1 A Three Step Method to Design Lighting in Hotel Rooms Through a User Centered Approach P. Fernandez 1,2 , A. Giboreau ² , & M. Fontoynont 3 1 Université Lyon 1, Lyon , France 2 Research Center of Institut Paul Bocuse, Ecully, France 3 Danish Building Research Institute, Aalborg University, Denmark Introduction The quality of light depends on photometric parameters such as quantity (Boyce, 2003; Cuttle, 2004), colour temperature (Knez, 1995), and spatial distribution of light (Durak, Camgöz Olguntürk, Yener, Güvenç, & GürçInar, 2007). It also depends on the user perceiving the luminous environment (Knez & Kers, 2000; Rikard Küller, 1986) and the use of the luminous environment (Butler & Biner, 1987; Nakamura & Karasawa, 1999). Methodologies of past studies instructed people to give their environment appraisal by imagining being in an empty room (Van Erp, 2008) or a furnished room (Nakamura & Karasawa, 1999), using a reduced scale model (Oi, Kasao, & Takahashi, 2007), or in a real situation (Oi, et al., 2007; Tabuchi, 1985). However, most of the studies focused on light perception have been conducted in laboratory settings. Even if some of these studies involve highly elaborated experimental design, it was felt appropriate to consider visual factors simultaneously under realistic conditions (R. Küller, Ballal, Laike, Mikellides, & Tonello, 2006). Moreover, very few studies investigate the relation between lighting and individual preference in hotel, although hotels managers and architects are starting to recognize the importance of hotel design both from an architectural and an interior design perspective (Countryman, 2001; Siguaw & Enz, 1999). This study also aims to better understand the perception of lighting in hotel rooms from a user’s perspective. The design of a luminous environment must consider different parameters for creating an environment that matches the expectations and needs of the user (Boyce, 2003). The study is also designed in three steps in order to highlight light perception based on a user centered approach. Methodology and Main Results The originality of this work lies in the “waterfall” approach, since each phase in the study uses the results obtained in the previous stage. A classic analytical approach of psychophysics aims at evaluating the influence of a parameter on individual behaviour. Instead, we based preference on a global approach, which takes the environment as a whole where individuals interact. The first phase of our study aimed at understanding how a customer in a hotel room experiences the light. In other words, it was to clarify how and when the lighting was influencing the customer’s experience. To this aim, a qualitative approach was conducted through individual interviews (30 to 45 minute each). Eighteen customers (66% male, N=14 business) were interviewed in two different hotels (3* and 4*). The interview started with general observations which led to the identification of the customer’s conception of comfort in hotel. Then questions focused on the role of lighting and also daylighting in the general assessment of the spaces. As an example, the quotation bellow illustrated the results that we obtained: “Well, for me, comfort is to have the right temperature, the right lighting, light and noise” UG25 Discourse analysis was done through each individual corpus in order to identify the