Reducing Stress in Leisure Travelers through the Use of Biophilic Design Elements to Enhance the Sense of Arrival in Hotel Lobby Interior Design

The objective of this study was to gain knowledge as to the impact of the use of light, materiality, and access to nature in reducing stress in hotel lobbies. This topic rose to importance with the rise of the pandemic of 2020 as safety precautions began to change and people stopped traveling completely. In order for hotels to regain business, they would have to rethink their design to accommodate people's stress levels, as they have become hyper aware of their interior surroundings having been stuck in their homes for long period of time. With little research president on this topic area, this study sought to gain knowledge from a review of literature and original research on which biophilic design elements are most effective in reducing stress levels of parents traveling with young children to child friendly, resort style hotels. The elements studied were materiality, light, and access to nature. This study examined three hotels of varying affordability in the Orlando, Florida area and the researcher chose to examine three high traffic zones of the lobby including the entry, seating, and check-in desks. After using a snowball sampling technique to reach a sample size of fifty participants, the researcher came to the conclusion that of the three biophilic design elements, access to nature was most effective in reducing feelings of anxiety in high traffic zones of resort style hotel lobbies. A virtual survey helped the researcher come to these conclusions as well as hotel lobby observations and cataloging images and behaviors.