The Sleep Set 2016 — Winner

The Science of Tribes

Driven by rising consumer culture, individualization and globalization, societies have become more complex than ever before and traditional segmentation according to socio‐demographic features or social class is now far from adequate. As a result, Sinus, the research and consulting institute behind this year’s “Science of Tribes” theme, has developed a different approach.

Sinus has identified target groups which are derived from ethno-anthropology and based on the analysis of everyday life and attitudes towards work, family, leisure and consumption. Exploring similarities and differences in people’s basic values, Sinus has researched individuals future plans, ideas, interests and orientation role models, as well as accounting for social situations such as income, education and profession.

We will be immersing ourselves in the world of the “Digital Avant-Gardes,” more fondly termed the "expeditionists."

Who are the Digital Avant-Gardes?

We believe our guests seek an instinctive, unscripted journey to shape their lives. Freedom and independence are all-important to this group of nonconformist, individual people who embrace the digital to enhance their lifestyle. They have no fixed dogma, their values are global and pluralistic, and they are mobile socializers.

Through our discussions we deliberated whether our tribe even stay in a hotel? Our reasoning has led us to theorize that our tribe would prefer alternative forms of accommodation over a traditional hotel; they appreciate the homeliness, flexibility, price and locality of these places. Therefore, we started asking ourselves questions such as:

• What if a hotel can be for the community as well as the guests?
• What if the staff saw themselves as hosts rather than service staff?
• What if aspects of the hotel were based on a peer to peer economy?

For this reason, Gensler is designing a guest experience which seeks to shift the focus from the space, and even the design, to the people who inhabit it.

Read more about our concept and the thinking that led us there in our specially commissioned magazine, The Collective Traveller.