Each year, the Radical Innovation Awards celebrate innovative and cutting-edge hotel designs: The RIA’s have become a favorite 'must see' competition for hospitality and design, showcasing imaginative ideas from the world’s top designers, engineers, and overall disruptors. Hoteliers and travel aficionados alike are waiting excitedly for this year’s October winners.

Previous winners have created designs that seem to come straight out of science fiction – hydroponic mountain resorts and flying glass swimming pools. While we wait to see what the 2019 competition holds, we’re looking back at previous winners who have inspired us and propelled the industry forward.

Radical Innovation Awards

At its heart, the competition seeks to empower creative thinkers in the travel, design, and hospitality industries. Each fall, the creative community comes together to collaborate and be inspired by ingenuity from the world’s top designers.

Entries are juried by a panel of industry-leading professionals who carefully review the submissions based on a strict rubric of originality, creativity, design, and disruption. Entries are also evaluated on the basis of feasibility – execution is critical because the program offers its winners funding awards to help bring their visions to life. To date, nearly $200,000 has been awarded to the champions to fund their winning projects.

Finalists that blew us away

2018 saw some incredible advances in the technology around hospitality and travel. Here are a few stand-outs whose ideas stunned and inspired us:

1. The Autonomous Travel Suite by Aprilli Design Studio

2018 grand prize winner Aprilli designed this futuristic travel suite that perfectly integrates transportation and hospitality. The self-driving mobile suite features a compact hotel room, washroom, and workspace. The unit can be called to the traveler’s home via the website or mobile app, and docks at a facility for ATS at their preferred location.

Compact, comfortable, and supremely efficient, ATS allows travelers to make full use of their travel time and catch up on sleep, work, or play while en-route to their holiday. Once at the docking facility, the pod opens into an extended parent suite, giving travelers access to spacious and luxuriant accommodations during their stay.

From the moment you leave your home, the ATS delivers comfort and efficiency by functioning as a personal rental car and hotel, all in one.

2. Le Colline Incantate

Le Colline Incantate in Northern Italy provides a tranquil retreat with a uniquely family-friendly focus - specifically as a retreat for separated parents and their families. Whether the family is newly separated and navigating a brand-new situation, facing single-parenthood, or simply looking for a safe, relaxing place for themselves and their children, Le Colline Incantate has been thoughtfully designed to offer the maximum amount of support and care.

Not only is the atmosphere vibrant and life-affirming, with waterways enveloped with plants that create a warm and self-regulating biophilic environment, but the hotel’s programming creates a welcoming space for all. Therapeutic proposals such as individual and group therapy, communal activities, and evaluation plans are offered to help families find peace and fulfillment in this place of security and tranquility.

3. Aquaponic Hotel Experience by Varinot & Varinot

2018 runner-up Varinot & Varinot have created an entirely self-sufficient, closed aquaculture design for a hotel that leads the charge for environmental sustainability. The system is based mainly on aquaponic agriculture – an industrial process wherein farmed fish create nutrients which feed and grow plants hydroponically. The plants then purify the water, creating a closed and efficient ecosystem.

The Aquaponic Hotel Experience mirrors this system by utilizing rainwater that is cycled through the hotel, providing water to the fish, aquariums, landscaping, and food garden at the hotel. The fresh produce would be available in the restaurant, and the innovative design allows implementation in any city.

What does the future hold for the 2019 Radical Innovation Awards?

These are just a few of the incredibly diverse and creative submissions considered in 2018. With so many incredible ideas recognized in 2018, we can hardly wait to see what the 2019 finalists have to present!

Here at Beachwood Custom, we scour the world for the best custom furniture and finishes so that you can offer your guests the best possible experience.Contact us today to see how we can help you design your perfect hotel property!