Siobhan Barry, Principal, Design Director, Hospitality Practice Area Leader North East at Gensler has been creating what she refers to as “Instagram moments” for over 20 years. She shares her outlook on #hospitality and her journey through the industry. Siobhan discusses with host Dan Ryan how hospitality can split into two different segments and how we can bring hospitality to all aspects of life.

Takeaways: 

• As a designer, you have to create moments that are memorable for people. You want it to be captured and remembered, and this is referred to as an “instagram moment”
• Designers can find a way to make people feel certain emotions when entering a room.
• There is the “Big H” and “Little H” hospitality. The Big H is hotels, restaurants and the likes while the little h is everything else ranging from hospitals to stadiums.
• When you think of the best times you’ve had, they weren’t digital and probably had some element of spontaneity to them. 
• After 9/11, Siobhan went into business with a friend to open a nightclub to try and lift people’s spirits and provide for them a place to go.
• Designing for celebration is a key aspect when thinking about creating a space. You want the room to feel joyous and full of energy.
• Travel is making a comeback now and it is now seen as a basic human need, along with having new experiences.
• To create the most innovation, you have to be willing to push the boundaries and try something different and unique.

Quote of the Show:

8:14 “I call it big H hospitality and small h hospitality. And what I mean by that is there's sort of the realm of the industry that we know, so that's the big H. I think of that as hotels, restaurants, spas, cruise ships, the things that we kind of know are in this industry category.

And then there's this small H which to me is everything else where, or every other arena in which our clients, our customers are, are expecting a different way of engaging than they have in the past been used to.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siobhan-barry-93072643/
• Website: https://www.gensler.com
• Instagram: Siobhanjthomas

Shout Outs:

0:43 Product Runway

1:20 ICRAVE

14:23 Sid’s Gold

16:11 Blondie

16:11 Gwen Stefani

16:21 Dusty Springfield

16:25 Patsy Cline

16:33 Fitz Gold

17:07 Calvin Klein

19:05 Swan Reserve

21:01 Lionel Ohayon

22:08 Prada

22:11 Madison Avenue

24:21 Dorsia

25:54 Crowbar

30:13 Airbnb 

Ways to Tune In: 

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0A2XOJvb6mGqEPYJ5bilPX
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/defining-hospitality-podcast/id1573596386
• Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGVmaW5pbmdob3NwaXRhbGl0eS5saXZlL2ZlZWQueG1s
• Amazon Music: ​​https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/8c904932-90fa-41c3-813e-1cb8f3c42419
• Podbean: https://www.defininghospitality.live/
• Youtube : https://youtu.be/yiwVCXTHD1g