Notes from the Front Row - NEWH New England
What the NEWH New England Gathering Got Right
There’s something energizing about being in the room when people are willing to tell the truth — especially in an industries that too often play it safe.
That’s what made the first-ever NEWH New England trade show so refreshing. The panel, moderated by
, featured Diane Hang Nguyen from Highgate, David Shove-Brown from 3877 Design, and Andrew Ashley from AAmp Studio (Portland, Maine — the New England Portland). It wasn’t just a box-checking conversation. It was candid, raw, and at times, laugh-out-loud funny.🎤 Real talk on design, development & the renovation wave
There were strong points made about the headwinds we’re all feeling — stalled capital projects, delayed PIPs, revenge travel tapering, high interest rates. But the throughline was this: a wave of renovation is coming. Maybe not today. Maybe not even Q1 - Q4 of next year. But soon. And those who are hanging on and nurturing relationships now will be first in line when the work hits.
Diane Nguyen cut straight to the reality operators face: not every building lets you follow the playbook.
She shared examples of a cinder block hotel, a Kimpton I believe, designed by Crème out of Brooklyn, where you can’t move walls, electrical, or plumbing. In those cases, brand standards don’t just slot in neatly. The designer’s role becomes one of creativity under constraint — using FF&E, millwork, or layout tricks to meet the intent of the standard without the cost of heavy construction.
As Diane put it, sometimes you have to embrace asymmetry or “distract” the eye so limitations feel like design moves rather than compromises. It’s about being pragmatic, resourceful, and cost-conscious while still delivering the branded experience guests expect.
🚫 Bashar declared war on the “copy-paste hotel”
This was my favorite moment.
Bashar went on a tear about how hotel design has become too safe and too same. You know the look: the Softbranded-Independent-core aesthetic that gets copied, pasted, and rolled out again and again in wildly different places. It’s all blending together.
His message was clear:
“If you’re designing a coastal hotel, don’t just reach for a ‘beach palette.’ A beach in Oregon doesn’t look like a beach in North Carolina. So why should the hotels?”
He shared how his team once collected actual driftwood and materials from a shoreline to build a palette from the place itself. Design, he argued, should be site-specific, story-driven, and unapologetically local. When we default to generic, we lose the soul of the place — and the guest knows it.
He’s been over the word “authentic” for quite some time - now don’t copy and paste around him.
He wants designers to earn the right to tell a place’s story.
🌱 Why NEWH matters
This was NEWH New England’s first-ever trade show, which is surprising in its own right. And while only one panelist was actually from New England, the event still hit the mark.
Why? Because NEWH isn’t just another networking event. It raises money for scholarships. It spotlights emerging talent. And it brings our fragmented, multi-layered industry together — designers, brands, owners, operators, reps — all under one roof.
That’s the magic.
P.S. A lot of what was said reminded me why I started Defining Hospitality in the first place. When I got into this business, I couldn’t find the inside voices. So I built the platform I wish I had. And I keep doing it because every conversation like this one pushes us — and the industry — forward.
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