Designing for Return

Most places are designed to be admired but the ones that stay with us are the ones we begin to think of as ours.

The hospitality industry still optimizes for first impressions.

The entrance.
The choreography.
The welcome.

But the places that actually matter in people’s lives are rarely built to be impressive.

They’re built around return.

And here's what I mean by return:
You didn’t just like it.
You formed a 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 with it.

You remembered how it made you feel.
You could imagine yourself there again.
You started to think of it as 'yours' in some deeply personal way.

Designing for return changes everything.

You stop asking:
“How do we impress?”

And start asking:
“How do we make this place livable in someone’s life?”

It shifts the work from:
• Moments → Memory
• Features → Familiarity
• Impact → Attachment

The future of hospitality won’t be built by places people screenshot.

It will be built by places people come back to.