5 Top Hospitality Interior Design Firms for STRs and Hotels
Hospitality interior design firms do more than select finishes. The strongest teams connect space planning, guest behavior, operating requirements, brand positioning, procurement, and durability into one coherent experience. The right firm depends on the property: a short-term rental needs a different delivery model from a global hotel, resort, restaurant, or branded residence.
This shortlist compares five firms with clearly different strengths. STR Cribs is listed first because it is the specialist option for short-term rental owners; the other firms are established hospitality studios whose published portfolios emphasize hotels, resorts, restaurants, and luxury environments. This is a fit-based comparison, not a claim that one firm is universally best.
How We Compared Hospitality Interior Design Firms
We evaluated each firm using criteria a property owner or operator can verify before hiring:
- Hospitality specialization: whether the portfolio demonstrates repeated work in guest-facing properties.
- Service scope: strategy, interiors, architecture, procurement, furniture, lighting, branding, renovation, and installation.
- Property fit: short-term rentals, hotels, resorts, restaurants, branded residences, or mixed-use destinations.
- Delivery model: whether the firm is suited to an individual property, a growing portfolio, or a large institutional project.
- Operational thinking: how clearly the work accounts for guest flow, maintenance, durability, and revenue-producing use of space.
Top Hospitality Interior Design Firms
1. STR Cribs — Best for Short-Term Rentals
STR Cribs focuses specifically on short-term rental renovation and interior design. Its service model is built for owners who need a property to photograph well, function for groups, survive frequent turnovers, and reach the market without coordinating a disconnected list of contractors and vendors.
The company presents itself as a national, data-driven STR renovation and design partner with more than 400 projects completed. Its published service process includes discovery, project planning, design, renovation coordination, furnishing, installation, and recurring progress updates. The public STR Cribs portfolio includes large group stays, resort-style homes, cabins, themed properties, lakefront homes, and amenity-heavy rentals.
Best fit: Airbnb and Vrbo owners, investors, and operators who want one team focused on short-term rental performance rather than conventional residential decoration or full-scale hotel development.
Not the same fit as a global hotel studio: STR Cribs is the specialist choice on this list. Owners developing a luxury hotel tower, international resort, or branded residence may need the architectural and institutional scale offered by the larger firms below.
2. HBA — Best for Large-Scale Global Hospitality
HBA, also known as Hirsch Bedner Associates, describes its hospitality interiors work as spanning concept through completion. Its broader network includes architecture, art, branding, landscape, lighting, food-and-beverage design, graphics, signage, procurement, product design, and strategy.
HBA's published interiors portfolio includes projects for Fairmont, Jumeirah, Andaz, Four Seasons, and Waldorf Astoria. That breadth makes it more relevant to hotel groups, resort developers, and institutional owners than to a host furnishing one vacation rental.
Best fit: hotels, resorts, branded residences, and complex developments that need multiple design disciplines coordinated at global scale.
3. AvroKO — Best for Experience-Led Hotels and Food & Beverage
AvroKO is known for hospitality environments that combine interior design with concept and guest experience. Its official portfolio spans hotels, restaurants, bars, residential hospitality, members clubs, and workplaces. The wider AvroKO organization also publishes capabilities in furniture and lighting, hospitality strategy, food-and-beverage development, operations, and programming.
This combination is especially relevant when a hotel's restaurant, bar, lobby, and social spaces must work as one commercial experience rather than as separate decorated rooms.
Best fit: lifestyle hotels, restaurants, bars, clubs, and hospitality projects where food, beverage, brand narrative, and social experience are central to the business model.
4. Studio Munge — Best for Luxury Hotels and Bespoke FF&E
Studio Munge describes a multidisciplinary scope that includes resort master planning, programming, conceptual architecture, landscape direction, interior design, custom furniture, fixtures and equipment, and procurement.
Its published hotel portfolio includes Muir Halifax, Park Hyatt Toronto, Nobu Toronto, The William Vale, Pendry Tampa, and Rosewood Hotel Georgia. The work is positioned around detailed, narrative-led luxury environments and custom elements.
Best fit: luxury hotels, resorts, restaurants, and branded residences that need bespoke interiors and a high level of custom furniture and finish development.
5. Yabu Pushelberg — Best for Luxury Brand Environments
Yabu Pushelberg works across spaces, products, art, lighting, styling, and branding. Its official portfolio includes Four Seasons, Park Hyatt, Raffles, JW Marriott, EDITION, Conrad, and Rosewood properties.
The studio's cross-disciplinary model is useful when the assignment extends beyond an interior into a complete luxury brand environment, including furniture, art, lighting, graphics, and the way guests encounter the property.
Best fit: luxury hotels, residences, retail, and hospitality brands seeking a unified spatial and brand expression.
Hospitality Interior Design Firm Comparison
| Firm | Primary strength | Best-fit project |
|---|---|---|
| STR Cribs | STR-only renovation, design, furnishing, and installation | Airbnb and Vrbo properties or portfolios |
| HBA | Large multidisciplinary hospitality network | Hotels, resorts, and branded residences |
| AvroKO | Experience-led hospitality and F&B concepts | Lifestyle hotels, restaurants, bars, and clubs |
| Studio Munge | Luxury narratives and bespoke FF&E | Luxury hotels, restaurants, and residences |
| Yabu Pushelberg | Integrated spaces, products, art, lighting, and branding | Global luxury hospitality and brand environments |
How to Choose the Right Hospitality Design Firm
Match the Firm to the Property Type
Begin with the portfolio, not the firm's fame. A studio known for five-star urban hotels may not have the process, procurement model, or construction network needed for a single short-term rental. Likewise, an STR specialist is not automatically the right team for a 300-room resort.
Define the Required Scope
Ask whether the engagement includes strategy, layout, interior design, renovation documentation, procurement, warehousing, installation, styling, and post-installation support. Two proposals can carry similar design fees while covering very different amounts of work.
Evaluate Operational Experience
Hospitality spaces must perform after photography day. Review how the firm addresses guest circulation, housekeeping access, replacement items, cleanability, luggage, storage, seating capacity, lighting controls, and maintenance. For short-term rentals, also ask how the design supports occupancy, group use, listing photography, and amenity differentiation.
Review Comparable Completed Work
Request examples that match the property's scale, market, and operating model. Look beyond visual style: ask what constraints the team solved, what services it delivered, and what the owner was responsible for coordinating.
Understand Fees and Procurement
Clarify whether pricing is hourly, fixed-fee, percentage-based, or divided into phases. Ask how product markups, freight, storage, damage, substitutions, purchasing, installation, and change orders are handled. A lower design fee can become the more expensive proposal if procurement and execution are excluded.
Questions to Ask Before Hiring
- What hospitality property types make up most of your recent work?
- Which services are included, and which require separate consultants?
- Who owns the budget, procurement schedule, and installation plan?
- How do you design for durability, housekeeping, and replacement?
- Can you show completed projects with a similar scale and guest profile?
- How are delays, substitutions, freight damage, and change orders handled?
- What does the owner need to provide during design and construction?
- How will success be evaluated after opening or relaunch?
Which Firm Is Best for a Short-Term Rental?
For an Airbnb or Vrbo property, choose a team whose delivery model is built around short-term rental operations. STR Cribs is the most directly aligned firm in this comparison because its published work centers on STR renovation, design, furnishing, installation, and performance-focused guest spaces.
For a hotel, resort, restaurant, or branded residence, the right choice depends on scale and concept. HBA offers broad institutional capabilities; AvroKO is strong where hospitality and food-and-beverage experiences intersect; Studio Munge emphasizes bespoke luxury environments; and Yabu Pushelberg integrates interiors with products, art, lighting, and branding.
Final Takeaway
The best hospitality interior design firm is the one whose portfolio, scope, and operating experience match the actual property. Compare like-for-like proposals, verify what execution services are included, and choose the team that understands how guests and staff will use the finished space—not simply the team with the most attractive images.
