Big-brand flags in this sector are borrowing a page from their boutique brethren to up their design ante. The goal: Stand out from the crowd and grab more market share. BY MAT THEW HALL THERE ARE NOW more than 700 Hilton Garden Inns (HGI) around 1 Compact yet versatile, the retail space within Hilton Garden Inn's just-released "Magnolia" prototype can also be retrofitted into the brand's existing North American locales. COURTESY OF FRCH DESIGN WORLDWIDE (HILTON GARDEN INN RETAIL SPACE); COURTESY OF HILTON (GREENLE AF ); IVAN BIDE AC (ZEFF ); COURTESY OF PUCCINI GROUP (FU, R AMOS); COURTESY OF GENSLER (KUROK AWA) the world. So, when the brand recently unveiled plans for a new set of six region-specific design prototypes for development targets across the globe, it served as a telling barometer of the higher design quotient that's becoming the norm in this once ho-hum sector. The new HGI prototypes-all bearing a flower-inspired name-were created to help propel the brand's expansion. "Hilton Garden Inn is on a strong growth trajectory and expanding its global footprint to new countries each year," John Greenleaf, HGI's global head, told Boutique Design in an exclusive interview in the aftermath of the prototypes' unveiling. "To accommodate this global growth and to meet and exceed the needs of developers and guests, we are evolving our approach to prototypes." JOHN GREENLEAF HILTON GARDEN INN MARK ZEFF MARKZEFF DOUGLAS FU PUCCINI GROUP JOCELYN RAMOS PUCCINI GROUP RIE KUROKAWA GENSLER MAY 2017 boutiquedesign.com 33http://www.boutiquedesign.com