Sustainable Luxury: A New Standard in Hospitality Design

Chase Erwin and Panaz hosted a conversation exploring Sustainable Luxury for an audience of invited guests. Moderated by Alys Bryan, Editorial Director of Design Insider, the discussions brought together Sam Hall, Director of Interior Design at IHG Europe; Kate Mooney, Founder and Principal of OCCA Design Studio; and Guy Oliver, Managing Director at Oliver Laws.

Across both sessions, the speakers approached sustainability not as a design trend, but as a cultural evolution, one grounded in responsibility, collaboration, and long-term value. Their discussion ranged from embodied carbon and adaptive reuse to craftsmanship, narrative, and the moral responsibility of wealth.

Defining Sustainable

The conversation opened with a challenge to the very language of sustainability. Sam Hall explained how IHG has begun to avoid the word sustainable altogether.

“When you say sustainability, you can see the eye-roll,” she said. “People are tired of hearing it, but that doesn’t mean enough action is happening. We now talk about viable design, because if it’s not viable, financially, operationally, or emotionally, it won’t happen. You can’t separate ethics from economics.”

For Sam, the shift from idealism to practicality is essential if sustainable design is to move beyond good intentions.

“Interior design is a craft and a skill. We need to deliver design that’s viable, that lasts, that works. A beautiful concept isn’t sustainable if it can’t be maintained.”

Guy Oliver expanded on that idea of durability, arguing that true sustainability lies in intelligent maintenance and modularity.

“A hotel’s biggest enemy can be housekeeping or engineering,” he said. “You have to design with them in mind, for the person coming in at one in the morning to fix a problem. Design has to think through the weakest link in the chain, so things can be replaced, repaired, and maintained in parts. That’s what makes it sustainable.”

Kate Mooney saw sustainability as a chance for creative renewal rather than restriction.

“As an industry, we spent years thinking sustainability was something that limited us,” she said. “But it’s become an opportunity. We’ve wrecked enough of the planet; now we get to do things differently, and that’s empowering.”

Beyond Carbon: Data, Longevity, and Real Measures

Sam introduced the audience to a side of sustainability often overlooked, measurement. IHG is now assessing embodied carbon across its portfolio, confronting how short refurbishment cycles distort the numbers.

“A building is assessed over a 100-year lifecycle,” she explained. “But interiors might be refitted every 20 years, so those original figures are already skewed. When you multiply them, the interior footprint becomes far worse than the structure everyone worries about. We’ve started measuring the embedded carbon of existing properties so that we can guide owners properly,  because until we know what we’re spending, we can’t know what we’re saving.”

Kate added that designers are operating without consistent data, making comparison difficult.

“It’s really hard to compare apples with apples,” she said. “Different buildings, different uses, different refurb cycles, but doing something is better than nothing. The danger is when sustainability becomes an unmeasured claim rather than an accountable practice.”

Guy warned that the industry’s obsession with “net zero” often stops at the façade.

“Most people mean the architecture when they say net zero,” he said. “The interiors, the furniture, the fittings, they’re not included, and that’s where the waste often is.”

The panel agreed on the need for carbon budgets alongside financial budgets, treating both as equal measures of value.

“There’s always an excuse not to do it,” said Sam. “But once we start saying you have to have a carbon budget, that becomes the catalyst. People start thinking differently.”

Luxury Reimagined: Calm, Comfort, and Consciousness

Turning to the second half of the topic, the panellists redefined luxury in ways that reflect generational change and shifting priorities.

“For me, personal luxury is something bespoke,” said Guy. “It’s not about labels, it’s about something made to measure, something that fits you. In hotels, that translates to comfort, calm, and well-being. Lighting, atmosphere, mental rest, those are luxuries now.”

Kate described luxury as emotional wellness rather than visual spectacle.

“Luxury is calm,” she said. “It’s how you feel when you walk into a space, the rendering of light, the sense of warmth or balance. Because of the world we live in, calm itself has become a luxury.”

Sam added that sustainability and wellness are increasingly entwined.

“They’ve both become scarce commodities,” she said. “Time, quiet, and care, those are the things people are willing to pay for.”

Guy also drew a distinction between genuine refinement and what he called “fast luxury.”

“Luxury isn’t about showing off,” he said. “It’s about appropriateness. Sometimes you see spaces where every finish has been used at once, it’s like an explosion in a drag queen’s handbag. True luxury is knowing when to stop.”

The Moral Luxury of Choice

Sam’s example of IHG’s net-zero hotel in Exeter illustrated how sustainability and luxury now coexist in moral decision-making.

“The hotel removed avocados from its menu because of their carbon footprint,” she said. “It made me realise how entitled I was, I thought, what was breakfast before smashed avocado? That’s the new luxury: the luxury of restraint.”

The panel reflected on how this mindset defines the new generation of guests.

“I would say that Younger travellers are more informed,” said Kate. “They don’t want to be forced into ethical choices; they just expect them to exist. They value responsibility as part of good service.”

“They’re buying meaning,” added Kate. “They’ll save a month’s wages for one night if it feels authentic.”

Craft, Collaboration, and the Value of Time

The speakers agreed that craftsmanship and collaboration underpin the future of luxury. Guy shared a project that tested both, a suite designed with 147 artisans.

“We had weavers, wood carvers, stone masons, textile artists it was like conducting an orchestra,” he said. “It took four years and made no commercial sense, but it proved that true luxury is human. It’s the value of time and touch.”

He acknowledged the challenge of balancing such artistry with commercial reality.

“It’s a labour of love, but it only works if it’s orchestrated. Every artisan feels their contribution is the most important, and that humility, learning to balance ego with collaboration, is part of the process.”

Guy also reflected on how wealth carries responsibility.

“I once told a client off,” he said. “I said they didn’t understand the responsibility of their wealth. If you have means, use it to improve the world you touch, whether that’s training staff, supporting artisans, or investing in better systems.”

Kate summarised this new definition of luxury simply.

“The most luxurious thing we can offer is time, time to think, time to make, time to care.”

Narrative, Heritage, and Emotional Sustainability

Both conversations returned repeatedly to the theme of narrative, the story a space tells and how that story sustains its emotional relevance.

“When I design a space, I want it to tell a story,” said Guy. “Something that feels as though it’s evolved over time, where guests can’t quite put their finger on why it feels right.”

He cited Dennis Severs’ House in Spitalfields as an example of sensory storytelling.

“It’s a fiction built through scent, sound, and texture. You walk through believing it’s real, and that’s emotional sustainability. It endures in the imagination.”

Guy added that heritage and restraint can communicate quiet confidence.

“It’s more luxurious to make a sensible choice than an excessive one,” he said. “If someone walks in and says, ‘It feels like it’s always been here,’ that’s success.”

Data, Training, and Shared Knowledge

Sam described IHG’s Beyond the Buzzwords programme, which connects designers and suppliers to bridge the industry’s knowledge gap.

“Design firms are often small,” she said. “They don’t always have access to training or upcoming legislation. We’re using our platform to share data and resources, so designers aren’t left behind.”

She explained that the goal is not perfection, but participation.

“If you don’t know where to start, start with flooring. Learn everything about carpet, wood, and tile, do it consistently, and sustainability becomes habit. Don’t wait for a brief to tell you to do it.”

Kate observed that this openness reflects the generosity of the commercial sector.

“I don’t think any other industry shares knowledge like ours,” she said. “From suppliers to designers, people genuinely want to move forward together.”

Re-use, Re-edit, Re-imagine

In both sessions, the speakers explored how refurbishment can deliver new value through creative reuse. Guy described recent work at The Connaught, where subtle interventions transformed guest perception.

“We raised the headboards, re-stained the tables, and changed the ironmongery,” he said. “Guests thought the rooms were brand new, but they weren’t. That’s sustainability through design intelligence.”

He advocated for inventive restraint, preserving what still works, rethinking what doesn’t.

“Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing,” he said. “Or just move something. Let the story evolve.”

Sam noted that upcycling and local sourcing can also make strong business sense.

“On one project, simply swapping out a fabric saved £6,000 per headboard,” she said. “That made the difference between a project happening or not, and we reduced the carbon footprint at the same time.”

Future Luxury: Responsibility and Restraint

As the discussion closed, the speakers shared what they believe luxury should stand for in the years ahead.

“Luxury isn’t about marble everywhere,” said Sam. “It’s about designing to the right level, knowing what’s appropriate for the brand and the budget. Sustainability and value engineering aren’t opposites; they’re aligned.”

“Luxury is about empathy, not excess,” said Kate. “Experience over objects. Meaning over material.”

Guy concluded with a reminder that human experience remains the foundation of hospitality.

“The room is nothing without the people in it,” he said. “The guests, the staff, the artisans, they’re the true measure of luxury. What we design is only as sustainable as the culture we build around it.”

Kate added: “There’s a profound opportunity for regeneration in hotel design when properties become an asset to the places they inhabit – when they give back more than they take. That’s where true innovation begins: in reimagining hotels as positive contributors to their ecosystems, communities and cultures. It’s a shift that not only benefits the planet but also inspires a new generation of designers to think differently about what hospitality can be.

Ending Thoughts

Across both discussions, Sustainable Luxury emerged not as a visual language but as a moral one, defined by choice, collaboration, craft, and care.

The conversation revealed a shared conviction: sustainability in hospitality is not about limitation, but intelligence. It’s about aligning design ambition with environmental responsibility, economic reality, and emotional resonance.

In defining luxury, the panel made clear that restraint, responsibility, and respect are no longer opposites of indulgence, they are its new definition. Sustainable luxury, they agreed, is not about compromise. It’s about intention, the quiet confidence to create what lasts.