Bringing Hospitality's Sensory Tactics Beyond Hotels

NeoCon Presentation Description: Hospitality design has long understood something commercial interiors are only beginning to fully embrace: people don't experience space visually - they experience it sensorially, emotionally, and neurologically. This presentation explores how hospitality has developed sophisticated, research-backed tactics to engage the full human sensorium, and how those tactics can translate into other environments such as workplace, healthcare, and even education. The session will walk through four sensory domains - sound, scent, touch, and spatial perception - examining the psychology and neuroscience behind each, and illustrating how hospitality has used them to influence behavior, comfort, and brand affinity. Examples will demonstrate how these same strategies are being deployed in non-hospitality settings to improve performance and connection. It will conclude by examining storytelling and meaning-making as critical tools, and how narrative strengthens identity and trust in across space types.