David Ashen, founder and principal of Dash Design, is set to attend Hotec Design, an annual conference presented by Questex Hospitality, the parent company of Hotel Management. At the conference, buyers meet one-on-one with hospitality-focused suppliers to learn about new products and services and to keep up to date on emerging trends. Ahead of the conference, Ashen talked about his experience in hospitality design and his views on how it is evolving.
Ashen was born into a hospitality family, with a grandfather and great-grandfather who both owned hotels. After working at a branding agency’s retail design studio, he designed the XL bar in New York City, winning a competition for the opportunity. Other nightclub designs led to restaurants, some of which were in hotels. Working with Sage Hospitality Group, he designed the restaurant for the hotel Mercat in Chicago and two hotels in Portland, Ore., before working on the lobby of the former JW Marriott in Denver’s Cherry Creek neighborhood (now the Hotel Clio). With the lobby updated, Ashen oversaw the hotel’s next softgoods renovation, and was then tapped to renovate the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C.
In late 2002, while still in his early 30s, Ashen founded Dash Design, an interior design and branding agency specializing in hospitality and retail. Starting his own business was a natural fit for his style. “You can't produce or train entrepreneurs. I think it's kind of in your DNA,” he said. “You have to be comfortable with risk and being uncomfortable and and be driven towards that and to not have all the answers.” Entrepreneurship, he added, is not a comfortable path for most, “but I think that people who are entrepreneurial find the comfort in the discomfort and towards the excitement of not knowing.” If he had thought too much about starting his own company, he said, he probably would not have done it.
During the pandemic, the Dash team worked on converting an old sugar refinery in New Orleans into the new 82-room One11 Hotel. “It was a very challenging project,” Ashen said. “You couldn't go from the second floor to the third floor, the third floor to the sixth floor. Nothing was aligned.” Ashen also worked on the new Resorts World casino in Newburgh, N.Y., which was converted from a Bon Ton department store in a mall. The project was his first casino, he added, and presented a learning opportunity. “It's interesting to go there and look in and learn and watch people use it," he said. "So that's been fun.”
Brands vs. Narratives
In his career, Ashen has found the biggest challenge to be getting designers, operators and brand leaders in sync to turn a brand strategy or narrative into a positive guest experience. “Oftentimes, a branding agency and a design firm don't speak the same language and things aren't translated accordingly,” he said.
Similarly, Ashen feels that the word “brand” has been misused within the hospitality sphere. “You could say, ‘It's a branded hotel’ or ‘It's a unique brand.’ What does that mean?” he said. “Some people think it's just a logo and some people understand it more as a narrative. We think of it more as a strategy rather than just saying ‘brand’ because … when you think of brands, you really think about a narrative that's brought to life in all the guests' touchpoints.” This narrative affects everything from the design to how guests interact with the hotel staff to what a guest hears and tastes in the restaurants. “That’s sometimes intangible and I think people don't get the intangible parts.”
Running his own company means he gets to set and meet his own goals, Ashen said: “I have a short attention span. I get bored quickly. The advantage is that I can reinvent things as I go to challenge myself.” Ashen tends to get “very close” to certain clients, he added. “I become intertwined in their business because I want to learn more," he said. "And to me, it's very interesting to be their partner and help them grow their businesses.”
Ashen said he is looking forward to the upcoming Hotec conference, where he will be able to meet not only with suppliers selling everything from bedding to lights, but also network with other designers. “You get to know people; you develop personal relationships,” he said of smaller one-on-one events. “I think that's very valuable.”
The 2023 Hotec Design conference will take place June 19-22 at the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort and Spa in Scottsdale, Ariz. Registration is open for both buyers and suppliers.