Combining commercial analysis and design expertise for the ultimate hospitality experience

It’s been an exciting year for hospitality at Benoy, with the evolution of Pragma as the in-house Commercial Strategy and Advisory team, the appointment of Paul Boldy as Director of Hospitality Futures, and the return of Zaynib Khan, Senior Associate Director and Architect specialising in hotel design. The gears are now in motion for the next chapter, combining comprehensive data analysis and design expertise to deliver a truly unique offer to hotel owners, operators and developers across the globe.

Together, Paul and Zaynib support clients at all stages of a hotel’s life cycle, from hospitality viability services such as feasibility and market studies, through to design services, to asset repositioning strategies. The goal on every project is to create unique hospitality environments that shape experiences. In terms of scale, this could be anything from a beach club or urban hotel to a large-scale resort or branded residences.

Below, Paul and Zaynib unpack the ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ of this new approach and reveal their vision for the future of hospitality at Benoy.

In your own words, what defines the hospitality team at Benoy?

Zaynib Khan: We are visionaries and storytellers, translating our clients’ briefs into tangible spaces that hold memories, reflect cultures and give a sense of place. While our design process involves extensive research and constant innovation, our design visions are sharpened by the analytical work of Paul’s team. We understand that hotels are a lot more than just a place to stay, and our mixed-use design strategies reflect this. Every destination has a story to tell, and we consider it our responsibility to interpret the spirit of a place through design – to creating global experiences with local sensitivity. We see the potential of hotels to be places of wonder that lift the spirit and touch the senses.

Paul Boldy: Ultimately, Benoy is a design-led firm that’s backed by data-driven insights. Bringing data science and analytical decision-making into the design studio allows us to back up our decisions with evidence and guide our clients through the process. That’s what sets us apart and gives us a unique perspective, allowing our designs to generate commercial, sustainable and experiential impact.

'We see hotel design as facilitating memories and connections to a place..We design for how people will feel in our spaces, not just what they’ll be doing.'
Zaynib Khan

Can you describe your approach?

PB: We’ve built comprehensive models to analyse datasets based on industry reports. Now that we’ve got all this information at our fingertips, we’re able to refine metrics such as chain scale, number of rooms, region, type of hotel, capex budgets, revenue and more to provide our clients with accurate predictions within seconds. These models are invaluable for conducting market research, determining concepts and financial performance, and predicting a client’s return on investment – all before we’ve even started the design process.

By harnessing industry data and interrogating hotels as well as their services at a granular level, we can make informed decisions that can drastically impact the bottom line and design response.

ZK: This data also supports our design decisions, from the number of rooms and total massing of a project down to the capacity of a restaurant and space allocation in back-of-house kitchens. But beyond the numbers, we’re also led by research into cultural shifts, future-focused planning and guest insights. We look at guest personas, stakeholders and brand identities to unpack the essence and mood of a place and generate a holistic design vision. Part of our design methodology involves studying macro trends and insights, looking at guest behaviours and mindsets to make design decisions that will cater to guests’ expectations of hotels into the future.

What does this look like in practice?

PB: Working with our client Ports of Jersey, we were brought in to help transform the historic Merchants’ Quay site in St Helier, Jersey. Blending heritage, hospitality, and waterfront regeneration, we conducted a review of the site’s development potential, hospitality positioning, and financial feasibility to advise on the optimal land deal structure and hotel concept strategy. The result is a commercially viable, design-led destination that celebrates Jersey’s maritime heritage while unlocking long-term value for the island.

ZK: One of our projects which is currently on site is the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Tashkent for the Marriott Hotel Group. Our masterplan combines three landmark towers housing the hotel and residential apartments. A retail and leisure podium unites the towers and wraps around the site to create a new public square. For the finer details, we conducted a study of local buildings and historical motifs to reference in our design, such as the architectural details from Registan Square and Shah-i-Zinda, as well as the intricate tile work of the Chorsu Bazaar. By combining historical touches, a robust commercial strategy and variety of uses for guests and local residents to enjoy, we’re creating a contemporary, luxury destination that encourages community integration.

'As a team, we’re there to support our clients at all stages of a hotel’s life cycle... Put simply, we help our clients maximise the potential of their assets and mitigate risk.'
Paul Boldy

Finally, can you tell us what you love most about what you do?

ZK: We love finding the magic, the spark that brings hotels to life and makes people want to stay. It’s a joy to see our designs built and operational, allowing people to experience the genuine, heartfelt hospitality from the staff, who foster relationships with guests and make people want to return.

We see hotel design as facilitating memories and connections to a place; hotels are spaces that delight and enhance guests’ experience of the world around them. We design for how people will feel in our spaces, not just what they’ll be doing. In a way, hotels are theatrical spaces. They can be other-worldly and fantastical, with mystery and excitement bubbling behind the scenes.
Getting to use data, research, creativity and design every day to bring hotels to life is a privilege, so we’re excited to expand our services and continue creating these incredible spaces.

PB: We’re passionate about finding the best solutions and using metrics and scenario analyses to get it right – it’s a really impactful way to prove that a design works. It’s incredibly satisfying work, and we’re excited to see how our unique combination of design and advisory services can impact the industry going forward.