Kush Shah, Founder & Principal Architect, Scarlett Designs

Kush Shah founded Scarlett Designs in 1989, building it into an award-winning multidisciplinary design firm known for environment-conscious hospitality and residential projects. As an architect and interior designer, Shah approaches each project by letting the land and client needs guide design decisions. His work spans diverse contexts across India and abroad, from consultation to full-service delivery. Shah believes in creating elegant, responsive spaces through open communication and long-standing partnerships with clients, consultants, and communities.

In this article, Kush Shah highlights how modern hospitality design shifts from flashy luxury to thoughtful, site-responsive spaces that help guests slow down and reconnect.

Historically, luxury has been synonymous with excess, evoking expansive lobbies, glossy finishes, ornate chandeliers, and an architectural language rooted in spectacle. However, most people today navigate fast-paced, overstimulated lifestyles, spending days in enclosed offices or moving constantly between places without a moment to pause. In such a world, slowing down itself becomes a luxury.

This fundamental lifestyle shift is reshaping hospitality design from the ground up. The question goes beyond ‘how impressive can we make this?’ to ‘how can this space help guests reconnect with themselves and their surroundings?’ Naturally, thoughtful design is at the core of this.

Today's luxury is found in comfort, space, stillness, and genuine connection with surroundings and self.

From Cookie Cutter to Local Culture

For years, hotels looked the same everywhere. The formula was simple, elegant, replicable, indulgent designs that worked in any city. But today's guests want authentic experiences that connect them to the place they're visiting. This is happening because expectations of luxury are changing.

Design teams now need to dig deeper into local culture, work with local artists and craftspeople, and create spaces that truly reflect their location. In a market where differentiation matters, authentic design is becoming a competitive advantage for property owners.

Letting the Land Lead

The most significant change in hospitality design is about a complete reversal in how we approach projects. Forward-thinking designers are now letting the land guide many decisions instead of imposing a vision onto a site.

This approach challenges everything we've traditionally associated with luxury hospitality. Instead of importing opulent materials, they are sourced from the surrounding region, bamboo, stone, and wood in their honest, raw forms. This is both more environmentally friendly and reduces upfront costs for developers. Buildings follow the natural contours of the land. Layouts embrace existing topography. The result is spaces that feel warm and real. This is what guests now seek, quiet luxury rooted in environmental and social context.

Design as an Environmental Response

Every design decision in modern hospitality should answer a fundamental question, How does this alleviate or enhance environmental conditions? Smart design works with climate. Courtyards, colonnades, and shaded walkways can naturally cool spaces through ventilation, reducing reliance on mechanical systems.

Proper orientation captures breezes and manages solar gain. Strategic placement of openings frames views while controlling light and temperature. For operators, this translates directly to lower energy costs and reduced operational overhead.

For guests, it means comfort that feels natural. There's a tangible difference between a space cooled by cross-ventilation and one that depends entirely on air conditioning, even if guests can't articulate exactly what that difference is.

Even layouts become a response to place. For example, in hilly areas, winding paths that follow natural contours create a sense of discovery and connection to the landscape. Varied villa placement that respects existing trees and topography feels more grounded than rigid geometry.

Beyond the Sustainability Buzzword

Sustainability has become one of those words that gets used so often it's losing meaning. Many claim their project is sustainable, but what does that actually mean in practice?

For those in the hospitality industry, it's critical to move beyond the buzzword and understand how sustainability can be meaningfully embedded in design and operations. Real sustainability is about fundamental decisions, material selection, energy systems, water management, waste protocols, and long-term building performance.

Much of this learning comes from looking backward as much as forward. Vernacular architecture has always been climate-responsive by necessity. Traditional techniques developed over centuries offer proven solutions for managing heat, cold, wind, and rain without mechanical systems. These are practical strategies that can inform contemporary design.

Luxury Today

Today's luxury is found in comfort, space, stillness, and genuine connection with surroundings and self. This redefinition has profound implications for every stakeholder in hospitality.

For designers and architects, it means prioritizing experiential quality. It means understanding that the most memorable spaces often feel effortless, even though achieving that effortlessness requires tremendous skill and restraint. This shift demands a versatile and creative mindset from the start. You can't approach a hillside property the same way you'd approach an urban site. The land dictates placement, orientation, and even the guest experience.

 For local communities, this approach creates opportunities for meaningful engagement. When properties use regional materials and honor local building traditions, they generate economic benefits that extend beyond direct employment. Local craftspeople, material suppliers, and cultural practitioners become integral to the guest experience.

Also Read: How Top Developers Are Meeting Diverse Market Demands

What This Means for Property Owners and Developers

For owners and investors, it means recognizing that the highest returns may come from properties that look different from traditional luxury. A resort with bamboo structures and stone pathways can outperform one with imported marble and gold fixtures if it delivers the experience today's guests actually want.

This means longer planning phases and deeper site analysis. It means working with the terrain's elevations instead of spending heavily on excavation and grading. It often means organic, flowing layouts instead of the efficient rectangular blocks we've relied on for decades.

This approach is more complex than following established formulas. It requires patience, restraint, and willingness to challenge conventional notions of what luxury should look like. But for stakeholders willing to embrace this evolution, the rewards are substantial: properties that stand apart in an increasingly crowded market, guests who become advocates, and built environments that enhance their natural and cultural settings.

The Path Forward

The hospitality landscape is shifting toward authenticity, environmental responsibility, and experiential depth. Properties that successfully navigate this change will be those that start with honest questions, What makes this place special? How can design enhance that specialness? What do guests truly need to feel restored?

The answers won't be the same for every project. A hillside resort requires different responses than a coastal property or urban hotel. But the underlying principle remains constant, let the land, the climate, the authentic character of place, or a unique thematic character guide your decisions.

In a world where everyone is moving too fast, hospitality that offers genuine pause, rooted in place, honest in its materials, and spacious in its intent, is good business.