Biophilic design is worth it for hotels when it is built into the brief and delivered with quality, rather than added as a living wall beside the check-in desk. The peer-reviewed evidence supports it as a satisfaction and willingness-to-pay lever: a biophilic lobby raised guests’ pleasure and peace of mind and, through them, willingness to pay (Nanu and Rahman, 2023), and a survey of 428 hotel guests found that the quality of biophilic design, not its mere presence, drove wellbeing, perceived value, revisit intention and a willingness to pay a premium (Elshaer et al., 2025). The commercial gap is between decorative biophilia and evidence-based biophilia, and it is large.
What does the research show about biophilic returns in hospitality?
Four strands of evidence, in order of independence. Nanu and Rahman (2023), in the International Journal of Hospitality Management, found a biophilic hotel lobby produced higher pleasure and lower arousal than a conventional one, and that pleasure and peace of mind carried the effect through to willingness to pay. Song, Ali, Cobanoglu and Nanu (2022) found biophilic lobby design improved guests’ subjective wellbeing. Suess, Legendre and Hanks (2024) showed through conjoint analysis that combinations of biophilic elements differ in their perceived contribution to restoration, relaxation, energy and clarity of mind, and that those perceptions shift with guests’ own stress levels. Elshaer and colleagues (2025) surveyed 428 guests who had stayed in hotels with biophilic elements and concluded that higher-quality biophilic design raised wellbeing and perceived value, which in turn raised revisit intention and willingness to pay a premium, while noting that earlier studies had relied on image-based experiments testing only presence or absence.
Industry reports add the commercial figures. The Human Spaces 2.0 report (Interface and Gensler, 2015) found rooms with water views commanded an 18.28 per cent ADR premium over equivalent rooms, and that guests spend longer in biophilic public spaces; Interface is a flooring manufacturer, and a view premium exists whether or not the rest of the room is biophilic. Practitioner reports cite ADR uplifts of 8 to 15 per cent for biophilic hotels (Terrapin Bright Green, 2024, as cited in Fettahlioglu, 2025). Elshaer’s finding explains the spread across studies: what is measured is the quality of the implementation.
Does biophilic design pay in every hotel segment?
No, and this is one of the most commercially important findings in the literature. Lee, Tao, Douglas and Oh (2022), in the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, found that in a luxury hotel setting biophilic design produced better aesthetic perceptions, escapism, economic value and attitude toward the hotel, while at a midscale hotel a non-biophilic design induced higher experiential value. Applying one biophilic approach across segments without accounting for the guest profile is a primary reason biophilic hotel projects underperform their projected returns.
Where does decorative biophilic design fail commercially?
The most common failure is applying biophilic elements after the design is complete rather than at brief stage.
- Living walls without acoustic consideration. A living wall in a lobby with hard surfaces and high ambient noise does not produce the restorative effect the research supports. The visual cue of nature is present; the neurological conditions for restoration are not. Add to that irrigation, drainage, supplementary lighting and a maintenance contract in perpetuity, and a failing green wall reads worse to a guest than a plain one.
- Natural materials without air-quality consideration. Timber veneers bonded with high-VOC adhesives and synthetic carpet with botanical patterns remove the indoor air quality benefit that makes material connection with nature valuable.
- Water features without acoustic calibration. Water sound in the right frequency range reduces stress; a poorly designed feature competes with conversation and adds cognitive load.
- Biophilic investment in front of house only. Staff working in back-of-house spaces without natural light or ventilation show different wellbeing and productivity profiles (Guzzo, Suess and Legendre, 2022), and guest experience is a product of the people operating the property as much as of the rooms.
Which biophilic patterns matter most in a hotel brief?
Not all interventions are equal. Visual connection with nature, prospect and refuge, and material connection with nature carry the strongest evidence for guest experience and commercial return (Browning, Ryan and Clancy, 2024). For urban hotels, indirect biophilic attributes, natural materials, naturalistic patterns, natural colours and simulated natural light, have measurable effects on guest perception and booking behaviour: Wu (2024), developing the Biophilic Design Indirect Attributes Index, found that indirect attributes in guest rooms, lounges and lobbies predicted Booking.com overall scores, explaining 50.4 per cent of the variance in the sample studied.
In practice the cheap end is the well-supported end: daylight, real views, natural materials with visible grain, planting in the lobby and restaurant that someone is paid to keep alive, and outdoor space guests can use. The expensive end, living walls, water features and atria, needs the operating cost written into the business case before the capital cost is approved.
What does evidence-based biophilic hotel design look like in practice?
It begins at the brief, with the segment and guest profile, the acoustic and air-quality conditions, and the patterns with the strongest evidence, and it is measured after opening against the property’s own baseline rather than asserted. The approach is set out in Biophilic Design in Hospitality: Connecting Guests with Nature for Wellness and Business Success (Fettahlioglu, 2025), produced by Cocoplum Design Studio with Asia Sustainable Travel, and applied on hospitality projects including Rixos Premium Bodrum and Jumeirah Zabeel Saray. Studio founder Ozge Fettahlioglu is a lecturer and researcher at Western Sydney University, a Board Director of Biophilic Cities Australia Inc., a member of the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture and the author of Designing for Health and Wealth (2026).
Further reading
- What Is Biophilic Design?: the field explained in simple terms
- What Makes Guests Sleep Better in a Hotel Room?: the variables that decide whether a room rests its guest
- Neuroarchitecture strategy for hotels: what we measure, on whom, and against what baseline
- Download the Hotel Performance Risk Audit: score your asset across 18 criteria including biophilic integration
References
- Nanu, L., & Rahman, I. (2023). The biophilic hotel lobby: Consumer emotions, peace of mind, willingness to pay, and health-consciousness. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 113, 103520. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2023.103520
- Song, C., Ali, F., Cobanoglu, C., & Nanu, L. (2022). The effect of biophilic design on customer’s subjective well-being in the hotel lobbies. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 52, 264 to 274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2022.07.008
- Suess, C., Legendre, T.S., & Hanks, L. (2024). Biophilic urban hotel design and restorative experiencescapes. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, 48(8), 1572 to 1593. https://doi.org/10.1177/10963480241244720
- Elshaer, I.A., Azazz, A.M.S., Fayyad, S., & Mohammad, A.A.A. (2025). Quality of hotel biophilic design and its impact on guest well-being, perceived value, and patronage intentions. Tourism and Hospitality, 6(4), 212. https://doi.org/10.3390/tourhosp6040212
- Lee, S.H., Tao, C.W., Douglas, A.C., & Oh, H. (2022). All that glitters is not green. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, 47(4), 789 to 803. https://doi.org/10.1177/10963480221134547
- Guzzo, R.F., Suess, C., & Legendre, T.S. (2022). Biophilic design for urban hotels: prospective hospitality employees’ perspectives. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 34(8), 2914 to 2933. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-10-2021-1322
- Wu, C. (2024). Indirect biophilic attributes in Hawaii hotel interior design. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.13558.61764
- Browning, W.D., Ryan, C.O., & Clancy, J.O. (2024). 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design (10th anniversary edition). Terrapin Bright Green LLC.
- Interface and Gensler (2015). Human Spaces 2.0: Biophilic Design in Hospitality. Interface Inc. Manufacturer-funded report.
- Fettahlioglu, O. (2025). Biophilic Design in Hospitality. Cocoplum Design Studio / Asia Sustainable Travel.
- Fettahlioglu, O. (2026). Designing for Health and Wealth. Cocoplum Design Studio.
Frequently asked questions
What return can biophilic design deliver for a hotel?
The Human Spaces 2.0 study (Interface and Gensler, 2015) found biophilic water-view rooms command an 18.28 per cent ADR premium over equivalent rooms, and guests spend materially longer in biophilic public spaces. Hotels integrating biophilic design have reported ADR uplifts of 8 to 15 per cent (Terrapin Bright Green, 2024). The returns are real but not automatic.
Why do some biophilic hotels see no commercial return?
Because the biophilic elements were added after the design was complete rather than built into the brief. Decorative biophilia supplies the visual cue of nature without the neurological conditions for restoration, so the research outcomes never arrive.
Does biophilic design work in every hotel segment?
No. Lee et al. (2022) found that in a luxury hotel biophilic design improved aesthetic perception, escapism, economic value and attitude toward the hotel, while at a midscale hotel a non-biophilic design scored higher on experiential value. Applying one approach across segments without accounting for guest profile is a primary cause of underperformance.
Is a living wall in the lobby enough?
Not on its own. A living wall in a lobby with hard surfaces and high ambient noise looks biophilic but cannot produce the restorative effect, and natural materials bonded with high-VOC adhesives lose the air-quality benefit. Each element has to be designed with its acoustic and air-quality conditions.
Which biophilic patterns matter most in a hotel brief?
Visual connection with nature, prospect and refuge, and material connection with nature carry the strongest evidence for guest experience and return (Browning, Ryan and Clancy, 2024). For urban hotels, indirect attributes such as natural materials, patterns and colours predict Booking.com scores, explaining 50.4 per cent of the variance in one study (Wu, 2024).
Should biophilic design extend to staff areas?
Yes. Staff working in back-of-house spaces without natural light or ventilation show different wellbeing and productivity profiles (Guzzo, Suess and Legendre, 2022), and guest experience is a product of the people operating the property as much as the rooms.
