December 13, 2024

🏖 Radisson Hotel Group introduced Radisson Collection brand in South Africa at the former Radisson Blu in Cape Town. The hotel, featuring 175 rooms and suites, was extensively renovated, boasting floor-to-ceiling windows, private balconies, a restaurant, bar, terrace, and a new café. A refurbishment of the restaurant is planned for July 2025. The property includes an infinity pool, fitness and wellness center, art gallery, and event rooms for up to 350 guests. Radisson Hotel Group has over 1,430 hotels worldwide.

🏡 Hyatt Hotels Corp. plans to open over 50 luxury and lifestyle hotels worldwide by 2026, with a strong focus on luxury travel that is projected to see a 52.8% increase in Europe's hotel stock by 2028. Approximately 70% of Hyatt's global rooms are in luxury and upper upscale categories, having doubled its luxury room count since 2017. The lifestyle sector is expanding, with Hyatt quintupling its lifestyle rooms since 2017 and adding 28 hotels in 2024. Notable future openings include Miraval, The Red Sea in late 2025, Park Hyatt Kuala Lumpur, Park Hyatt Johannesburg, Andaz Miami Beach, and Andaz Gold Coast. Hyatt has acquired Standard International, which will enhance its Lifestyle portfolio with brands like Andaz and Thompson Hotels, and has a Luxury portfolio with brands such as Park Hyatt and Miraval.

🎉 Eric Jafari of AENDRE Group discusses the evolution of the hospitality industry in a podcast episode. Key takeaways include: the start of the lifestyle hotel movement in the 1980s, transformation of the Executive Hotel by Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager in New York, the shift from status to self-actualization in Gen Z and millennials, the rising importance of wellness, and the influence of social media on status and self-worth._presence of the hospitality industry.

🚿 Interior design's post-Covid emphasis on wellness prominently features in bathroom trends, as discussed in a panel at New York's BDNY trade fair, hosted by Dezeen and Graff. Speakers included interior designers Ahmad AbouZanat and Danu Kennedy, and Graff's Brian Gallop. The panel, moderated by Dezeen's Dan Howarth on 11 November, covered the intersection of wellness with technology, materials, and ambiance in bathroom design, proposing changes like advanced lighting and water features to create spa-like environments at home.