Market Trends

🏩 Eva Klausner, Director of Guest Experience at Numa, discusses the future of guest experience in a podcast episode released on March 15, 2025. Hosted by Danica Smith, founder of MorningStar GX, the episode features insights into enhancing the hospitality sector. The podcast encourages listeners to share the episode with their team to translate ideas into actionable benefits for their business and clientele. Music for the show is by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound.

📌 Sloan Dean, President and CEO of Remington Hospitality, chose the hotel industry over a career at Home Depot. After a rapid ascent, including roles in revenue management, M&A, and development, he became CEO of Remington in late 2019, just before its acquisition by Ashford Inc. in January 2018. Under his leadership, Remington advocates a 10-20% annual growth rate, manages over 140 hotels across 26 brands, and is a top-five franchise operator for Hilton and Marriott in North America. The company focuses on full-service and lifestyle hotels primarily in Florida, Georgia, and Texas. Dean is expanding into the Caribbean and Latin America, with 14 hotels in development and expectations to exceed 20 by next year. Despite challenges like doubled insurance costs since 2019 and a 50% rise in labor expenses, Dean forecasts a 1.5-2.5% revenue growth domestically, with higher gains in sunshine states (3-6%) and lower performance in cities like San Francisco, Chicago, and Minneapolis.

🏡 Único Hotels plans to open a 24-room luxury boutique hotel in Viavélez, Asturias by 2028, transforming the 16,000 m² Palacio Jardón, built between 1914 and 1917. Led by architect Joaquín Noval, the development prioritizes heritage and environmental sustainability, featuring an outdoor spa, a multipurpose crystal invernadero, sports and leisure areas, gardens, an eco-vegetable patch, a photovoltaic system, and a water recycling program. The hotel is part of Único Hotels' expansion, which includes six Spanish hotels and growth into Argentina.

🏨 Brand storytelling in hospitality often confuses a hotel’s unique origin and values, known as "brand story," with guest-centric "storytelling," which focuses on crafting experiences for guests to create their own narratives. Clarification between these concepts is crucial for hoteliers aiming to curate memorable guest experiences that contribute to individual life stories, rather than merely promoting the hotel's own narrative.

🏨 Cloudbeds released its "2025 State of Independent Lodging Report," predicting 2025 as the year for optimizing independent hotel performance. Branded hotels now comprise 72% of U.S. hotels, and operators face labor shortages and increased traveler price sensitivity. The global ADR dropped by 1% in 2024, with OTAs accounting for 61% of independent property bookings. The report analyzes data from over 20,000 properties in 150 countries and identifies trends like value-driven travel and AI adoption in hotel operations.

🏨 Novotel debuts in Malta and Croatia with new hotels set to open in summer 2025 and May 2025, respectively. The Malta property will feature 293 rooms, while the Zagreb hotel will have 170 rooms. Expansion plans also include a 370-room hotel in Valencia, Spain, a 163-room hotel in Hamburg, Germany, and a 170-room hotel in Paris, France. Novotel currently operates over 300 hotels across 24 European countries and has nearly 600 hotels worldwide, with over 180 properties in development.

📱 In the 1990s, answering machines were common, but today there are nearly 5 billion smartphone users, a number expected to hit 6 billion by 2028. Research indicates smartphones may impair cognitive functions, sleep, and social skills. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon criticized excessive phone use in meetings. Hyatt's Miraval brand mandates a device-free environment, while other hotels offer "digital detox" experiences, like Vichy Celestins Spa Hotel and Haramara Retreat in Mexico, where rooms lack electricity.