Most publications covering the hotel industry tell you what happened last quarter. This one tells you what’s coming, and why it matters for the experiences you’re building right now.
We’re sharing the latest edition of Societies Quarterly, a curated guide published by Influence Society for extraordinary hospitality brands, and honestly, it’s one of the most refreshing reads we’ve encountered in a long time. It doesn’t read like a trade report. It reads like a creative brief for the future of hospitality.
The fifth edition covers 35 pages across seven major themes: pulling signals from fashion, architecture, AI, wellness, luxury design, and consumer culture, to surface what’s quietly reshaping what guests expect, feel, and remember. We thought it was too good not to share.
Here are the seven topics that stood out most:
(Download it here if you don’t want to scroll down)
1. Branding and Emotion: The Jacquemus Effect
Jacquemus has built one of the most desired brands in the world without ever shouting. Its campaigns work through sensation rather than logos and slogans, relying on nostalgia, surrealism, and quiet intimacy. The edition uses this as a lens for hospitality brands: the properties guests return to are rarely the loudest ones. They’re the ones that made them feel something.
2. Hospitality and Design: The “Uber Moment” of Luxury Hotels
The compelling case that luxury hospitality has reached its inflection point. A new wave of founder-led, design-forward independents is redefining the guest experience, building identity into every corner from architecture to atmosphere. The discerning traveler no longer accepts templated luxury. They seek something crafted, not replicated.
3. AI and Technology: Infrastructure That’s Felt, Not Flaunted
This is one of the more nuanced takes on AI in hospitality we’ve read. The edition profiles OpenClaw, an intelligent guest messaging layer that handles requests and drafts replies without touching core hotel systems. It also looks at Google’s AI travel tools turning Search into a bespoke concierge, and uses Coca-Cola’s all-AI Christmas 2025 campaign as a cautionary tale about what happens when efficiency replaces humanity. The best AI in hospitality, the argument goes, is the kind guests never notice.
4. Architecture and Space: When Environments Become Emotional
Carsten Höller’s Pink Mirror Carousel installed on the Kulm Hotel ice rink in St. Moritz. A circular bamboo restaurant in Ubud with a roof that harvests rainwater while drawing light into the space. Eight design-forward museums opening globally this year. The edition captures a shift that’s hard to name but easy to feel: the best spaces are no longer just functional, they express a mood. A useful prompt for any hotelier thinking about their next renovation or new build.
5. Wellness and Luxury: A New Benchmark Has Been Set
The world’s largest Guerlain Spa has opened inside the Waldorf Astoria New York: 22,000 square feet, 16 treatment rooms, cryotherapy, and AI-assisted relaxation. It’s not covered here as a news item. It’s covered as a signal. Exploring what the next generation of guests expects from a wellness experience, and it goes well beyond a massage menu.
6. Fashion and Cultural Signals: What the Runway Reveals About Hospitality
Jonathan Anderson’s debut haute couture collection for Dior, shown at the Musée Rodin, mixed fossils, meteorites, and 18th-century fabrics into something entirely contemporary. A masterclass in treating heritage as a living force. Moncler Grenoble’s new Aspen flagship blurs the line between retail and sanctuary. Fashion’s boldest moves this quarter are directly translatable to how hotels think about space, storytelling, and identity.
7. The Future of Travel: The Journey Starts Before They Touch Earth
Nippon Travel Agency Co. has announced plans for a one-hour suborbital flight connecting the U.S. to Tokyo by 2030, with round-trip fares estimated at around $657,000. Early-phase ground experiences begin in FY26. The edition uses this as a provocation: if the journey becomes the destination, where does hospitality begin?
What’s inside and how it reads:
Societies Quarterly is 35 pages long, published quarterly, and now in its fifth edition. This issue covers 25 individual topics across 13 distinct categories including branding, hospitality, AI, architecture, fashion, wellness, retail, interior design, music, culture, luxury, travel, and marketing. Every page follows the same clean, easy-to-read format: one large, full-width editorial image, a bold headline, and a short summary of 100 to 150 words that gets straight to the point. No long-form articles, no dense industry jargon. Each piece also includes a direct link to the original source, so every insight can be explored further in one click. It’s designed to be read in one sitting, on a laptop or a tablet, and to leave you with ideas rather than just information. Think of it less as a magazine and more as a curated mood board for where hospitality is heading, one that respects your time and trusts your intelligence.
