5 * hotel brand on all continents, briefing and coaching the design and architecture teams on many renovation and new construction projects. I clearly realized how much we differ in continental Europe and especially in Switzerland from the mostly Anglo-Saxon design firms that implement large hotel projects around the world. Fascinating and for me an absolute exception in this context was my collaboration with a Japanese interior designer. During a renovation project in Japan, I saw how close we got to each other in our views on architecture and design. That's why I'm really looking forward to my upcoming trip to Japan, for which I have made craft, architecture and design - in addition to nature - the central themes of my travel planning. And of course the anticipation is great: the trip has been "on hold" for a year and a half and I hope it happens in the next year.

We keep our fingers crossed that your trip to Japan will finally work out. If we stay in the future: which principles and trends do you think will become more and more important in design?

The principles are complex and will continue to develop. There are various labels and certificates for sustainability, also in the hotel industry. Magdalena, you showed me the sophisticated label B Corp, on which you focus with your company: I am now dealing with it, I respect the effort and will pursue it.

As far as our daily work in planning interior design is concerned, various basic principles of sustainability meet my quality standards. For example, when selecting products and materials, researching how sensible and justifiable the use is in terms of energy use and ethical principles in production and transport. I also value material authenticity, which also connects to recyclability. The extraction and, above all, the processing of raw materials should also take place regionally if possible. For example when using wood and stone.

Handicrafts are right at the top of my list of preferences: As far as I am concerned, I am talking about a high-quality culture that will hopefully gain in importance again and find a place in economic thinking. I love good handicrafts and often take the opportunity to visit handicraft businesses. For me, this also includes glass manufacturers such as Barovier & Toso on Murano, with a continuous company history since the 15th century. Or lighting companies like Louis Poulsen in Copenhagen, who not only produce everything themselves in Denmark, but also invite their employees to daily work breaks with music and gymnastics.

I see these European companies as regional; for me regionality is not a question of national borders, but of possibilities. Therefore, there will probably also be products in the future that come from far away, from Asia, Africa, South and North America.

As already mentioned, research is important here: How and under what conditions was production carried out? To what extent have ethical standards been adhered to in a credible manner, e.g. in terms of working conditions and human dignity, animal welfare and environmental pollution.

As far as future trends in terms of sustainability are concerned, I hope for positive social developments: It cannot be that everyone has to acquire a doctorate to understand sustainability. For me, sustainability and our major crises speak to simple feelings: those who are with themselves also have easy access to an understanding of sustainability. “We are one world” is a question of awareness, not education.

What do you say to those people who believe that it is simply impossible to be both design-oriented and sustainable? How do you create beautiful places and spaces that are sustainable for mankind and our earth in the long-term?

We have gone through many changes in good taste in human history. The 25,000-year-old stone sculpture of Venus von Willendorf is the first known sculptural representation of a human ideal: a very fat woman. It represented an ideal of beauty, because in times of hunger and cold it was a dream to be well fed. From today's point of view, being overweight would be seen as a problematic undesirable development ... Ideals of beauty can therefore survive if they are no longer appropriate, if they contradict knowledge. I believe in a collective, universal sense of aesthetics. Just as all people understand laughing and crying, regardless of their culture, there are also similarities in the perception of beautiful and ugly, of friendly and hostile.

Many of our readers work in the hotel industry: What are the 5 most important things hotels should do to make their interiors more sustainable?

Anyone planning to hire an interior designer must take the time to clarify, in conversation and on the basis of reference projects, whether and how sustainability is part of the design process of the relevant design office. If you want to take action yourself, you should consult with good regional craft businesses and choose the right partners. There are very good and sustainable furniture manufacturers in Switzerland and in neighbouring countries. Companies such as De Sede, Horgen Glarus, Embru, Alias, Girsberger and others promise longevity; But not only that: after many years of use, they also restore this furniture. A hotel may pay a higher price than with no-name products from somewhere, but these last for decades. The lifespan of a piece of furniture is an important criterion for sustainability. As a rule, this furniture is carefully designed and exudes a high level of quality, which guests are happy to take note of.

This also and especially applies to leather furniture: high-quality companies communicate exactly where the cowhide comes from and how and with which chemicals it was tanned. For me it is like eating: If a frozen pizza with a meat topping does not cost CHF 3.50, it is clear to everyone that there cannot be any respectful animal husbandry or appreciation ...

I am critical of the current inflationary hype around plastic recycling: I ask manufacturers exactly about their processes of extraction of plastic and how and where the processing and transport take place. We have a plastic litter problem in the world. But does processing into more or less short-lived products make sense? Does that solve a problem or does it create a new one?

What other sustainable measures are there? Before renovating hotels and restaurants, I check whether all furniture really needs to be disposed of. We are working on a project in Ticino, where a technically sophisticated secretary looked old-fashioned in the rooms. But lacquered in matte black, supplemented with modern, silver-coloured fittings and a cool table lamp, it now looks like a newborn - a lifestyle element that is beginning its second life.

The triad of downcycling, recycling and upcycling should be part of the research into possibilities. Good designers should find solutions that are convincingly sustainable and meet high design standards.

What are your hopes for the hospitality industry in terms of sustainability?

The hotel and catering industry are facing major challenges and have to question their traditional and previously well-functioning business models. Much of sustainability is familiar to them through the F&B area: regionality and good products as a prerequisite for success, clear communication and declaration of products and services.

The contemporary and respectful treatment of employees is moving more into the foreground, new working time models are required.

I hope that these challenges will lead to a rethinking with positive effects for the future: higher motivation of employees through cooperative management; Trust of guests and employees in the company, achieved through honest communication; and the avoidance of “green washing”, as one honestly strives for sustainability and makes this visible.

Karsten, you already know our final MAp meets question. Because even after all these years this revolves around our core service - the development of sustainable hotel concepts and hotel brands. What makes a hotel stay unique for you personally?

Like my partner, I am a passionate restaurant and hotel connoisseur.

We study various offers online and choose carefully. If the hotel and the restaurant are then an experience, give me a unique, non-exchangeable memory, then I'll come back home happy! This happiness requires employees who make me feel a real “welcome”. Rooms that surprise, with details and as an overall impression. Rooms that exude a warm and friendly atmosphere and at the same time have a contemporary, modern design, maybe sometimes even taken to the limit in an unforgettable way ... Hotels and restaurants whose food is tempting in the morning, at noon and in the evening.

Places that trigger longing when I later remember them.

Dear Jennifer, congratulations on receiving top marks on your thesis! As you noted in your thesis, hotel concept development has barely been addressed in academic literature, so why did you choose to tackle it as the subject of your bachelor thesis? What sparked your interest – besides our close contact during your mentoring year?

Thank you very much! I remember a conversation with a fellow student who enthusiastically told me about your work at MAp. My first thought was: “Hotel concept creators? Is there such a thing?" As probably many others, I had never heard of hotel concept development. A bitter conclusion when you consider that the subject is all the more important nowadays. After all, the hotel industry is facing completely different challenges than it was 10 years ago, when free WiFi was a unique selling point.

During my time as a flight attendant, I had the privilege of staying in many well-known hotels around the world. In contrast to the hotel chains, which can pull a suitable brand out of the drawer for every guest need, independent hotels have to develop their "concept" themselves.

The complexity already begins here; a hotel concept sounds fancy, everyone claims to have one, but in truth the term is abstract and difficult to define. So on the one hand there was the hotel concept development, which from a theoretical point of view is almost undefined, and on the other hand there was the urgency for unique and competitive hotel concepts in practice. A paradox that was made for research work ;-)

Before we get into it, how would you define what a hotel concept is? And why is it so critical to the strategic planning process for hotels?

The simple answer is: a tailor-made and long-term oriented document for the strategic direction of the hotel project. However, this definition would not do justice to the term “hotel concept.” A hotel is much more than a restaurant and overnight accommodation. It is a place of encounter, interaction and sensory experiences. Furthermore, it is also a property and a business model where the needs and expectations of a wide variety of stakeholders meet. As a result, a harmonious interplay of so-called hard and soft factors is required in order to develop a coherent and holistic hotel concept.

The hotel concept is like a puzzle. To solve it, you need a methodical approach and creative imagination. Specifically, a strategic basis is required. This results from a well-founded analysis of the market, environment and trends. An individual concept can then be formed from this, which takes into account aspects such as architecture, design, sensors but also the direct and indirect influences on people and the environment. The result of this development process is a clear “raison d’être” for the hotel project.

What did your study set out to achieve? And what approach and methods did you use to reach this destination, i.e. your overall aim?

Although there are numerous studies on hotel management and project development, to the best of my knowledge, hotel concept development has not been discussed much in theory or in practice. Consequently, with my thesis I wanted to make a small but significant contribution to this existing knowledge gap.

To do this, I wanted to research how the industry understands the term “hotel concept” and how widespread hotel concept development is in the Swiss hotel industry. To this end, I conducted interviews with industry experts, hotel owners and managers. The research focus was on non-branded hotels in rural areas. The exploratory nature of my research enabled me to develop a deep understanding of the topic and to gain insights into the status quo of hotel concept development.

You interviewed both industry experts and hotel managers/owners: what did your findings reveal in terms of their understanding of what hotel concepts are and their practical use? What did you deduce from this?

Basically, the industry experts as well as the hotel owners and managers found it difficult to define a hotel concept in words. This is because a concept is more often associated with an idea than with a strategic document. It is not uncommon for the concept to be understood as part of the business plan in practice.

While the industry experts are generally of the opinion that a hotel concept should be as holistic as possible, hotel owners and managers primarily associate it with their hotel product. For example, they named the extraordinary interior design or the diverse gastronomic offer as important for “their” hotel concept. It was noticeable that the questioned hoteliers developed their concept based on experience, assumptions and gut feeling. Some even honestly admitted that nothing was planned in their hotel, but simply made. This approach is contrary to the expert opinion and the current literature, which suggests that a concept should be based on facts. As a result, it was not surprising that in the five out of six hotel projects examined, no written hotel concept was developed using a strategic planning process.

These facts strongly suggest that written hotel concepts are the exception rather than the rule in the Swiss hotel industry (unless an external consulting agency is involved). A possible reason for this is the fact that the purpose and benefits of hotel concepts are simply too unknown in the hotel industry.

What do you see as the risks to not having a proper hotel concept in place for hotel managers/owners? As it relates to the hospitality industry as a whole, what can we do to mitigate these risks and ensure hotel concept development becomes more commonplace?

Hotel projects are usually long-term, costly and risky projects. I believe that if you want to sail to a distant destination, you need to know the right course to actually get there. Only very few people manage to steer “on gut feeling,” so navigation is the only solution. This guiding document is a holistic hotel concept for all stakeholders involved. Without a hotel concept, however, those stakeholders and partners involved run the risk of losing the course or missing the right one from the start. This may only show up after the opening in the form of operational and financial difficulties. That is why it is important to deal with the hotel concept at a very early stage of the hotel project, regardless of whether it is a new building or renovation.

I see a great opportunity here for hotel consulting agencies as well as industry associations and universities, which can take up the topic further and spread the necessary know-how. For example, students at the Graubünden University of Applied Sciences develop a hotel concept directly on a case study. As young professionals, they can use this knowledge to bring new impulses to companies.

Now that you’ve successfully defended your thesis, what are your post-graduation goals and plans? How do you want to change the hospitality industry?

During my research time, I received great positive feedback and interest from the interviewees surveyed. I'm pleased because it shows that the industry is already rethinking. As a practitioner, however, it is important for me not to lose an understanding of the daily challenges in practice, despite having all the theoretical basics. After all, we don't just want hotel concepts that sound good on paper, but also ones that work in everyday business over the long term. This is a tightrope walk that I will certainly take on in the future.

As always, our final MAp meets question: what makes a hotel experience a truly outstanding one for you personally?

Being a “guest” is always a very personal experience for me and it becomes unforgettable when I am in harmony with the place and the people around me. It doesn't matter whether it's a luxury resort or a guesthouse - because the feeling of "arriving" is not created by star categories or brands, but from the heart.

Marlene, thank you for taking the time to speak with us! As a start, can you please tell us a bit more about you? Where does your passion for sustainability and hospitality come from?

Like so many in my generation I came to a point where I could not accept that sustainability was something left to be cared for by others, I just wanted to make an impact myself!

For as long as I can remember I enjoyed travelling and discovering new destinations. With the feeling that a community of travellers with a conscious approach, such as myself, was increasing, I developed the idea of eco suites and just went through with it.

Can you tell our readers a bit more about eco suites? Why did you feel compelled to start the company and what’s your purpose?

ecosuites.travel is an online platform designed to present premium accommodations with a sustainable approach. We aim to support the eco conscious traveller in searching for a fitting hotel and shed light on accommodations that act sustainably. We carefully curate our collection of conscious hotels and are proud of presenting them to our community!

Personally, I aimed to take responsibility for contributing to a sustainable future. Once I had the idea for eco suites, I completely dove into it and wanted to bring it to life! I was convinced that luxury travel can be sustainable. Our purpose is to bring together the eco-conscious traveller with outstanding accommodations that share our approach and values.

eco suites has an impressive portfolio of hotels that are both stylish and sustainable. What makes your hotels “eco suites?”

We are proud to present hotels that are special in every way. Whether it is the design, the concept, the facilities or the team – our eco suites make luxury vacation dreams come true. The huge difference to many other hotels around the world is that they follow a highly sustainable approach and are committed to define modern travel. It is the combination of both aspects that makes them our “eco suites.”

To become an eco suite, what specific criteria and standards are you looking at? What is your process for selection?

We carefully choose every accommodation on ecosuites.travel. All accommodations featured on our platform meet at least five out of ten criteria that have been established as our eco suites standard. After careful consideration, our eco suites criteria have been adapted from internationally acknowledged standards for preserving the environment. It mattered greatly to us to also include criteria like “Female empowerment” or “Social impact”, to show the full range of what we believe sustainability implies.

At MAp, we too believe sustainability is the future. What are your hopes for the hospitality industry as it relates to sustainability in the short- and long-term?

My hopes for the foreseeable future are that the hospitality industry will continue to focus on implementing a wide range of eco-friendly measures, from saving resources to using clean energy. Many short-term solutions can be installed quickly and would have a huge impact on the environment. Speaking of long-term expectations, I hope that travel choices will be made carefully and will increase to focus on slow tourism, on getting to know the destination, its people and its culture.

As many of our readers are hoteliers: what are the 3 most important measures hotels should implement on the road to sustainability?

While every hotel and its guests are different, we do know what our community of responsible travellers is mostly looking for. In our experience, the measure with the highest direct impact on guests is the careful selection of food & drinks. Most exclusive travellers are keen on being offered local, seasonal and organic choices when it comes their catering. They are well informed and try to reduce their footprint with their shopping choices in their everyday lives and do expect the same from their accommodation.

Another measure that directly relates to the guest is the effort to reduce and carefully recycle waste. Many hotels are implementing recycling opportunities in each room or easily accessible in the common areas, and many guests are delighted to see the measures they are used to at home as an option in their hotel as well. Products without packaging are in high demand, and careful sourcing and recycling “behind the scenes” is mandatory.

We do strongly believe that happy employees are key to provide a unique and exceptional experience for their guests. A modern work environment needs to be implemented to include all aspects that sustainability contains. Fair working conditions, diverse perspectives and safety therefore should always be a priority. This is certainly the third measure I would recommend on the path to sustainability.

As always, our final MAp meets question is related to our core business, as we’re specialised in crafting innovative hotel concepts and brands: what makes a hotel experience a truly outstanding one for you personally?

A truly outstanding hotel experience for me comes with the people. Feeling at home away from home is what I am looking for, and that comes with attentive service. I love exploring innovative concepts, hotels that are brave enough to try something new and follow a unique path.

Dear Piero, thank you very much for taking the time for this MAp meets. A year ago you started the first SelfieHotel Pop-up Museum in Zurich, so can you please give our readers a brief insight into how this project came about?

The idea for the SelfieHotel came after the first lockdown in spring 2020, when we at Aroma were thinking about how the rooms that were vacant due to the pandemic could be used. The main focus here was on catering to establishments that were officially closed. But since a reopening in the bar and club area was foreseeable, and many city hotels still had a very bad booking situation, we sent initial inquiries and after a short period of time we decided in favour of the 25Hours Hotel on Langstrasse / Europaallee in Zurich.

What exactly is meant by a selfie hotel? What is the concept behind it and which target groups did you primarily want to address?

The SelfieHotel is a temporary social media playground and is primarily aimed at a young audience who want to create exceptional content for their social media feeds. For this purpose, we create crazy sets in the hotel rooms for photography, filming, boomerangs, posing, dancing and laughing! You can then book time slots for your visit at selfiehotel.ch. Entry costs around CHF 25.

How were the reactions to the first SelfieHotel and what is the future project planning like? Is an expansion of the project planned and what can we expect this year?

We were massively surprised by the rush; the SelfieHotel was booked out for weeks. We have therefore adjusted the opening times and decided to extend the term by one month. Over the three months we were able to welcome almost 20,000 visitors to Zurich.

This year we are planning the opening of the SelfieHotel Lausanne on May 1st, provided the pandemic situation allows it. We would like to use the concept in other cities and are already in the planning stage for this, but we are also open to suggestions.

If we now look into the future together: What do you think awaits us after COVID-19? Which trends will shape the Swiss and the international hotel industry?

The hotel, catering and event industries are the most severely affected branches of the economy; therefore, a high level of mental and operational agility and frustration tolerance are necessary in order to get through this crisis. With this in mind, I hope that the crisis will produce no financial losers, and also that entrepreneurs will be strengthened in terms of character and perseverance.

At MAp, we specialise in the development of innovative hotel concepts and brands: What makes a really special hotel stay for you?

I really appreciate personal but unobtrusive service. If I find the right newspaper on the breakfast table on the second day of my stay, then I'm happy.

Thank you for speaking to us today! As a start, can you please tell us a bit more about you and your background? Have you always been passionate about sustainability and hospitality?

At least from high school onwards. Quite nerdly, I joined the environmental club in my school in Sweden. Part of my curriculum at university also included courses such as “Sustainable Development”, “Environmental Studies” and “Human Rights”. That I want to follow a career within the hospitality industry became clear to me, when I was looking for a job while finishing my Master’s Degree in Maastricht. I sat down and asked myself: “What do I want to do now? What am I passionate about?” The answers were: gastronomy, travelling, being a host, bringing people together, and designing memorable experiences. Thus, I moved to Berlin and worked in a hotel concept development company.

We recently discovered TUTAKA and love your approach to sustainability. Can you share with our readers a bit more about TUTAKA? How did you come up with the idea for it and what’s your purpose?

Thank you! We are also enthused about MAp and can’t wait to see how we join forces to bring more sustainability into our beloved industry.

TUTAKA makes sustainable procurement easy. How? By relieving buyers from the hotel, restaurant and event industry of the complex task of searching: On our digital marketplace, hundreds of audited products and services can be directly bought or enquired.

TUTAKA Island is our marketplace’s sister. As a consultancy, “the Island” supports hosts in the transformation towards more sustainability by taking an advisory role within the fields of strategy, communication and procurement. Overall, marketplace and agency alike, our mission is to make the hospitality industry more sustainable. 

Can you explain to us how you define a product as “sustainable?” What criteria are you looking at? How do you go about sourcing products?

Either we get in touch with a producer that we think might fit, we meet them at an event or fair, or the supplier contacts us. Then, we elaborate firstly whether the product(s) is suitable for the hospitality industry from a functionality, design and price perspective and whether the supplier can deliver large quantities within an attractive lead time.

After this basic check, we take a close look. First on a company level via a questionnaire, which asks questions such as “Tell us about your company's mission and product features and the social challenges you are tackling” or “Are you already a sustainability superstar? Or are you rather at the beginning of your journey? What are you particularly proud of? Where do you still have room for improvement?” And then we move on with our TUTAKA product assessment, which evaluates the entire life cycle of the product in terms of positive and negative social and ecological impacts. To be precise, we look at the design, end of life scenario, logistics, production, materials, and usage of the product. Then, we sort the offer into our impact scoring, develop an overview on the sustainability performance and also state transparently what needs further improvement in terms of sustainability.

At MAp, we too believe that the future of hospitality needs to be sustainable. How important is sustainability in the hospitality industry? And where do you envision the future of hospitality going as it relates to this?

Sustainability should be all our rationale. There is no hospitality industry without a “sustainable” in front of it. 

With sustainability becoming so important and trendy, there are, of course, some negative side effects to it. Talking about “greenwashing” – how do you define it and how do you feel about it?

Franziska, my Co-Founder, hosts a panel on HospitalityNet, where we tackled this question with other industry leaders. Have a look!

Greenwashing is amongst the biggest traps to fall into when communicating sustainability. A "let's save the world" claim and tacky towel policy stickers are superficial and unappealing. Greenwashers pretend that they have made efforts, however just for the sake of being perceived as green and thus trustable and a brand to stick with. Believing that solely a change from plastic straws to no straws is worth sending out messages across all channels and media, declaring a new ecoistic era, is too simple. So, what to do? As a first step, the sustainability activities of hospitality companies should be embedded in a wider sustainability agenda such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Secondly, sustainability should be driven by corporate culture and people, and not merely by checklists. Thirdly, and here I would like to quote Franziska: “Sustainability communication must leave behind the classic marketing practice of hiding products, services and people behind empty slogans and hoping they will resonate with current trends and lifestyle models. Sustainability communication should be about revealing, sharing and letting in.”

As many of our readers are hoteliers: can you share with us 3 easy tips on how they can become more sustainable?

Sure! First, sustainability is a journey. Take it step by step. Second, on-board your whole team and take them with you on this journey. Third, implement a long-term strategy with goals and measures. “Quick and dirty” does not work with sustainability.

As always, our final MAp meets question is related to our core business, as we’re specialised in crafting innovative hotel concepts and brands: what makes a hotel experience a truly outstanding one for you personally?

A hotel that is in true balance with the nature and “Umwelt”/ Environment surrounding it. A hotel that offers outstanding materialistic and non-materialistic experiences. One, where well-being is at the core. And one, where you can feel that all employees are being appreciated and participative.  Oh, how I look forward to travelling again!

Dear Ms. Kern Nyberg, thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us. Can you give our readers a brief glimpse of how the Sinn & Gewinn Hotels are doing in these extraordinarily difficult times?

We can perhaps paraphrase it this way: it is an up and down at a low level. The "up" stands for hope on the horizon. The lockdown hit us hard, from one day to the next we no longer had any guests and in the spring 2020 we were unfortunately forced to close our hotels until Pentecost. With the exception of two pensions, where we mainly accommodate long-term tenants. The following summer was passable and we were able to stay afloat with a lot of savings and good planning. Since the second wave, we've been in almost as bad of shape as we were in the first lockdown. What is helping us now to keep the hotels open are the long-stay concepts that we developed in the summer.

You mentioned the long-term guests in your pensions. We also know that the group is committed to non-profit business. Can you explain the concept of the Sinn & Gewinn Hotels to our readers in more detail?

The Sinn & Gewinn Hotels started 20 years ago with the original idea of creating jobs for women in difficult conditions. The LADYs FIRST Hotel in Seefeld in Zurich was the first to open and will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2021. Over time, other companies were taken over, always with the aim of enabling women with mental and cognitive impairments to return to the world of work. Since we were able to employ fewer women in the pensions, we integrated the social benefits for the residents: a third of the rooms are always reserved for women in emergency or transitional situations.

When we develop hotel concepts and brands at MAp, we always ask ourselves what the greater purpose is. Since last year, we have noticed that the question of meaning is emerging more and more and is also being discussed by a broader audience. How did you experience this development?

What I have seen in the past few years is that this is no longer just important for selling the product. For me, the fastest moving market is the human resources market, i.e. the employee market. I have the clear impression that it is easier for us as Sinn & Gewinn Hotels to find and keep employees, because we also have meaning and do not exist just for profit. And in general it is simply more humane to work for us than compared to other hotels.

Women play a central role in the Sinn & Gewinn Hotels concept. How have you perceived the change in the needs of your female guests in recent years?

I don't think that needs have fundamentally changed, but instead how we deal with our own demands has changed a lot. Today’s needs are expressed more freely and more clearly than before. And what we also see: there are many more women travelling alone, in the business as well as in the leisure sector.

What is the percentage of female guests in your hotels?

The LADYs FIRST Hotel is our only hotel in which only women were welcomed at the beginning. This has not been the case since 2002 - women and men are very welcome.

Sometimes we have even more men than women as guests. This can be explained by business travellers during the week, a travel segment where the male segment of the population still dominates. However, if you compare the proportion with other hotels in the same segment, we skim off a large proportion of female business travellers.

Not only is the business travel segment predominantly male-dominated, but also the hotel industry. Here, too, there have been major changes since last year. What can we all do to motivate (young) women to work in the hotel industry and to promote gender diversity?

That's a really big topic. As women, for example, we can start showing little girls what we can achieve. I am convinced that a lot has to do with the role models children see. I didn't notice many female hotel managers in the past, but I think that a lot has changed institutionally. That's why I'm happy to give interviews like this one - to show my face in general. I encourage every other woman to do the same!

We have finally left 2020. What are your hopes for this year, the future?

Regardless of how the pandemic develops now, my hope is that a cultured and fact-filled discourse will be conducted. That the “hobby virologists” don't take over and feed the public discourse even more with rumours, “fake news” and conspiracies. I wish for a victory of reason.

At MAp, we often say when "Shit happens, Shift happens." In our last blog posts we tried to show how many options there are in this time of crisis. What positive things did the Corona pandemic period bring you? What did you learn from it?

An unbelievable amount of commitment, flexibility, adaptability, forward thinking: what do we need now? Where do we have to start? We have done things, are still trying them and changing things again, none of that would have been imaginable for me a year ago. Personally, I can say that I am growing from this current situation.

At MAp, we are experts in concept and brand creation and often find that when everything is running smoothly, long-term issues such as strategy development, positioning, etc. are often pushed aside. We have a double question about this. On the one hand: How do you see this development in the market? And the second question: What is a good hotel concept for you personally?

The market is the place where demand and supply meet. The demand is at a low and this means that the providers have to work harder and position themselves. Those providers who look ahead with commitment and who don't bury their heads in the sand need positioning and a clear focus more than ever before. Hotels that see hope for themselves that they can get out of this crisis are now clinging to the concept and positioning.

And to answer the second question: For me, a good hotel concept is when the advertising statement on the website matches what I find when I go to the hotel. Furthermore, the employees should then also fit in with the whole and fully support the hotel philosophy. For me, a good hotel concept is when everything is from a single source and is well-rounded.

What other messages would you like our readers to take away from this interview?

“Those who fight, can win. Those who do not fight have already lost!” That's actually my saying and I think it fits quite well at the moment.

Dear Eva, it is such a pleasure and honour for me to interview you today. It’s December 2020 – which means we’re at the end of 2020, an extraordinary year for the world and a special one for you and your boutique management consultancy, as you’ve celebrated the 11th anniversary of Human Facts.  And of course, this gives me an amazing opportunity to ask you 11 questions that fall into three categories. First, I would love to look back with you – at how it all started. Then, it would be so inspiring for me and your audience to learn more about the lessons you’ve learned, and what you can share with us. And then of course, let’s take a look at the future. Let’s go back to 2009 with our first question: 

1. What inspired, motivated and pushed you to found Human Facts 11 years ago?
Well I think I have to give a bit more context to answer this question. At that time I was working in a large, multinational corporation in the financial industry. Mainly, we tried to unleash a more collaborative mindset among leaders and a “We-Culture” across functional or geographical boundaries and I really loved it. However, despite a senior management affirming all the time how important these topics were, it was always a battle to get the so-called “soft topics” on the management agenda. It seemed that managers gave “hard topics”, such as revenues, technical issues etc. clear favour, valuing them as more important. 

I realised that this was a manifestation of a general deep divide between the business world and humanity. To be a “tough cookie”, to be fact and number driven, rational, distant and a demanding negotiator, condensing all you have to say into three bullet points, was what was highly valued and expected as professional business behaviour. I remember wearing only black polo-neck jumpers to cover anything that would reveal that I am a multi-dimensional and colourful human being. There was no place for humanity, all that makes us human, such as feeling with all senses, being creative, kind, helpful, caring, giving, having emotions, love, compassion, solidarity, empathy, forgiveness –  these behaviours were an absolute no-go, not business-like at all. 

I increasingly suffered from this divide in my outside world and inside my own life – here my business-self and there, apart from it, my human self with all my senses and feelings, my love to care for others, to be close and to feel with them. So it was both, an outside and an inside push that led me to found Human Facts, to stand-up and bridge this divide and to help give an inclusive management approach a voice.

Thank you so much for these insights Eva. And I’m beyond happy that when I look at the Human Facts website today, it shows colour, personality and emotion. And it also shows that the main driving force, your WHY, has never changed – “the value of we.” I can assume that sticking to your core wasn’t always easy and is for sure something to be proud of.

2. Staying with this topic, Eva. What are you are most proud of when looking back at 11 years of Human Facts? 
There are two things. First, not giving up when things did not work out as expected. Particularly in the beginning, which was quite painful to be honest. A lot of colleagues kicked-off their businesses with existing clients. I literally started off with 0. The very first mandate I got from a friend – thanks again Dolores! - who worked for a church in a very small community in Switzerland. She invited me to hold a speech about “How managers tick”. It was in the midst of the financial crisis and there was huge public distrust against managers in general. I was standing in a large hall prepared for about a hundred people. Embarrassingly only a few people showed up – I think not even ten. However, I gave my speech and we ended up having a very insightful and engaged discussion with the few people around. It was certainly not the glorious and shiny beginning one would have wished for. 

But in retrospect, it guided me in the right direction: focusing on those who want to work with you – they are the right ones. And do not go only for quantity but for what feels right, resonates and has the potential to co-create meaning, and as well, joy and fun. 

The second thing I am very grateful for, is the fact that more than half of my clients have become recurring clients and have stayed with me for years or recommended me to others. We were able to develop very sustainable, longterm and enriching partnerships, and in some cases, even friendships that I appreciate very much.

Looking at the other side of being an entrepreneur:

3. Can you share with us the most painful insight you had to acknowledge over the last 11 years? How did you handle it and what did you learn from it?
Well, I guess my most painful - yet most important - learning was that I was not prepared at all to market my business, respectively myself. As embarrassing and naive as it may sound, I had the wishful thinking that clients would come to me as soon as they learned about the experiences and competences I offer. After digesting this shock, I slowly realised: to be competent is one thing, to market it is another. So, I started to move myself out of my comfort zone and tried to learn about acquisition and marketing, actively approached people and clearly asked for help. 

It’s still not the favoured part of my business today but I learned that it is not necessary to like everything you do – but you should be capable of doing it.

I think a lot of our readers, viewers and listeners resonated with the statement that as an entrepreneur you do not necessarily need to like everything you do and that it is so important to continuously move yourself out of your comfort zone. Staying in this line:

4. What ONE thing do you wish you’d done differently? 
Overall, I think I would have started together with others and not alone anymore. Today, I appreciate so much to think together, to share ideas, to co-design, co-create and co-work with all my wonderful partners – such as with you for example. I truly believe we can serve people and planet better together – and above all else, it’s much more fun :)

You have had such a wonderful career. And I’m so thrilled to ask you about some insights and advices, especially for young and aspiring entrepreneurs. 

5. What are your three main suggestions for new / young / aspiring entrepreneurs and leaders?
To be honest, I am very reluctant to provide suggestions as I believe there is no such thing as “best practices” that you can pass on – everybody needs to find his or her own journey. So maybe that is my most important suggestion. :) But I am happy to share my personal top learnings from my 11-year “entrepreneurship” journey: 

First, make every experience a chance to learn. If you don’t always take the turn you wanted or expected, be confident that there is something to learn in it. What a turn might bring, you will recognise only from a distance. 

Secondly, most clients prefer that you serve them in an authentic way. In other words: it’s not about sugarcoating. It’s about respectful candour and care. Don’t fear difficult conversations or conflicts. Interestingly, the client relationships that started off with a conflict ended up to be the best ones. 

And thirdly, find a balance between give and take.You only survive on your little boat in this big “ocean” called the global market if you care and give back to others. Much more of our career, business or personal success than we might be conscious of is a result of many others who graciously connected us to people, shared their knowledge with us, helped us develop ideas, passed business opportunities to us or simply encouraged us. Even if you can’t give back to each and every person who helped you along the way, pass it forward to somebody else. Don’t take it for granted. Care for and cultivate all your relationships – not only the ones with clients. The world is circular – what you share comes back to you.

Thank you for your advice. Especially the third one – finding a balance between give and take – it really resonates with me. For me, that’s one of the main characteristics of an inspirational leader, an inspirational leader such as you, dear Eva. I know that during the course of your career you have worked with many inspirational leaders. 

6. What values and personality traits do inspirational managers and leaders all have in common?
At least two outstanding inspirational leaders come into my mind I had the chance to work with. I witnessed that they make a difference particularly in critical situations. 

For example, during a townhall with a hundred leaders, where a C-Level colleague got under fire from the audience, the CEO stood up and said “This is not how we solve things here - we do not shoot at people. We are in this boat together and we find solutions and answers together”. Another one, when it came to a rollout of leader assessments in order to change leader behaviour, put himself in front and said: “I will take part in it, I’ll do the assessment, too”. 

Both, in my eyes, showed what I think inspirational leaders do: They not only inspire by words, but by living-up to the change for which they seek. It’s not only about how to change others, they put themselves in the equation, too.

Above all, they are great listeners and great learners, ask questions, seek out people with diverse opinions from themselves, ask for feedback and admit what they do not know or apologise for mistakes, are empathetic and respectful to everybody. And finally, they have a great portion of humour and can laugh at themselves too.

7. From your experience, if you have to pick one single trait: Which one is the most dangerous trait in a leader? 
Overconfidence. They underestimate their own “blindness” caused by the hierarchical system they are operating in. For example, when another firm experiences a scandal or derailment, they tend to attribute those issues to the character of a certain leader and feel like “This will never happen to me.” Whereas this mostly happens due to the “locked-in” phenomenon that all hierarchical systems suffer from and which can hit all of us.

8. You often talk about asking the right questions: What are the top three questions that have inspired change and action in your career? How have these questions changed over the years? What were questions you asked at the beginning of your career and what questions are you asking yourself lately?
In my early career it was a question that I was asked by a seasoned manager I met at one of those corporate business dinners: What is your big dream that you want to fulfil in this life? I was speechless. It provoked many sleepless nights. Finally, it led me to stop my corporate career and go back to university for a PhD, which I found out had been a dream for me. It indeed became the seedbed for my lifetime mission and a vessel for a lot of wonderful, enriching relationships.

Later on it was “What about you do you want to stick in people’s hearts?” So, for example, do you want that people experience you always in a hassle? Always pointing out problems? Always being perfect? Do you want to leave them feeling discouraged or encouraged, appreciated or disregarded? Included or offset? Up to then, I was very much concerned about what I say, i.e. words and content. But from then onwards, I realised that we also leave an unspoken energetical footprint – mostly subconsciously - with others. And we should in fact be more conscious of the energetic mark we leave with others.

Lately, I’ve been inspired by questions like: How can I become who I am destined to be? What if it’s not so important what happens in my life but how I respond to what happens?

These questions let my focus shift from the “wanting” of something specific in life to the “how” can I respond or transform what has been offered to me?

We’ve arrived at our last section of questions - looking into the future:

9. What concerns you the most when looking at the current business environment, when thinking about the future? 
The lack of partnerships. To solve the most burning issues of our times, such as inequalities, climate change, and the like, is not a question of money. We need the ability to partner across any kind of boundaries, such as different disciplines, different cultures, geographies, nations, demographics, organisations and so on. After a long period of “what’s in it for me” and “me comes first” we have all learned how to pursue our own advantages and are, in a sense, “best-self” driven. But how to become “best partner” driven? How can we learn to shift from “what’s in it for me” towards “what’s-in-it-for all-of-us”? Not in a selfless sense but in a sense of developing and partnering towards a shared purpose, that benefits us all? This needs a conscious paradigm shift and renaissance of our social cooperative roots and strengths.

10. What are the keys to developing the next generation of leaders in the world?
I think this holds true not only for the next generation, but us all: How to enable collaboration among distributed people across any boundaries, and above all, consciousness, gratitude, ethics and the aspiration of becoming a best partner.

11.What do you hope will be different in the business world / leadership area in 11 years from now?
I have indeed some hopes: 

First, I hope that businesses will exist only to serve humanity in the short and the longterm. Not as a social responsibility add on, but as their true legitimation and purpose. Second, I believe that stakeholder relationships of companies, and particularly the quality of these relationships, should become its own intangible asset class on the balance sheet – maybe called Network-Capital or the like. It should form the base for any risk evaluations of firms and be taxed. And finally, as a result of this, I hope that leadership will be much more collaborative and truly partnering. I hope that we will see leaders get rewarded, appreciated and receive applause for how many collective partnerships they enabled that generated sustainable impact for the benefit of all-of-us.

Eva, we’ve reached the end of our interview. It was as inspiring, kind and heart-opening as I expected. Thank you for all you’ve done to bring more humanity to the business world over the last 11 years and thank you as well for continuing to do so, because the world will need it more than ever. I allow myself to conclude this interview with our personal mantra, that matches this conversation so well: onwards together. Thank you, Eva.

Dear Harsha, thank you for taking the time to meet with us. To start, can you please share the story behind Saira Hospitality and how it came to be?

My four sisters and I were strongly influenced by my father’s philanthropic work with Mother Teresa and I always sought to merge a deep-rooted dedication to philanthropy with my passion: luxury hospitality. In 2011, I visited Cambodia where I came across a non-profit that was training women, who would otherwise fall into sex trafficking, in hospitality to be employed as housekeepers. They had a 90% plus success rate of placing these women into employment at luxury hotels which I found hugely inspiring and was grateful to see firsthand how these two worlds of philanthropy and hospitality could be connected. After years of working for international hotel brands including Six Senses Resorts and Residences, the Fullerton Hotel and André Balazs properties, I enrolled in the MMH graduate program at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, where I began developing the concept for Saira Hospitality. During our Winter break, I was working at the Aman Galle when I overheard an interview between an Italian General Manager and a local Sri Lankan. The GM clearly wanted to hire the local Sri Lankan man as a pool cleaner for a variety of reasons I guessed: the cost would be less than hiring an expat, locals add to the guest experience and wanting to do the right thing by the community. From what I could see and hear, the local Sri Lankan man seemed to truly want the job, be on time for the interview, arrive well dressed and appear positive yet he didn’t have the simple interview skills he needed to be hired. The non-profit hotel school concept was clear at this point and seemed to be meeting a need on both sides. Hotel operators often cannot find well-trained, local talent and local communities are seeking opportunities and employment but lack the skills they need to be employed. Saira Hospitality won first place at Cornell University’s Business Plan competition in 2014 and it was at this point that I recognized the strong correlation between hospitality and philanthropy. Both are linked through the hospitality gene, the gene of service: service to the guest and service to humanity.

What is your approach and what kind of content do you cover as part of your training programme?

We partner with hotels around the world and launch pop-up hotel schools for local communities, providing hospitality operators with higher retention, community diplomacy and local talent upon opening. We identify their future hiring needs and incorporate as much of the brand's orientation, culture and training as possible into the curriculum content so students at the end of the program, form a pool of well-trained, local labor for the brand to hire from on schedule.

After a rigorous four-step interview process, applicants are accepted and students are taken through two to eight weeks of hospitality training provided by hospitality experts, including Cornell Hotel School graduates. During Saira’s training, students engage in both theoretical and experiential learning. We teach the key skills we feel they need to gain employment with partner hotels, emotional intelligence, cultural intelligence, leadership, communication, service recovery, mindfulness and so on.

We also focus on hands-on learning, typically in the departments of Food and Beverage, Front Office and Housekeeping but we can also train for those skills needed in other departments, according to the needs of our brand partner/s. Hospitality, as a people industry, is incredibly subjective and emotional, which is why Saira can even exist. You don’t need to have a formal education to be successful in hospitality — to be successful in hospitality you have to be empathetic and understand human behavior. Saira’s role is about nurturing what we call “the hospitality gene.” We believe in teaching skills that can be applied both when working in hospitality but also to the personal lives of the students. Some of our students in the past have managed to heal broken marriages by learning about the communication skills we teach in class. Much of what we teach enriches both the professional and personal lives of our students.

What hotel brands have you worked with and what kind of benefits have they seen as a result of your partnership?

Today Saira has graduated 250 students with an average of 10% turnover to participating hotel partners, including Virgin Limited Edition, Rosewood Hotels, Autograph Collection, Bunkhouse Hotels and Habitas in downtown Los Angeles, Mexico, British Virgin Islands and Namibia. They have also met 100% of their hiring needs from our graduates within the local community.

What is the impact you have on local communities?

Everything we do is centred on empowering local communities. I believe offering a free, high standard of education to communities that may not have the privilege to access information is one of the most valuable commodities that you can provide someone. In our most recent project with Habitas that took us to Namibia, we had more than 300 applications and encountered people that hadn’t had a job in eight years, who, when asked out of curiosity in Saira interviews how much money they needed to survive each month, some were happy to earn even $50 USD per month from any job they could get. In countries that are experiencing socio-economic hardship, Saira is providing a platform for a career in hospitality, and at the very least, some belief in themselves that they can achieve one.

After our BVI pop-ups, we had the following results:

• 98% of Saira graduates now see hospitality as a career
• 80% of graduates currently work in hospitality
• 94% of students found the program beneficial to work performance
• 69% of graduates hired were previously unemployed
• 91% of Saira graduates are currently employed or in school

Where do you envision the future of hospitality going as it relates to social impact? And what steps can hoteliers take to increase their social impact?

We partnered with Porter and Sail in the hope of raising funds from potential guests who want to play their part in educating and empowering local communities. We hope these kinds of partnerships will eventually allow us to launch schools with smaller, independent hotels that may not have the resources to fund 100% of the school themselves but are still wanting to train and hire the local community. Guests today have a conscience and want to travel more thoughtfully - they are travelling more mindfully than ever which we need to take advantage of as we don’t know how long it will last for. We need hotels and OTA’s to take responsibility and to listen to the needs of the community to be able to provide the guest a variety of options where they can easily give back while traveling. We often think that donations involve financial resources but I believe volunteering even a couple of hours of your time on vacation can be life-changing, shifting someone’s mindset, sharing knowledge.

If you can afford to travel, share your knowledge with those who can’t afford to. We need the next generation of guests to help us spread awareness of what we do, so that the industry stops using an ancient model of hiring and instead creates a responsible and sustainable future for hospitality.

We at MA people are specialised in crafting innovative hotel concepts and brands: what makes a hotel experience a truly outstanding one for you personally?

For a hotel experience to be outstanding for me, it has to be a thoughtful experience. I always think first of the service. As we teach at Saira, 70% of an experience is emotional. How did the experience make you feel? How did the service make you feel? The product can be of the highest design and quality but if the service doesn’t match the product, the experience won’t stand out. Even at the most expensive hotels, if the service doesn’t feel genuine and thoughtful, it becomes just another five star hotel with high end amenities and scripted service that doesn’t meet the needs of each unique guest.Then, once I’m fascinated and excited by the level of service, only then will the design of the hotel, the flow of the experiences, the F&B offerings, the picturesque views and so on... only then do they come alive.

Anne, what inspired you to set up a hostel over fifteen years ago?

My sister and I went travelling after university and just fell in love with hostel life. For us, hostels offered a kind of “on the road” accommodation that felt both comforting and exciting. “Comforting” in that a good hostel feels a lot like a home away from home, “exciting” because hostels helped connect us to so many new experiences and new people from all walks of life and cultures. We felt that we learnt a lot about what makes a great hostel so when the opportunity arose to open one of our own, we grabbed it and I have never looked back! I am so lucky to do something I love.

How would you describe the Clink Hostels DNA?

Clink is all about connection – to both people and to places. Everything we do at Clink centres around creating an amazing city experience for our guests and we try to take a creative approach to hostelling to achieve that. That starts with the buildings we choose and runs through the whole business – from the staff we hire, to the local knowledge we share and the events we put on regularly for guests. It’s all about creating those shared and memorable experiences that guests can take home with them, share with their friends and family and, hopefully, share with their grandkids in years to come!

We love your “Stay & Play”, “Stay & Create” and “Stay & Scribble” programmes. Could you introduce our readers to these great initiatives?

We love them too! These programmes fall under our wider “ClinkCREATIVE” initiative. ClinkCREATIVE was born out of the drive to really improve our offering for guests and to connect Clink to local and international artistic communities. Stay & Play offers up-and coming bands or musicians the chance to stay for free in exchange for playing a gig at one of our lively bars. Stay & Create is similar, but for artists, offering creative types space to paint or exhibit in the hostels – or host a workshop to share their talents with guests. Stay & Scribble is aimed at travel bloggers or aspiring travel writers who can either come and stay in exchange for writing a hostel review or travel piece about one of the cities. For more info and for anyone looking to apply visit ClinkCREATIVE. 

In your opinion, how have the needs of backpackers/budget travellers changed over the years?

Honestly, I don’t feel that the basic needs of backpackers/budget travellers have changed all that much. The standard of hostels has improved dramatically (scary showers and smelly duvets are definitely a thing of the past!) so I think that backpacker/budget traveller expectations are higher. However, I do genuinely feel that, on a basic level, young travellers want what they have always wanted when they travel - accommodation that offers them safe, comfortable and cost-effective place to sleep that’s going to allow them to explore new places and meet new people. At Clink, we try to ensure those basic needs are always met, whilst simultaneously working on new ways to really engage with guests and improve their overall stay and city experience. In an age where young travellers are often attached to their mobile phone, trying to encourage real life connection can be a challenge! However, it’s something that we’re passionate about doing at Clink, and initiatives like ClinkCREATIVE are a big part of that.

Apart from Clink Hostels ;-), which other hospitality concept/brand surprises and inspires you?

Oh there’s so many out there that I’m constantly inspired by! I have always loved Kex hostel in Iceland, I find it fun and inspirational, and was fortunate enough to stay there two years ago. They do an amazing job of weaving hostel life into the local community and communicating their own unique personality. Design-wise, Michelberger in Berlin is a real favourite and I love their authenticity. Volkshotel’s event programme is really impressive and helps foster such a great atmosphere there. The Good Hotel in London (formerly in Amsterdam) has a real social mission - something I feel is important in creating futureproof businesses. 

What’s in the Clink Hostels project pipeline? Are you planning to further expand Clink Hostels?

The plan for Clink this year is to work hard on refining our current offering to make sure that our vision for Clink really aligns with the experience that the guest has. We do plan to expand into Europe in the coming years, and with our new MD, Mark Fenelon at the helm, there’s lots going on behind the scenes in terms of planning new locations. Doing the groundwork now is important so that we can be confident in being able to deliver a streamlined Clink experience as we grow.

1. Soohyun, what exactly is “glamping” and how did you discover / start to love it?

Glamping is a combined term from “glamour” and “camping” to describe a style of camping with amenities (like washroom, kitchen) and in some cases, resort-style services not usually associated with traditional camping. It has become an alternative way to spend one’s vacation. I was inspired by the Tree hotel in Sweden, and began to think of new inventive ways to experience nature in the closest proximity. Our younger clients wanted the same and asked for something dramatically different than a single hotel room. That’s when we started our glamping projects in 2014.

2. Can you give our readers some information on your company “Atelier Chang”? What’s the idea behind and where have you implemented this concept already?

Our design focuses on Simplicity For Many. Glamping represents this concept the best. Our glamping tents are designed for the distinctive user experience by offering very simple but inventive form and content. These tents are called Cutent, Firefly, or Mountain, as their concept was driven from simple objects found in nature. The breadth of space is also quite unique: 45-60 sqm of interior space, as big as a small flat. The tent material adds to its exciting appearance: stylish bright colorus of the fabric is 100% non-flammable, 100% recyclable. It’s the same fabric used for the London Olympic Stadium. About 5 glamping resorts are already built in Asia with our models in recent 2 years, with 2-3 more projects on its way this summer in larger scale.
http://atelierchang.com/glamping/

3. Can you tell us a bit more about the Knothouse, the 5 residential structures that you realised on Geoje Island, South Korea?

We wanted to create a knot from a strip of landscape. A house made of knot could blur the boundary between the inside and outside. While sitting in the living room Jacuzzi, you could feel like you are immersed in the entire ocean view in front of you. The front garden continues seamlessly into the living room. It turned out to be a popular project that many people wanted to visit even with 2-month-in-advance reservation. 
http://atelierchang.com/knot-house/

4. We know you like to travel with your family and your little son. Which hotels and accommodations do you prefer and what exactly are you looking for when booking your family escape?

We always look for vacation venues where both parents and kids can have fun. For instance, if the hotel itself has interesting programs or a concept that our entire family can enjoy – separately or together – that ticks the mark. Convenience as well as adventure are parts of the criteria.

5. From your perspective: what are the trends that are going to shape the future of hospitality and tourism over the next years?  

I once read an article where a global officer in Marriot Edmundson said “Design has been democratized.” Design does not reflect the rich few, but will have to face new consumers like millennials, who want great quality service with non-ridiculous overcharges. I cannot agree more that the new trend of hospitality will target on the intelligent mass, whether it be young family with toddlers, young couples travelling on backpack, or innovative retirees in their early 60s. They are more educated than ever and treasure unique experiences. As much as Airbnb has shaken up the dusty hotel businesses, the new small but unique outdoor experience will be welcomed by unprecedented mass audiences.  

Thank you Soohyun & keep on inspiring us with your innovative creations ;-)
MA people