Market Trends

🏠 300 professionals gathered in London for the 2025 Urban Living Festival, exploring living, hospitality, and flex workspace sectors. Day one included tours of Outernet, Chateau Denmark, and x+why’s Bedford Square. Day two featured sessions on branded residences, lifestyle brands, hospitality demand trends, and sustainability. Notable insights: branded residences benefit from strong brand recognition, lifestyle brands need disciplined financial planning, European room sales are rising, and sustainability in travel is gaining attention. Cornwall and Edinburgh are potential growth markets.

📅 CHICAGO, Illinois—Hyatt's Inclusive Collection's Time Rich Report reveals 82% of Americans feel they lack quality time with loved ones, yet 62% equate travel to quality time. Conducted with Wakefield Research, it highlights 86% of parents crave intentional time, and 84% of couples feel trips benefit relationships post-return. Solo travel is rising, with 55% of respondents feeling lonely. New initiatives, including a campaign with Deepak Chopra, aim to enhance guest experiences and meaningful connections.

🏨 GM roles have evolved from generalists to specialists, creating silos and fragmented KPIs. While sales, marketing, revenue, and finance focus on their areas, guest experience lacks a single owner. A "Journey Owner" GM is crucial for integrating experience and profitability. They attract, capture, prepare, deliver, and review to enhance NPS, repeat intent, and revenue per guest. Aligning specialists under a GM ensures consistent delivery and profitable loyalty by orchestrating the guest experience.

🏨 In 2024, hotels with integrated wellness saw 20-35% higher average daily rates than traditional models, with increased occupancy and stay lengths (2025 RLA Global Wellness Real Estate Report). The wellness real estate sector rose to $548 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $1.1 trillion by 2029 (Global Wellness Institute). Hotels are advised to integrate wellness into their core identity to capture growth, with leaders encouraged to measure ADR, occupancy, dwell time, and sleep satisfaction.

🏨 2025 research shows 86% of employees see tourism as a long-term career, up from 71% in 2021, per Fáilte Ireland. Recruitment in accommodation, bar, and waiting services has improved, but 52% report chef shortages. The Irish tourism sector supports 270,000 jobs across 20,000 businesses, with 70% outside Dublin. Annually, it generates €10bn, with €6.2bn from overseas visitors. The industry contributes over €2.9bn in taxes. Michael Magner highlights staff investment as crucial.

📈 Tim Rumney, CEO of BWH Hotels GB, discusses strategies for maintaining investor attraction, ensuring quality across independent properties, and supporting members in tackling hospitality challenges. Insights were shared at the SMRDC Fest 2025, held at the East Midlands Conference Centre.