Future trends

Preparing for a presentation in front of last year students about major trends in hospitality for the years to come, I spent quite some time reflecting on what my aspirations were in hospitality but also looking up various sources like Harvard Business Review, HVS publications, EHL publications and more. All publications more or less name similar trends and include a strong emphasis on personalization, sustainability, technology integration, and wellness offerings.

With air travel still very much on the n°1 spot for travel method and with short trips also topping the travellers’ desires, sustainability is left mostly to the destinations.

Eco travel is still very much an exception; however things are slowly moving and in Europe for example we see the train coming back slowly but surely.

So what are these trends?

1. Personalization: Guests increasingly expect tailored experiences. This includes personalized recommendations, customized offers, and services that caters to individual preferences. Guests certainly do not want to feel that they are part of a “segment” or “group of travellers”. Even tour groups seem to bring more and more “tailored” solutions to their clients.

2. Sustainability: Eco-conscious practices are becoming more important. Hotels are implementing initiatives like reducing waste, using renewable energy, and offering eco-friendly amenities.  Travel and especially air travel is still very much the norm for many travellers. Statistics for travelling in France 2025 summer holidays, show a slight decrease in car travel, a small increase in train travel but a firm status quo for air travel.

3. Technology Integration: Technology plays an important role in enhancing the guest experience. This includes contactless check-in/out, digital concierge services, and smart room features.  Guests expect apps to be widely available and to be used for anything related to travel. Unfortunately, many travelling options still require many applications and only some countries like Switzerland as best in class, offer a countrywide unique app for any and all public transport.

4. Wellbeing and Wellness Focus: Travelers are inclreasingly favouring health and wellness. Destinations and hotels are responding by offering fitness centres, healthy food options, spa services, sports activities and wellness retreats.

5. Bleisure Travel: The blurring lines between business and leisure travel are creating new opportunities. Destinations are adapting by offering locations and services that cater to both work and relaxation.  Since Covid, many hotels offer solutions for work/leisure. Many employers these days even announce days that you can work from abroad.

6. Experiential Travel: Guests are seeking unique and authentic experiences. Travel companies, hotels are focusing on creating memorable moments through curated tours, local partnerships, and immersive activities.  High end travel organisers go the extra mile to offer unique experiences to their own guests, as USP’s. Opening up private residences or allowing entry in otherwise hidden parts of certain landmarks are becoming the norm.

7. AI and Automation: Artificial intelligence is being used to improve operational efficiency, personalize guest interactions, and optimize pricing strategies.  AI relies on good data and CRM and PMS systems need to be used well and staff trained properly in order to generate reliable data. AI will help in generating tailored solutions for the guests, even pre-booking based on research done by the guests on their future travels. Despite all of this, the personal touch is still essential in hospitality. The challenge is how to marry available data and automation with a personal experience.

8. Flexible Booking and Cancellation Policies: Hotels are offering more flexibility in booking and cancellation policies to accommodate changing travel plans.  Hotel chains are reasonably Ok with cancellation options, smaller hotels are still lacking behind as their agility in distribution isn’t the same as for the large hotel chains. Guests also need to be conscious of the impact of their last minute cancellations on smaller business owners: One cannot expect unique and small-scale experiences without some concessions. Airlines and transportation operators still have the most work to do to make cancellation and change of plans easier.

9. Kids-free: A clear trend is emerging for adult only travel and adult only retreats. People past 50 are increasingly attracted to child-free travel and some airlines, cruising companies, hotels, restaurants are creating solutions that allow adults to enjoy quiet holidays. With the trend for experiential travel and personalisation, couples seek, and find, highly personalised experiences.

We must however not underestimate the impact that travel and tourism can have on the communities and recent protests in popular holiday destinations have highlighted this.

Global tourism is projected to experience strong and sustained growth over the next decade, with the Travel & Tourism sector expected to contribute significantly to the global economy and employment. By 2035, the industry is forecast to inject $16.5 trillion into the global economy, representing 11.5% of global GDP, and support over 460 million jobs, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). This growth is expected to outpace the wider global economy, with an average annual growth rate of 3.5% compared to 2.5% for the overall economy.

It will be a matter of finding the right mechanisms to harmoniously combine growth in tourism with added benefits for the local communities.

#hospitality #guestexperience