Life Experience

The research on this task was mainly based on “Live Experience”. Each group went to different 5-star hotels. First, to see what it is about and experience how it feels to be a guest. The only group which had a different approach was the socialisation group. The main reason is that there is no socialisation activity in a hotel.

Sanitary

The idea was to experience and research everything concerning a hotel's hygienic part for the sanitary group. From showers to toilets, from spas to saunas and chilling areas.

Food

Those in the food group looked at the culinary supply, kitchen, and tableware in high-quality restaurants.

Reception

For the reception, the group decided to have a coffee in a 5-star hotel and observe how the reception would function. Plus, one of the team members had a cousin in her family working at a hotel reception.
By conducting an interview, they could learn from her life experience.

Sleeping

The sleeping group looked at the example of a capsule hotel in Japan. And based on the live experience of Bernd Kniess of it.

Socialisation

The socialisation group had to look to some similar example. Those similar structures they looked at were luxurious places where the main activity is based on socialisation, like member clubs (which was live experienced by one of the group members). And the group quickly connected with Glamping, which was related to the second skin experience but with high standard comfort.


Map of on-site experiences

The research for Take 2 “5-star hotel” was a combination of different types of live experiences, site research, and personal past experience and interviews.

For Take 2, one central point for the research was to open the possibilities of research as much as the group could. In fact, opening the opportunities was appropriate since being a host is different from each culture. The hotel project is located in an ethnically diverse and multicultural community and actively formed by participants from various cultural backgrounds. For example, look to past personal experience that was considered as close as possible to luxurious – Not only elegant in terms of aspect but also terms of feeling. Playing games on a cinema screen is not necessarily luxurious but the feeling of playing on such a big screen. Or being in a capsule hotel with such a minimal standard that it makes you forget about society...

One point that was important for this life experience research was the interview of a professional. One of the group member’s cousin is a receptionist in a hotel in Frankfurt. And interviewing her about her inner experience in a hotel was probably the most valuable part for concluding how it is to be a proper host in a hotel (like for example, preparing before a guest checking and knowing as much as information on the client).

It was research on all of these levels, which brought us to the ultimate conclusion: luxury is in the details.