Travel by Design – Details, episodes & analysis

What can travelers expect from the next generation of hotel rooms?

To find out, Hamish heads to the top secret innovation lab at Marriott Headquarters — where more adaptable, interactive, and locally connected hotel rooms are being crafted as the ideal home base for millions of travel journeys to come.

He learns why the near future of hotel rooms isn’t a dogpile of technology for technology’s sake. Instead, it’s a future where we can adjust our room to be what we need right in the moment, by pressing a single button or pulling on a single handle.

In this episode, Hamish gets a glimpse of that future by going behind the scenes at a massive workshop, where (with the help of a power saw, foamcore, and VR headsets) new ideas can become new hotel rooms in a single day. Then, just across the street he explores an entire floor of prototype rooms, where travelers are invited to stay the night and help shape their final form.

And along the way, Hamish meets the passionate designers who strive to help travelers get immersed in their destination — and walk away from every trip with a feeling of perpetual discovery.

Featured Hotel: Marriott Bethesda Downtown at Marriott HQ

Featured Designers: Jeff Voris, Senior Vice President of Global Design Strategies at Marriott; Jason Robertson, Vice President of Global Design Innovation at Marriott; Aliya Khan, Vice President of Global Design strategies at Marriott

Explore more stories about hotel design at Travel by Design

Follow host Hamish Kilburn's hotel design reviews @HotelDesigns

Eleven stories above the arctic circle, a panoramic view — of Norwegian mountains, fjords, and the Northern Lights — sweeps travelers into the natural world.

That’s the first thing you’ll see when you check in at Moxy Tromsø, because the hotel lobby is intentionally perched on the top floor. A welcome drink and an uninterrupted view make this a one-of-kind introduction to one of the most breathtaking landscapes on Earth.

Sculpted by Copenhagen-based designer and longtime mountain backpacker Mette Fredskild, the hotel is designed to help travelers embrace mother nature, whether that means taking in the vista or putting on their boots and trekking into the mountains.

In addition to being a great home base for hiking, sledding, whale watching, and other outdoor adventures, Moxy Tromsø immerses travelers in a multilayered interior design that pays homage to the Northern Lights, the midnight sun, and the community huts that Mette visits during her trips through the mountains.

In this episode, Mette shows Hamish why she chose to “flip the hotel upside down,” how she used adaptive lighting to ensure that nature would always be front and center, and why it was so critical to offer travelers a space where it’s easy to let go of the modern world.

• 01:56 — Why and how Mette “flipped the hotel upside-down”
• 04:50 — How it feels to trek through the mountain hiking trails of Tromsø
• 07:20 — How to design interiors for a great view of the Northern Lights

Featured Hotel: Moxy Tromsø

Featured Designer: Mette Fredskild, Mette Fredskild Studio

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Picture the grand entrance to an Austro-Hungarian palace from the late 19th century, complete with iron-wrought gates and a vaulted ceiling. A beautiful blend of art styles that includes Art Nouveau, Baroque, and Romanesque. Ornate finishings on everything, from handle rails to columns and ceilings. A color palette that reflects the city’s rooftops in teal, green, gold and copper.

These sights are just a hint of the bridge to Budapest’s history that is Matild Palace — a Luxury Collection Hotel, housed in the painstakingly restored palace that originally brought into being by Her Imperial and Royal Highness Maria Klotild, of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. 

Perched at one end of the Elisabeth Bridge in the heart of Hungary’s capital city, Matild Palace is a master class in how to honor a UNESCO-protected site while elevating all of its interiors to feel timeless. Guest beds feature full-height, leather embossed headboards with an art deco pattern inspired by the Hungarian classic, The Adventures of Sinbad. The bathrooms here can function as steam rooms, evoking the ancient natural spas of Budapest — while offering all the modern comforts of a contemporary wellness spa. And the breathtaking Duchess rooftop bar and garden channel the socialite spirit of its benefactor, who had envisioned this hideaway as a haven for embracing one’s joie de vivre.

In this episode, host Hamish Kilburn catches up with his friend, Maria Katsarou Vafiadis — founder of London-based MKV Design and the interiors designer behind the intricate reimagination of Matild Palace.

• 00:00 The origins of the royal building in Budapest that would become Matild Palace
• 04:45 Interview with Maria Katsarou Vafiadis begins, exploring the hotel’s regal entrance and the challenge of making the building’s grand scale feel cozy and inviting
• 10:34 Bridging the gap between late 19th century Budapest and contemporary Budapest
• 12:55 Creating a timeless hotel bathroom from the perspective of royalty
• 16:34 Designing for longevity, as a facet of honoring history

Featured Hotel: Muir Halifax, Autograph Collection

Featured Designer: Maria Katsarou Vafiadis, MKV Design

Explore more stories about hotel design at Travel by Design

Follow host Hamish Kilburn's hotel design reviews @HotelDesigns

As the capital of Nova Scotia, Halifax is known for its charm, its culinary scene, and its coastal climate. Built on one of the largest natural harbors in the world, this Canadian city is often filled with a gentle fog and sea mist — creating a sense of place that’s simultaneously rooted in the ocean and the earth.

Muir Halifax, Autograph Collection has been painstakingly designed to honor and integrate the local maritime history of Halifax. The hotel is nestled seamlessly into the Queen’s Marque waterfront district, where locals and visitors alike gather on the public boardwalk that envelops the hotel and meets the waters of the harbor.

The architecture of Muir is full of texture and natural materials inspired by the local topography; sandstone, granite, and muntz metal play a prominent role in the hotel’s construction. And inside Muir, the artisanship of Halifax and Nova Scotia is on full display — via original, commissioned art pieces, as well as custom furniture and interiors that are locally sourced and call to mind the misty shores outside the hotel’s walls. The end result is a luxury hotel that provides an elevated, tactile window into local culture and history.

All of this is illuminated by host Hamish Kilburn’s conversation with today’s guests: Alessandro Munge (interior and furnishing designer at Studio Munge) and Grace Zeppilli (art consultant at GZ Art Co.). Together, they’ve crafted an experience that literally puts guests in touch with the environment of Nova Scotia, and in communion with artwork and photography born of this province.

Featured Hotel: Muir Halifax, Autograph Collection

Explore more stories about hotel design at Travel by Design

Follow host Hamish Kilburn's hotel design reviews @HotelDesigns

Host Hamish Kilburn, Editor of Hotel Designs, leads us on a globetrotting journey through immersive, insightful conversations with the designers behind the world’s most extraordinary hotels.

Travel by Design reimagines the hotel design podcast previously known as Behind the Design. From a secluded overwater villa in the Maldives, to a rejuvenated royal palace in Budapest, to a trendy hotspot in downtown Los Angeles, join us for new episodes — and find your next great travel destination.

To learn more, check out more stories from across the globe at Travel by Design.

Travel by boat across the Venetian lagoon and escape onto a private island, where every step — and every plate of locally sourced food — has been thoughtfully integrated to bring you back into touch with the healing power of earth, sea, and sun.

In this episode, we travel to the J.W. Marriott Venice resort and Spa, which gives guests access to the secluded retreat of Isola delle Rose. To understand the impact of designer Matteo Thun on the resort, Host Robin Bennefield chats with General Manager Cristiano Cabutti, who was one of the property's very first team members. While reflecting on what it was like to restore the historic buildings of the island and realize Thun's vision, Robin and Cristiano connect over the universal need for self-care and healing.

Then, recalling fond memories of the local meals and cooking classes she took the last time she was a guest at the J.W. Venice, Robin pays a visit to Executive Chef Giorgio Shifferegger. In conversation with Giorgio about the irreplaceable value of a freshly grown tomato, the unique terroir of olives grown on an island, and the joy of sitting with friends and enjoying authentic Venetian cicchetti, she's reminded of how the concept of luxury can often be reduced to the simple act of honoring our surroundings.

Whether tending to themselves at the largest spa in Venice, touring the vegetable gardens, tasting freshly pressed olive oil, or retreating into one of the resort's villas, guests come to the J.W. Venice from around the world to immerse themselves in a unique setting for wellbeing. After these conversations with the people who've worked tirelessly to shape that experience, we can honestly say that we can't wait to go back to the island.

To see Isola delle Rose, the spa, and all of the green space the island has to offer, book a trip for yourself via marriott.com or read more about the resort's restaurants and bars.

You can also read about wellness at the J.W. Marriott Venice, and learn about the hidden world of hotel design, at traveler.marriott.com/venice/jw-venice-design.

And to explore the world's greatest destinations and get inspired for your next trip, visit us at traveler.marriott.com.

What is it about sitting by the waves that makes so many people happy? And what does it take to recreate that feeling at a hotel that's nowhere near the ocean?

We've spent hours talking about the design of hotels and the world of hospitality. But in this episode, we go on a deep dive into the design of SoundWaves, a one-of-a-kind water attraction that's built into the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tennessee.

To see SoundWaves for yourself and book a resort package at the Gaylord Opryland, check out soundwavesgo.com.

Read more about SoundWaves and the hidden world of hotel design at traveler.marriot.com/behind-the-design.

W Hotels recently launched its very own record label, W Records. At the W Music International Summit in Austin, Texas, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler sat down with some of the top innovators in the music industry who led the launch of W Records. Learn how they ensured brand consistency, navigated the changing music industry landscape, and got some of the top emerging artists to come on board.

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Join Marriott TRAVELER as we explore the world of Destiny 2, a video game in which players assume the role of a Guardian and are tasked with reviving a character called (appropriately) The Traveler while journeying to different planets along the way. Learn how the designers grounded the sci-fi settings in reality and how travel inspired the final look of the game.

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Video game designers are creating landscapes so realistic, it's almost like traveling there yourself. Marriott TRAVELER sat down with the designers of Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, which is set in ancient Greece, to find out what it took to create these landscapes and why recreating Greece was so important to them for this amazing game.

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