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If you also subscribe to BHN’s sister publication Serviced Apartment News, you’ll notice that brand launches are a major theme in this week’s newsletters. Supported by Q2 2025 data which showed that conversions across 10 Hilton brands accounted for more than one-third of the company’s openings, Hilton has decided to extend its lifestyle brand offerings to eight, introducing Outset Collection as the 25th brand in the wider portfolio.
Initially in the US, bookings for the first properties in the collection will be made available on Hilton starting this November. Confirmed hotels so far include a basecamp for exploration in Moab and the boutique hotel ACME in Chicago. Set to launch with 60 hotels in development, Hilton anticipates a long-term growth potential of more than 500 across the United States and Canada.
With hotel groups doubling down on lifestyle and conversion opportunities, the marketplace is becoming an increasingly competitive field. For independent hotel owners where repositioning options are growing, differentiation among the brands will depend more on the depth of support, fee structures, the flexibility of standards, and ultimately the power of loyalty programs driving visibility.
The evolving definition of luxury and the traveller trends underpinning this shift are often the focus of industry conversations. Perhaps it’s time to ask the more pertinent question of what does independent really mean on a global scale?
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