How Travel Trends Inspire Modern Luxury Interiors

Imagine standing on a balcony in Paris, staring out over a city that has been humming with life for centuries. The drapery in your hotel suite brushes softly against the floor, the brass glows under lamplight, the bed is dressed in layers of textures that feel impossibly indulgent. You aren’t just seeing beauty - you’re absorbing it. This is the moment I tell clients is most revealing: luxury is rarely learned at home. It’s discovered elsewhere - in the hotels that cradle us, the restaurants that awaken us, the destinations that change our rhythm and remind us what beauty feels like when life slows down.

As a designer, I watch how travel shifts personal taste long before it appears in a room. A guest returns from London suddenly drawn to deep oxblood velvet or saturated navy paneled walls - rich, smoky hues that feel like jazz music and old books. Another returns from Paris captivated by full, sweeping draperies and the effortless femininity you only find in a Haussmann suite. Travel plants a seed. It makes people crave not what they saw - but how they felt. And more often than not, they come home wanting to recreate that emotion in the spaces where they live their real life.

Luxury hotels are often the first place people experience true sensory design. Not just aesthetically, but functionally - the way beds cocoon, the way lighting layers softly, the way materials feel intentional rather than generic. A five-star suite isn’t decorated, it’s composed. Every hinge, every stitch, every fixture has been chosen to create ease without asking for attention. Clients will reference that feeling long after the trip ends: “I slept better,” “The room felt calm,” “Everything had a place.” Travel teaches them what elevated living could feel like daily - and it becomes the design benchmark they unconsciously begin to reach for.

These cues shape the direction of interiors in ways that ripple through design. Riviera hotels have sparked a renewed desire for sun-washed terracotta and white linen. Kyoto’s ryokans have influenced a quiet minimalism rooted in natural materials and restraint. The Caribbean brings enthusiasm for airy neutrals, cane, rattan, salt-bleached woods. And of course - the European capitals continue to inspire with heritage patterns, moody palette depth, iron details, stone underfoot. Travel doesn’t just broaden perspective - it refines preference. It awakens the parts of us that crave beauty not as decoration, but as lifestyle.

What I’ve learned, after years designing for clients who have walked the world and want to live with intention, is this: global exposure creates a hunger for better. We return home changed - more aware of what comfort feels like, more interested in softness and ease, more drawn to rooms that breathe and rooms that remember. Travel shapes taste because it reminds us what beauty looks like when we leave the familiar behind. And the most compelling spaces - the ones that feel deeply luxurious and quietly personal - are often born not from a showroom, but from a passport.

And for those who find themselves returning home with a new sense of longing - a desire for spaces that reflect the world they’ve experienced - that is where thoughtful design begins. If travel has shaped your taste and you’re ready to bring that inspiration into the place you live most, I would love to explore that vision with you. You’re welcome to schedule a consultation, and together we can translate the beauty you felt abroad into a home that feels layered, refined, and deeply yours.

About the Author: Ashley Bruggeman leads the Ashley Morgan Interiors team with over 20 years of experience in the interior design industry. A Lexington, Kentucky native, Ashley combines her deep local roots with a refined eye for timeless, livable luxury. Her passion lies in creating elegant spaces that feel as welcoming as they are beautiful. Learn more here.