Pooja Shah-Mulani, Managing Partner of LW Design, details how evolving guest desires for holistic well-being are reshaping design, driving the studio’s dynamic global expansion.
If LW Design were to give 2026 a single headline for our studio and how we are seeing the industry at large, it would be “Diversified by Design”. The year ahead reflects a fundamental shift in how we create, how guests engage and how global hospitality expresses itself. LW Design’s evolution is a telling example of this wider movement: we have grown from being known primarily as hospitality specialists into a studio shaping wellness destinations, nature lodges, lifestyle-led projects, and culturally attuned F&B concepts across the world. A significant part of our portfolio now sits beyond the GCC, a reflection of both our adaptability and the widening scope of client expectations.
Desire for holistic and experiential wellbeing
What is most striking is how clearly guests are signalling their desire for holistic and experiential wellbeing. Wellness is no longer viewed as an add-on or a destination within a resort, but as something that must seamlessly integrate into daily living. This renewed philosophy of luxury, one that gives equal weight to body, mind and natural environment, is reshaping the way we design spaces and the emotional experiences they carry. In response, our work must sit at the intersection of creativity, technical rigour and commercial clarity. This balance is essential in an industry where the most successful projects are those that marry imaginative storytelling with operational intelligence.
A dynamic year of global openings and milestone hospitality launches
The coming year brings one of our most dynamic opening schedules to date. It begins with the much awaited transformation of Intercontinental Table Bay in Cape Town, followed by the public-area & spa refurbishments at Grosvenor House Dubai, and then a sequence of landmark moments: Four Seasons Madinah and W Riyadh in May, JW Marriott Mt. Kenya Rhino Reserve in August, and significant F&B openings across Dubai, Nairobi, Istanbul and Toronto. Later in the year, Conrad Riyadh joins this slate, as do several new restaurants at Grosvenor House Dubai. These openings also coincide with a milestone for us – our first major entry into Saudi Arabia’s new era of luxury hospitality with three flagship properties launching within months of each other. Meanwhile, our work across East Africa accelerates, with a second lodge and a new restaurant reinforcing the region’s position as one of the most compelling growth markets in global hospitality. Another addition to this vibrant lineup is Hotel REM in Macau, opening July 2026 – a racy, super-eclectic all-suite concept within the City of Dreams gaming complex. Avant-garde in spirit and unapologetically bold, it further showcases the breadth and variety of our design and hospitality narratives, each rooted in strong storytelling and distinctive character.
Expanding beyond interiors
As our geographic spread widens, so does the diversity of the sectors we operate in. Hotels and resorts remain central, but the momentum in F&B, wellness, and hybrid residential-resort experiences is growing at remarkable speed. Increasingly, our work extends beyond traditional interior design into full brand development, where the identity of a space is shaped from the very first point of arrival through to the smallest detail of its operational flow. This evolution is possible because of our long-standing understanding of how hospitality actually functions – how guests move, how teams operate, how atmospheres unfold.
Through all of this, one creative constant remains unwavering: the art of the journey. Whether we are designing a lobby, a guestroom, a spa, or a boutique dining space, the flow of arrival, transition, and emotional impact continues to guide our work. What changes is how each journey responds to its setting. A wilderness lodge in Kenya calls for a quiet sensitivity that contrasts sharply with the expressive vibrancy of Riyadh’s new luxury landscape. A wellness retreat in Malta requires a calming rhythm that differs from the dynamism of a Dubai restaurant. The design language adapts, but the underlying intention remains the same – to create spaces rooted in connection, comfort and discovery.
Key design pillars shaping LW Design’s 2026 portfolio
Across our 2026 portfolio, several design ideas will become particularly visible. Narrative and storytelling sits at the heart of each project, shaping not just the mood but the entire spatial logic, from the way a guest enters a lobby to the way they transition through a restaurant. Bespoke furniture and lighting play an increasingly central role as well, with pieces conceived specifically for their environments, allowing each project to express an identity that could exist nowhere else. And lastly underpinning everything with a borderless mindset. We approach each project as part of a global conversation, zooming out to understand its cultural and environmental context before crafting the intimate details that give it its soul.
Two external forces will shape hospitality design most profoundly next year: human behaviour and digital access to information. Guests today arrive with unprecedented clarity, they know what they want, what they will tolerate, and what they expect emotionally from a space. The transparency of online information allows us to understand behavioural patterns with far greater precision, not to replace intuition but to sharpen it. It allows us to design for how people actually live, dine, socialise, and rest.
