Festive Floral Decor Ideas That Transform Restaurants and Hotels for the Holidays

By Jill Brooke

At Fresco by Scotto in New York City, Lawrence Scott’s team changes the holiday decor each season.

These lavish decor renovations bring both cash and cachet to the restaurant. By making it more festive, clients can come in and enjoy the ambiance.

“People love it,” says owner Rosanna Scotto. “We are so grateful to Lawrence and his team. People will take Instagram photos and look forward to it.”

It also becomes a canvas for floral artists to play with each season. “We always keep the lemon tree motif of the restaurant and work around it whether it’s for fall or Christmas,” says Lawrence Scott. Fortunately, the varieties of faux flowers are better than ever allowing artists to create magic and memories during the holiday season

Carlos Franqui of Floratorium is also known for creating outdoor and indoor installations at restaurants and corporations with vivid faux and real flowers. As the New York Post’s food and real estate columnist Jennifer Gould wrote, the striking outdoor installations he created during Covid boosted revenues for restauranteurs by “drawing in diners eager to forget they’re eating in a former parking spot” and having “ugly city scaffolding disappear under an intricate swath of vines popping with flowers.”

Post-COVID, these installations are now de rigeur and create both memories and festivity all year long. However, during the holidays with an influx of travelers, restaurants will invest more to have their establishments be catnip for customers. Restaurants – as well as hotels – boost their budgets for Christmas and some cost as much as $25,000 and more.

“I love the holidays,” says Franqui, noting that all his clients consider the flowers worth the expense. And with New York being a walking city, the holidays are the best time for these festive designs.

Jeff Leatham, whose book, “The Art of the Flower” examines these installations, goes for big, bold, and beautiful. “People like drama when they go out,” says Leatham, who creates magical wonderlands for the Four Seasons Hotels.  “It makes everything more special.”

Here are some of our favorites.