Hotel Room Lighting Tips, Requirements & Ideas

Hotel Room Lighting Tips

Be Practical

Hotel lighting should be functional before anything else. Your guests won’t want to walk through dimly lit hallways or try to read a menu in the dark. On the other hand, no one wants to deal with the annoyance of overly bright lights. Balance is key! Choose soft disk lighting for the main area, as that will diffuse the light and make it not too harsh. If you have menus or art that you want to highlight, use accent spotlights to ensure they are in full view.

Keep in mind that different rooms will have different needs for lighting functionality. Ambient lighting, for instance, is used as a base layer to light any room. From there, the function of your room or space really matters when choosing a lighting style. Task lighting, which will be used around desks, kitchens, reading chairs, conference rooms, and the like, is essential in any room where work is being done to minimize glare and shadows. To achieve proper task lighting, desk lamps, table lamps, or under-cabinet lighting are all proper choices. 

Accent lighting, on the other hand, completes the ambiance of a room — it can be used as a focal point to highlight the art and other design elements in your space. To show off these unique features, consider using spotlights, recessed lighting, and wall sconces, for example.

Take a look at this article from TCP for more information on lighting design and layering.

Getting the lighting levels exactly right in hotels is a complex business with contrasting needs for different areas.

The perfect balance between design and functionality ensures that guests have an enjoyable stay and feel positive about the hotel while staff can work efficiently and professionally

The CIBSE Code for Lighting is the comprehensive bible for all aspects of illumination – below is a brief guide on lighting levels. The code is a reference for lighting designers and planners, complementing  aesthetic skills and knowledge.

Since 2002, the Committee for European Standardisation (CEN) has provided lighting recommendations, adopted by the British Standards Institution, with a range of British Standards (BS) specifying quantitative lighting requirements for many applications.