Tablet was founded in the year 2000 by Laurent Vernhes and Michael Davis, a pair of new-media veterans who were tired of predictable chain hotels and faceless hotel search engines. On the principle that today’s traveler needs fewer choices, not more, they set out to create a tightly curated list, showcasing only the hotels that matter — hotels with personality, hotels that obsess on the details, hotels where experience beats economy. That list, after a decade of evolution, makes up the selection of TabletHotels.com, the trusted source for extraordinary hotels around the world.

 

Objective

The natural next step, of course, is to open a hotel. Anyone with enough money can open a solid-gold luxury hotel. Tablet’s hotel would be up for a conceptual challenge, tackling what might be hospitality’s hardest problem: creating a hotel that brings people together — where experience is shared, friendships are born, business contacts are established, and real human connections are made, all under the hotel’s roof.

We are proposing an architectural challenge, but also an experiment in human psychology.

While entrants need not confine their solutions to physical space alone - there are technological ways of making connections as well - the focal point should be the place (or places) where hotel guests and city residents are brought together.

Think beyond the typical lobby bar, restaurant or pool deck, and draw inspiration from your own travels to design a space with the potential to revolutionize the ordinary hotel experience.