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Muriel Muirden reveals new trends in luxury resort design in a webinar organized by Arum Group

Moderated by the international guru, industry experts will discuss how climate change and the pandemic are influencing the approach and configuration of new tourism resorts

Muriel Muirden, one of the most important experts in international hotel strategy with more than 30 years of experience in the development and operation of tourist resorts, will be in charge of moderating a new webinar organized by Arum Group on October 6, entitled ‘New trends in resort design’, which aims to shed light on some of the questions that are currently of most concern to the tourism and real estate sectors, especially those related to sustainability in construction, the fight against climate change and care for landscaping and the environment.

Muirden founded and co-chaired the European Resort and Hotel Council of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and joined The Wee Hotel Company, owned by the Scottish group Gordon Campbell Gray, after having been for many years strategy director of the major company WATG, which has developed 400 different projects in more than 170 countries. Muriel and her extensive network of international contacts are therefore well aware of current trends in the sector and the recommendations that investors need to adopt in the future in order to be successful.

The prestigious British visionary will be accompanied at this meeting by Francesc Pujol, director of the real estate area of Arum Group, who will introduce the webinar. For Pujol, “it is important that all those involved in the development of resorts take note of the trends that are taking hold around the world, and that we understand that climate change is not only an issue of concern to the consumer, but that our involvement is also decisive in contributing to the care of the planet in each of the projects we carry out. And this must be a network that involves not only the tourism sector, but also the residential sector, golf and tennis resorts, which tend to be the most important, and also the leisure sector,” says the Arum executive.

Joining Pujol and Muirden will be leading professionals such as Ricardo Moreira, co-founder and CEO of XCO2. With a background in architecture and engineering, and more than 20 years of experience in the industry, Moreira strongly believes in cross-discipline collaboration and design integration as key factors in delivering robust sustainable solutions that can work commercially.

This webinar will also feature John Goldwyn, senior vice president and director of Planning and Landscape at WATG, who counts among his most recent projects the planning and design of numerous hotels and resorts in Turkey; strategic planning for a new city on the Caspian coast in Russia; and a 1,000-acre golf and ski resort in Kazakhstan.

Finally, Josh Littman, vice president of development for SH Hotels & Resorts, with more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry and responsible for the growth of brands such as Baccarat Hotels, 1 Hotels and Treehouse Hotels, will also share his professional experience with a variety of international groups, including as head of European luxury development for InterContinental Hotels Group, as vice president of development (EMEA) for Hard Rock Hotels and Casinos, and as acting vice president with Kerzner International, PKF Consulting and Mandarin Oriental.

The conference will discuss how developers are responding to climate change in terms of design and green strategies, how hotel and landscape design can mitigate the well-documented staffing crisis in the hospitality industry, what impact the wellness industry has had on resort construction and planning, and the future of branded residences within resorts, among other topics.

The impact of climate change is already being felt in new projects, since the designs of future constructions already propose scenarios in which temperatures in the destinations increase and this influences both the materials used and the designs adapted to the space to ensure better air conditioning.

Applied studies on eco-engineering and new technologies suggest that the use of recycled materials and the implementation of renewable energies in tourist complexes could generate a positive environmental impact, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, not only during their construction but also after they are put into operation.

To register for the webinar, which is free of charge, it is necessary to access the Arum Group website. The developer led by Jordi Robinat, leader in Spain, is one of the few firms in Europe that can comprehensively manage the creation and development of a tourist and residential resort at the same time, carrying out market research, creating the project from start to finish, providing the business and feasibility plan, executing the construction and real estate sales, as well as hotel promotion and management, providing the destination with marketing and communication tools to position it in the international market. Examples of this are his work in Abama Resort Tenerife or La Manga Club, in Murcia.

Further information:

Watch the recording of the live session