HD Boutique Show in South Beach

I attend the HD Boutique show in Miami every year. I love hospitality design and since I specialize in vacation homes and rentals I think it's important to stay informed of what is happening in hotel design. This show is sponsored by Hospitality Design magazine and just like the magazine the show continues to grow each year. Four years ago I walked the entire show in half a day - this year it took 2 days. Every year brings dynamic speakers on cutting edge topics.

I truly believe that hotel design is at the forefront of residential design. People stay in these incredible, luxurious hotel rooms and want to replicate that experience within their home. When I design a vacation home I want people to feel at ease the moment they step in the door, I want to "wow" them. I want them to feel like the place is worth every dime they are spending to be there - and more. I want them to tell their friends.

When I attend this show I get to see the products that will be in hotels, I form relationships to purchase the products at cost, I attend seminars to hear from people about what to look for in the future, how a concept was formed and what went into implementing it, I like to hear from the experts about what is important to them, maybe there is something I should be thinking about more seriousely, and I get to learn about the differences in a variety of products.

This year I saw a lot stronger emphasis placed on eco-friendly products. I saw a trend by the hotels and restaurants of un-branding, and they had very good points for this. And I saw dramatic concepts for hotels in the future.

South Beach is the perfect location for this show and staying in the area is priceless. There are dozens of trendy boutique hotels in this area, all within walking distance. During the day we would go to the show and at night we would walk to a few hotels in the area and check out the design of the lobby, restaurant, bar and pool areas. We would spend time in the spaces and experience them for ourselves. One night the group got split up temporarily and a couple of us spent some time in the lobby of one of the hotels (I think it was the National - not sure, too many cocktails) that had numerous classic chair designs, so we tried each one out for comfort. It was fantastic! One of my favorite hotels was the DeLano! I could not get enough of this hotel, it was so comfortable to lounge in. Another night I dragged the group to the Sagamore Hotel because it houses the restaurant/bar Social and the following day I would be attending a seminar hosted by the owner and designer of the restaurant. It was really incredible to have visited the space and then listen to what went into creating the space.

HD Boutique is about hotel and restaurant design now and in the future and South Beach is the perfect backdrop for this event.