Can lighting design increase revenue in hospitality venues?

September, 26

Yes, lighting design can increase revenue in hospitality venues. Well-designed lighting shapes how guests perceive a space, influences how long they stay, and directly affects whether they return or recommend the venue to others. For hotels, restaurants, and bars, the atmosphere created by lighting is often the difference between a forgettable visit and one that drives repeat business and word-of-mouth. The questions below unpack the specific mechanisms, practical considerations, and decisions that matter most for hospitality operators and the design teams working with them.

How does lighting influence customer spending behaviour?

Lighting influences customer spending by shaping mood, dwell time, and perceived value. In hospitality environments, warmer, dimmer lighting encourages guests to relax, linger, and order more. Brighter, cooler lighting tends to accelerate turnover. The atmosphere a lighting scheme creates signals quality, and guests consistently spend more in spaces that feel considered, comfortable, and exclusive.

The relationship between light and spending is not accidental. When a restaurant or bar feels intimate and well-crafted, guests are more likely to order additional courses, upgrade their drinks choices, and extend their visit into dessert or a nightcap. That extended dwell time translates directly into higher average spend per cover.

Accent lighting plays an equally important role. Focused light on food, drinks, or a bar display communicates quality and draws attention to the things you want guests to notice. A cocktail illuminated well looks more desirable. A dish presented under flattering light appears more premium. These visual cues shape purchasing decisions without guests consciously registering why.

Perceived value is another lever. A venue where lighting has been thoughtfully designed feels more expensive, even when price points are comparable to a competitor. That perception justifies higher spend and supports stronger pricing power over time.

What types of hospitality venues benefit most from lighting design?

Hotels, restaurants, bars, and private members’ clubs benefit most from professional lighting design in hospitality. These are environments where atmosphere is a core part of the product offering, and where the difference between good and great lighting is directly felt by guests. The higher the quality expectation, the greater the return on a well-considered lighting scheme.

Hotels

Hotel lighting design spans a wide range of environments within a single building: lobbies, corridors, restaurants, bars, spa facilities, meeting rooms, and guest rooms. Each space has different functional and emotional requirements. A lobby needs to create immediate impact and signal the brand’s character. A guest room must feel restful and adaptable to different times of day. Getting this right across an entire property requires a coordinated strategy, not a collection of isolated decisions.

Restaurants and bars

In restaurants and bars, lighting is one of the most powerful tools available for creating atmosphere. The best restaurant lighting design balances ambient warmth with precise accent lighting, making food look appealing, guests look good, and the space feel alive without feeling harsh. Bars benefit from dramatic contrasts, feature lighting, and carefully considered back-bar illumination that draws the eye and frames the experience.

How can lighting design improve the guest experience?

Lighting design improves the guest experience by creating the right atmosphere for each moment, making guests feel welcome on arrival, comfortable during their stay, and reluctant to leave. It does this through layered light that responds to time of day, activity, and the emotional tone the venue wants to set. A single, flat level of illumination cannot achieve this; a considered, multi-layered scheme can.

The layering approach combines ambient light, which sets the baseline mood; accent lighting, which draws attention to architecture, artwork, or food; and decorative fixtures, which give a space personality and scale. When these layers work together, the result feels effortless to guests even though it is the product of detailed planning.

Adaptability is increasingly important. A hotel bar that serves coffee in the morning, lunch in the afternoon, and cocktails in the evening needs a lighting scheme that can shift across those different modes without a complete reset. Scene-setting controls allow operators to move between lighting states smoothly, so the space always feels appropriate to the moment rather than compromised.

Lighting also affects how guests perceive themselves within a space. Flattering light in dining areas, restrooms, and dressing environments makes people feel better, and guests who feel good associate that feeling with the venue. That emotional connection is what drives loyalty and recommendation.

What’s the difference between a lighting designer and a lighting supplier?

A lighting designer is an independent consultant who creates a lighting strategy and specifies the products best suited to a project’s needs. A lighting supplier sells lighting products. The key distinction is independence: a lighting designer has no obligation to recommend any particular manufacturer, while a supplier’s recommendations are shaped by what they stock and sell.

This independence matters significantly in hospitality projects. A lighting consultant working without manufacturer ties can specify products based purely on performance, aesthetics, and suitability, selecting the right fixture for each application rather than defaulting to a narrow catalogue. The result is a scheme designed around the project, not around available inventory.

A lighting designer also brings a strategic layer that a supplier cannot. They consider how light interacts with materials, architecture, and interior design. They think about how a scheme will perform across different times of day and different operational modes. They coordinate with architects, interior designers, and engineers to ensure lighting integrates seamlessly rather than being added as an afterthought. Foundry London, for example, operates entirely independently from lighting manufacturers, meaning every product specified for a project is chosen on its merits alone.

Suppliers play an important role in the supply chain, but they are not a substitute for design expertise. Relying on a supplier to design a scheme is like asking a materials merchant to design a building.

When should a hospitality project bring in a lighting consultant?

A lighting consultant should be brought into a hospitality project at the concept stage, ideally during RIBA Stage 2 or equivalent, when the design strategy is still being formed. Early involvement allows lighting to be integrated into the architecture and interior design from the outset, rather than retrofitted around decisions that have already been made.

Late engagement is one of the most common and costly mistakes in hospitality projects. When lighting is considered only after ceiling structures, joinery, and electrical routes are fixed, the options available to the designer are already constrained. Recessing fittings into a ceiling that was not designed to accommodate them, or adding cove lighting to a detail that was not built for it, creates compromises that affect the finished result.

Early involvement also allows the lighting consultant to coordinate with other members of the design team, sharing information about ceiling voids, structural elements, and material finishes that affect how light behaves in the space. This coordination reduces the risk of conflicts during construction and ensures that the lighting scheme performs as intended when the venue opens.

For refurbishment projects, the calculus is similar. Even when some structural decisions are already fixed, bringing in a lighting consultant before detailed design begins gives the team the best chance of achieving a coherent result within the constraints of the existing building.

What does a bespoke lighting scheme cost for a hospitality venue?

The cost of a bespoke lighting scheme for a hospitality venue varies considerably depending on the size of the project, its complexity, and the level of specification required. Design fees for a lighting consultant are typically calculated as a percentage of the overall project value or as a fixed fee agreed at the outset. For most commercial hospitality projects, lighting design fees represent a small proportion of the total build cost, and the return, in terms of atmosphere, guest experience, and revenue, is disproportionately large.

It is worth separating two distinct costs: the lighting design consultancy fee, and the cost of the luminaires and controls specified. A lighting designer’s fee covers the intellectual work, the strategy, the specification, the coordination, and the oversight through to commissioning. The product cost covers the physical fittings, control systems, and installation.

Bespoke light fittings, custom-designed fixtures created specifically for a project, carry an additional cost but offer something that off-the-shelf products cannot: a genuinely distinctive element that reinforces the venue’s identity. For high-end hotels and restaurants where differentiation matters, a bespoke fitting can become a signature feature that guests photograph and remember.

The honest answer is that there is no single price point for a hospitality lighting scheme, because no two projects are the same. What matters is engaging a consultant early, being clear about the project’s ambitions and budget, and understanding that the design fee is an investment in the quality of the finished environment, not simply a line item to be minimised.

How Foundry London helps hospitality venues with lighting design

Foundry London is a specialist hospitality lighting design consultancy with a portfolio spanning hotels, restaurants, and bars across the UK, the Middle East, and beyond. Working entirely independently from lighting manufacturers, the team designs schemes and specifies products based solely on what is right for each project.

Full lighting design from concept through to commissioning, following the project from RIBA Stage 2 to completion
Experience across hospitality venues including Andaz London Liverpool Street, Dishoom Covent Garden, The Alchemist, and numerous international hotel projects
Bespoke light fitting design for clients who want a distinctive, custom element within their scheme
Independent product specification, no manufacturer ties, no catalogue constraints
Coordination with architects, interior designers, and project managers to integrate lighting seamlessly into the wider design
ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified, reflecting a commitment to quality and environmental management

If you are planning a hospitality project and want to understand how a professional lighting scheme can enhance your guest experience and commercial performance, get in touch with the Foundry London team to discuss your brief.