Terri McCollin: My top five luxury hotel designers

Travel and lifestyle communications specialist Terri McCollin picks her five favourite luxury hotel designers.

Terri McCollin has built a wealth of hospitality public relations experience in the US, the UK and Europe, specialising in global media relations, corporate communications, and integrated marketing communications.

In her most recent role as executive director of global public relations for Preferred Travel Group’s flagship brand, Preferred Hotels & Resorts, she led a team of public relations and social media specialists. Her duties included developing and implementing communication strategies for the parent company, its independent hotel brand, and guest loyalty programme, I Prefer. She also led brand advocacy across various communication channels and worked on trade, business, and consumer-focused campaigns for integrated global marketing.

Other career highlights include launching British cosmetics brand Lush in France and holding progressive account management roles at luxury travel PR agencies in London, where she represented international hospitality brands, independent hotel collections, tourism boards, and airlines.

Terri’s favourite luxury hotel designers

Yabu Pushelberg

This influential Architecture & Interior Design Studio (NYC and Toronto) designs environments – including hotels and resorts, retail stores, landscapes, restaurants and products – where people come together to feel good.

I love how they ensure an authentic sense of place in each of their hotels, such as the Moxy in Downtown LA, The London EDITION, and the Park Hyatt New York, by bringing onboard local, independent artisans, reflecting the essence of a destination in the build.

They also designed one of my favourite London hotels, The Londoner (pictured above), a modern grande dame on Leicester Square opened a few years ago by the owners of Edwardian Hotels. This sustainable ultra-luxury property was built from the ground up over 15 years and the designers’ attention to detail is next level. They’ve created an elevated yet incredibly welcoming space that feels authentically native to London – its history, present, and future – at different touchpoints, which makes it standout from other luxury properties in the city.

It has 350 guestrooms and suites over 16 storeys, six of which are underground, airy but intimate interiors in bold, rich colours, some of the city’s best curated artworks, destination F&B and entertainment spaces – and an entire floor dedicated to wellness. It’s also a member of Preferred Hotels & Resorts’ prestigious Legend Collection.

Kit Kemp

Firmdale Hotels effortlessly flies the flag for contemporary British luxury hospitality. Their independent collection is made up of 11 uniquely designed luxury hotels in London and New York brought together by Kit Kemp’s inimitable design flair. Her interiors are colourful, playful, and make clever use of textiles and objets d’art to build detail and tell stories. Many of the guestrooms include furnishings with folkloric designs weaved into the fabrics and the on-property restaurants and bars always have vibrant and cosy décors.

While it’s difficult to choose a favourite Firmdale property, if pushed, it would be Ham Yard Hotel (pictured above). I was fortunate to have lived and worked in central London and would walk past the construction site to get to the office. It’s one of their most ambitious projects to date – a completely new build with an impressive courtyard and walkway reconnecting a corner of Soho to Piccadilly Circus that had been inaccessible for decades. When it launched, like every hotel junkie I rushed over to tour the inside spaces and take in the artwork and amenities, including a rooftop, cinema, and an authentic American mid-century bowling alley. I’m also excited about their new Warren Street Hotel, opening in Lower Manhattan’s chic Tribeca neighbourhood.

Philippe Starck

I first discovered Philippe Starck through his collaboration with furniture designer Kartell for the celebrated Ghost Chair in the early 2000s. It was only when I transitioned from beauty to hospitality PR that I became aware of his legacy in hotel design.

Since collaborating with Studio 54 founder Ian Schrager in the mid-80s on New York’s first design-led hotel, this innovative French architect and designer has gone on to create over 40 high-end hotels around the world. Some of the most iconic include La Reserve Eden au Lac in Zurich, Sanderson Hotel in London, and Le Royal Monceau in Paris, but his smaller boutique retreats, such as Hotel 9Confidentiel (pictured above) – a 1920s art deco building tucked into the back streets of the Marais, and Palazzina Grassi in Venice, his first Italian property set in a 16th century canal house – can be even more striking. Starck’s penchant for the subversive and theatrical is more pronounced in these intimate historic spaces full of original character and features.

One of his most surreal ventures to-date is the long-awaited Maison Heler in Metz, France set to launch this summer. The 14-storey new build will include a habitable 18th century-style house, common to the region – on the roof.

Habitas

Founded in 2016 by British-born entrepreneur Oliver Ripley, Habitas is one of the newer disrupters shaking up hospitality design right now. The tech-forward, community-building collection of luxury ‘homes’ and caravans specialises in modular hotel construction with wow locations in Mexico, Namibia, and Costa Rica, among others. Each property starts off as a flat-pack of Lego-like parts before being shipped to its location and then assembled onsite.

The company’s innovative business model prioritises the planet through its use of sustainable materials and building practices and cuts the build time to less than a year – truly revolutionary in luxury hospitality! Their approach to eco-architectural design also enables the brand to build in coveted spots that are often off-limits to protect natural landscapes.

One of their most celebrated experiences is their first opening, Habitas Tulum, made up of 35 luxurious tented rooms and suites on the beach, but Habitas Bacalar is on my Mexico bucket list! The retreat is in a remote part of Bacalar, a newly trending destination bordering Belize, offering luxury tented accommodations and spa and wellness facilities facing the Bacalar lagoon.

Bertil Harström

Today, most new luxury hotels and resorts lead with their sustainability credentials, but when Treehotel launched in 2010 in northern Sweden it was one of the first to capture the imagination of luxury travellers, demonstrating how five-star hospitality and eco-sustainable experiences can be perfectly aligned. Eco-conscious architect and designer, Bertil Hartström was the mastermind behind The Bird Nest and UFO room designs and has been at the forefront of eco-architecture for decades. His most recent accomplishment in the hotel space, Arctic Bath (pictured above) in Swedish Lapland, is one of the world’s most photographed and awarded hotels.

The spherical wellness destination on the Lule River is made from locally sourced sustainable timber with 12 floating and riverside guest cabins, elevated to avoid damage to the land. Guests are asked to leave swimwear at home and are gifted upon arrival with pollutant-free alternatives to help maintain the river’s health. The huge ice bath surrounded by three saunas is a main feature alongside the restaurant and bar, all of which adhere to the principles of low environmental footprint.