Seen & Senses: Sensory Cultural Design in Sustainable Hospitality Infrastructure

Sustainable hospitality environments increasingly require experiential design approaches that extend beyond visually dominant cultural representation. Multisensory design methods are evident in Indonesian culture, yet representation remains limited to visual dominance. This study presents the Sensory Activation Ratio (SAR) as a new metric to assess how effectively multisensory design can involve local communities and improve job opportunities, in line with Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 11. A literature review and an online travel agent (OTA) review complement the research, which employs a qualitative autoethnographic method. The case study was conducted in a five-star thematic hotel in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The results show that senses such as sight, smell, touch, sound, taste, and movement are consistently engaged in hotel spaces, helping strengthen cultural identity and create a rich heritage experience for guests. The study proposes that multisensory cultural design contributes to sustainability in three interconnected ways: sustaining intangible cultural heritage through everyday spatial experience, activating local supply chains and creative labor through culturally embedded service elements, and encouraging localized resource use within hospitality design systems. These findings suggest that multisensory design can serve as a strategic framework for developing culturally grounded, socially sustainable hospitality environments.