Villa-style accommodations within a hotel complex are unique due to their prime location, personality, scale, and service offerings. In contrast to well-known traditional hotels, they feature extended internal spaces and further emphasize exclusivity. Villa-style hotels are mainly targeted at families. Honeymooners and couples are also the adventurous tourists fascinated by local attractions in art, culture, spa, and wellness services in nearby areas. That is why they tend to choose villa-style accommodations. Currently, due to the pandemic, these accommodations are where experiential tourists opt for their road to improve health and well-being, such as people rehabilitating from illness. There is also a growing demand for long-stay guests in villas since many guests show interest in having a villa as their home due to the many advantages these accommodations bring.
They offer larger room space as well as larger kitchens, living rooms, and dining rooms, thus making the guest feel more like they are at home while on vacation. Many hoteliers prefer the concept of developing villas since they have a greater potential to sell through their own marketing networks and direct services providing for comparison. Several recent design trends include these accommodations for “adults only” villas with their own restaurant and pool. Furthermore, villas at the beachfront offer a candlelit, ocean-view dinner for two and other all-inclusive benefits. The design incorporates an outdoor garden tub surrounded by a sand path. It includes a large pool and beach chairs with umbrellas or oceanfront chairs. In several villa-style resorts in Southeast Asia, butler and chef services come with villas.
Historical Evolution of Villa-Style Accommodations
The development of villa-style hotel accommodations—referring to holiday accommodations where small, house-like units in a landscape setting are rented to families or couples in similar modular arrangements over days or weeks—dates from antiquity, when private villas served as opulent, rustic retreats for the Roman aristocracy. The idea was resurrected in European history, as Renaissance and Baroque princes began to build large monasteries or hunting lodges near their royal cities. Between 1750 and 1860, more spectacular resort villas appeared in full-blown areas where English, and then other, tourists created circuits of Grand Tours across Europe. In the twentieth century, after wartime interruptions, villa-style accommodations were altered and reoriented to commercial uses. The villa units became either year-round individual home rentals or, increasingly, the summer-only European resort hotel that dominated from 1920 until 2000. The longest tradition in hospitality in North America is of summer and/or winter resorts, primarily as “hotels” and then for some fraction of the units available for exclusive “ownership,” i.e., condominiums. Social and economic changes dictated the design of the villas of each period. In the 20th century, markets and technology enabled mass tourism worldwide, and instead of resting the house units within formal landscapes or at the edges of the woods, they were placed unit-to-unit with a fair degree of apparent privacy. The latest rendition of villa-style resort hotels is a new eclectic mix of villa forms, drawing from various sources. People are visiting a wider variety of locations that cater to their differing tastes and activities, and they value individuality in accommodations. This radical shift in visitor preferences towards individual entity holiday design struck a chord with hoteliers, developers, and guests who saw in holiday resorts “villas” of the last quarter of the twentieth century an opportunity to combine the best of both these traditions: small, individual villas with privacy within natural landscapes, set alongside common facilities like restaurants, pools, and health therapies. Historically rooted or not, these self-contained, high-quality villas exist to attract higher-budget, health-, or “zen”-oriented travelers. Some luxury and design hoteliers and designers have found a philosophy-appropriate filter that provides guideposts for designing villas. The one that appears to be consistently emphasized is the interest in providing memorable, engaging guest experiences, often related to nature and exercise, combined with excellent food and wine. The polo estate, Italian Garden, Georgian baronial castle, and the extravagant Wilde James in the Cornish sand dunes all would open new avenues of walkways, parks, and other outdoor experiences. If holders of one cultural tradition copy an aspect of another entirely unrelated tradition, the result is resort flavor of the month; instead, portraying the relationships among villas would identify a common collection of central experiential and place-based benefits with appeal to a wide variety of travelers. Finally, some of the early aspects of villa design mentioned here (some privacy, nature orientation) are now “design shelters” for the future.
Architectural and Interior Design Elements of Villa-Style Hotels
Villa-style hotels are sought after by both domestic and international tourists for their gorgeous architectural designs and luxurious interiors, as well as locations and services. Meant for people looking for high-end, exclusive experiences combined with the warmth of a residential ambiance, they are a clear step up from modern hotel guest houses. From the exterior architecture to the internal spaces, planning, execution, artifacts, and decoration, these hotels are a celebration of minimalism mixed with luxury and modern living combined with an old-world feel. The rooms look out onto landscaped rear and kids’ play areas, as well as common swimming pools, combined with a homely dining and living area, balcony, terrace, open-air workspace, and home office. These hotel villas reflect the latest trends of hosting guests in a luxurious and homely style. They are bathed in natural light and provide a cool temperature ambiance. Features of these villas are discovered in the choice of materials, like natural stone, granite, shell lime, hardwoods, wrought iron, cane, terracotta, and glass. Natural slates, red oxide, and teak seasoned wood are used for the flooring. These villas are equipped with every facility needed to provide comfort and luxury within each walled structure, while giving the residents freedom to wander around in comfort, leaving all their cares behind. They appear spacious and have been developed to make room for a lot of landscape within the villa structure, with the outdoors integrating with the luxury of the indoor living transit arrangement. The indoor and outdoor seating layout and individuality can be seen in the openness of all areas. The open-plan internal and external development of the villa aims to create a luxurious, spacious feeling even in the volume, spread, and flow of materials. The luxurious ambiance integrates well with the look of antique furniture, artifacts, tapestries, carpets, artwork, wooden carvings, upholstery, and precious silk furnishings of the living space. The aesthetics of these locales evoke a sense of place and reflect the local cultural milieu prevalent on that front. Site-specific art pieces, architectural elements, and historical cultural artifacts have been specially designed to reflect the state’s art forms. Modern design is now merging into global styles with the inclusion of sustainable and eco-friendly materials, energy, and resource efficiency. A specific focus is sought to be placed to showcase the importance of these environments, as well as the guest experiences and satisfaction linked to them. The aesthetic, architectural, and design statement, showcasing the outdoor and indoor view, and bringing them together is integral to the design. Provision is made for the location to provide a feel of a local residential environment with both the houses.
Amenities and Services Offered in Villa-Style Accommodations
One of the major differences between accommodations in the villa-style hotel category versus traditional hotels is in the amenities and services offered. The increased level of personalized service includes having a one-on-one private concierge to arrange any experience or need you may have while staying in our villa residences. All of the advantages of a hotel are offered, although with the feeling of being in your own private home. Villa-style accommodations offer custom, high-quality bedding with additional bedding available for children. The spa in villa accommodations offers in-house treatments in the comfort of your personal villa residence. In addition, the villa experience features an outdoor commercial restaurant-quality stainless steel kitchen with a pizza oven and barbecue, while indoor kitchens are equipped to meet the standards of a master chef. For today’s modern traveler, villa residences are equipped with the latest in smart home technology including flat screen TVs, Bluetooth speakers, and high-speed wireless internet. Offering complimentary housekeeping services with the option for additional housekeeping is typically included in the villa nights of service for a surcharge. Available services with a surcharge include private chefs for catering and room service, airport pick-up, and concierge car service. The level and quality of amenities of the villa and services would depend on the unique property and target customer. Continuous feedback from customers provides valuable insight on preferences and requested experiences. Because we value each guest, we want to create a feeling of “their home away from home.” Vacations in this type of property are longer, usually 7-10 nights, due to the amenities and activities the property offers.
Sustainability Practices in Villa-Style Hotels
Hospitality and tourism have a rapidly growing role in environmental organizations worldwide. As the hotel market becomes increasingly environmentally conscious, new villa accommodation must step up the development and adopt eco practices. There have already been several practices that villa-style facilities have achieved resulting from the development process, and reports have shown this through metrics in reducing waste, water usage, and energy conservation. Economically friendly practices can include various engineering and operational initiatives such as waste reduction, the facility’s use of energy-efficient systems, and its implementation in water conservation. In terms of actual development, eco practices could be followed if the local supply of materials was purchased as well as using high-efficiency systems. In decorative styles, villa-style hotels incorporated many eco-friendly wood and cotton fibers into most of the featured furnishings. Consumers, largely identified as Generation X and millennials, are geared toward purchasing goods and services in the sustainable and environmentally friendly marketplace. Copying these values in modern travel trends leaves the operator to invest in facilities that meet current demands, including sustainability. Travel trends are now looking at travelers utilizing technology and purchasing organic, healthy food products that can be influenced and bought locally. The company initiated and grew its eco practices away from luxury vacation home rentals. They claim to have a local supplier and products policy in implementing eco practices. This company has been profitable and successful through forming partnerships with other organizations to certify their sustainable and eco practices in the regions in which they operate; similar work can and should be done in developing eco practices within the facility concept. It was found that eco practices recorded in hotel operations and development search reports not only contributed to conservation and pollution reduction but further contributed to the attraction of the guest whose selection of brand supports sustainability practices.