#innovationfestival #fastcompany #starbucks #hospitalityleadership #customerexperience #aiinhospitality #humanconnection #futureofhospitality #serviceexcellence #leadershiplessons | Rohit Khanna

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Day one of the Innovation Festival by Fast Company left me with a simple but powerful reminder.

In the Brewing the Comeback session, Mark Wilson spoke with Brian Niccol, CEO of Starbucks. Listening to him, I felt a deep resonance with my own journey in hospitality and now AI.

Brian shared how Starbucks is focusing less on technology for its own sake and more on restoring small, human moments like bringing back the condiment bar, or making sure a brewed coffee is handed over with care rather than lost in a line of lattes.

It struck me how often, in both hospitality and technology, we let complexity creep in. We design for efficiency, scale, or novelty, but we forget the emotional infrastructure that makes experiences memorable. A coffee that feels personal. A room that feels welcoming. An interaction that feels warm.

What Brian said is true for every leader: it’s hard to keep things simple, and easy to make them complicated. Yet simplicity is where trust lives.
That lesson is just as vital for hospitality leaders as it is for AI practitioners. Because whether it’s a hotel lobby, a café, or a digital agent, people remember how you made them feel safe, seen, understood.
And that, I believe, is where the future of both hospitality and AI belongs.