It does make me think … in what other ways can we increase accessibility of experience. Of attention to detail. Of the feeling of walking into an Aman hotel at the beginning of a trip. Of the care put into every element of the experience.
I’ve been contemplating this recently and your article gave me such an interesting angle to view it through.
Thank you so much Jocelyn! And you know what’s funny, some of the most beautiful hospitality experiences I’ve had have been independent and affordable properties. Granted, maybe not beautiful in the megalomanic sense of grand architecture and luxury materials, but still wealth of details and intention 🩵
Thank you for saying it!!! Love the piece. Couldn't agree more. It is all connected: what's happening in fashion, in design, in hospitality, in cities at large.
I think some of these hospitality brands forget the art of placemaking. My favorite stays have been at the ones that give little hints of where I am. It feels like the industry forgets there is a spectrum rather than two extremes: starchitect (and over budget...) or cookie cutter (default to in-house what's-already-been-done). Invest in creativity and the value of design for a promising ROI! The most successful designs IMO are a sweet spot between brand identity and placemaking.
No way we commented on each other's pieces at the same time? LOL
A sense of place is hugely important, and I can't even imagine a development today without having that on the concept deck. I want to scream from the rooftops that people should invest in creatives, even for these budget concepts yaknow. And the best is indeed when it has an identity but honors the place. Agree agree agree!
Ha! Great minds!! YES on the creative budget. I am hoping we see a shift in demand once everything starts to look the same... Looking forward to following along with more of your pieces!
Seeing this tension between scale and specificity play out in hospitality is fascinating. It made me think about fashion too, particularly what happened with “quiet luxury.” Once the aesthetic became commercially valuable, brands at every level started responding to the same signals until cream cashmere knits, oversized tailoring and the white poplin shirts were everywhere and every retail store I went into was beautifully dull and lifeless. The individual pieces were still desirable, but the overall effect was interchangeable. Such an interesting read! 🤍
Thank you so much for reading, so glad you enjoyed! <33 And this is the exact same effect I think but on a much slower cycle since we are talking about real estate and development. But in essence there are the ones pioneering a certain ‘look’ or vibe (such as CitizenM which was really revolutionary at the time) → the big players like Marriott who want a piece of the demand (they created Moxy for this) → and ultimately, the originals become the mainstream and even get acquired by the big ones (Marriott bought CitizenM)
The fast-fashion comparison really clicked for me once you got to disposability. Consistency is genuinely useful, especially somewhere unfamiliar, but once a portfolio has 30 brands, each one has to justify why it exists. A stay can be perfectly competent and still leave you wondering what, exactly, you were meant to remember about it. I also like that you didn’t flatten this into chains bad, independents good. Four Seasons is a useful counterexample because it shows that scale and specificity don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
The most proliferation has happened with these global companies’ more midscale and budget brands where they predominantly just sign franchise agreements and have little to nothing to do with the day to day operations of those properties. For the luxury brands such as Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons the opposite is the case, where they run them through management agreements as they want to have more control over the fulfillment of brand standards.
I think more and more brands just keep appearing in the mid-tier segments because they want to attract all different kinds of franchisees by having a variety of options to present to them, but this leads to limited meaningful difference between the brands in their portfolios.
Thank you so much for reading Joe and I hope you enjoy tPH!
The franchise vs. management agreement distinction makes a lot of sense, especially as an explanation for why the luxury end can preserve more coherence. And thank you, I’m already enjoying tPH!
This is spot on. The Hilton announcement hit me as meh, but on my own LinkedIn I talked about this being Hilton’s attempt to commercialize wellness. Do I think it will work? Maybe… because maybe when a Hilton Honors is choosing between two Hiltons, this will move the needle in picking a more expensive Signia. BTW - did you know that Atlanta Marquis elevator was used in Hunger Games?! Every time they have Hunter there I think of that 🤣
And such a good point, this is what it has come to I guess, surface-level wellness offerings with the aim of getting to call yourself a wellness-oriented property.
Your analysis makes so much sense!! 👏🏻 When you first posted that note on Hilton I was like, “another beige striped panelling cookie cutter wellness thing with infrared saunas and what not, no novelty 🙄”
I think you are absolutely right and I love the comparison. Look at the main shopping street of each and every middle to large cities. Same global brands, same global trends. Backed by large capital. Exactly the same as with hotels. But on the other hand, they also make the boutique local shop around the corner stand out because of the contrast. Exactly the same with hotels too.
Really interesting parallel! Enjoyed reading this
thank you so much Danielle! So glad you enjoyed
It does make me think … in what other ways can we increase accessibility of experience. Of attention to detail. Of the feeling of walking into an Aman hotel at the beginning of a trip. Of the care put into every element of the experience.
I’ve been contemplating this recently and your article gave me such an interesting angle to view it through.
Thank you so much Jocelyn! And you know what’s funny, some of the most beautiful hospitality experiences I’ve had have been independent and affordable properties. Granted, maybe not beautiful in the megalomanic sense of grand architecture and luxury materials, but still wealth of details and intention 🩵
Thank you for saying it!!! Love the piece. Couldn't agree more. It is all connected: what's happening in fashion, in design, in hospitality, in cities at large.
I think some of these hospitality brands forget the art of placemaking. My favorite stays have been at the ones that give little hints of where I am. It feels like the industry forgets there is a spectrum rather than two extremes: starchitect (and over budget...) or cookie cutter (default to in-house what's-already-been-done). Invest in creativity and the value of design for a promising ROI! The most successful designs IMO are a sweet spot between brand identity and placemaking.
No way we commented on each other's pieces at the same time? LOL
A sense of place is hugely important, and I can't even imagine a development today without having that on the concept deck. I want to scream from the rooftops that people should invest in creatives, even for these budget concepts yaknow. And the best is indeed when it has an identity but honors the place. Agree agree agree!
Ha! Great minds!! YES on the creative budget. I am hoping we see a shift in demand once everything starts to look the same... Looking forward to following along with more of your pieces!
Fingers crossed on this one. And likewise!!!
Seeing this tension between scale and specificity play out in hospitality is fascinating. It made me think about fashion too, particularly what happened with “quiet luxury.” Once the aesthetic became commercially valuable, brands at every level started responding to the same signals until cream cashmere knits, oversized tailoring and the white poplin shirts were everywhere and every retail store I went into was beautifully dull and lifeless. The individual pieces were still desirable, but the overall effect was interchangeable. Such an interesting read! 🤍
Thank you so much for reading, so glad you enjoyed! <33 And this is the exact same effect I think but on a much slower cycle since we are talking about real estate and development. But in essence there are the ones pioneering a certain ‘look’ or vibe (such as CitizenM which was really revolutionary at the time) → the big players like Marriott who want a piece of the demand (they created Moxy for this) → and ultimately, the originals become the mainstream and even get acquired by the big ones (Marriott bought CitizenM)
The fast-fashion comparison really clicked for me once you got to disposability. Consistency is genuinely useful, especially somewhere unfamiliar, but once a portfolio has 30 brands, each one has to justify why it exists. A stay can be perfectly competent and still leave you wondering what, exactly, you were meant to remember about it. I also like that you didn’t flatten this into chains bad, independents good. Four Seasons is a useful counterexample because it shows that scale and specificity don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
The most proliferation has happened with these global companies’ more midscale and budget brands where they predominantly just sign franchise agreements and have little to nothing to do with the day to day operations of those properties. For the luxury brands such as Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons the opposite is the case, where they run them through management agreements as they want to have more control over the fulfillment of brand standards.
I think more and more brands just keep appearing in the mid-tier segments because they want to attract all different kinds of franchisees by having a variety of options to present to them, but this leads to limited meaningful difference between the brands in their portfolios.
Thank you so much for reading Joe and I hope you enjoy tPH!
The franchise vs. management agreement distinction makes a lot of sense, especially as an explanation for why the luxury end can preserve more coherence. And thank you, I’m already enjoying tPH!
Excellent piece!
Thank you Jeffrey!
This is spot on. The Hilton announcement hit me as meh, but on my own LinkedIn I talked about this being Hilton’s attempt to commercialize wellness. Do I think it will work? Maybe… because maybe when a Hilton Honors is choosing between two Hiltons, this will move the needle in picking a more expensive Signia. BTW - did you know that Atlanta Marquis elevator was used in Hunger Games?! Every time they have Hunter there I think of that 🤣
YESSS I knew that, so dystopian 🤣🤣 I love it.
And such a good point, this is what it has come to I guess, surface-level wellness offerings with the aim of getting to call yourself a wellness-oriented property.
Your analysis makes so much sense!! 👏🏻 When you first posted that note on Hilton I was like, “another beige striped panelling cookie cutter wellness thing with infrared saunas and what not, no novelty 🙄”
I’m so happy you liked it!! and yes it was too much for me… can’t do it anymore
So good, I have been thinking about that meh Hilton wellness grab all week
Thank u coco <3 this was my face when I saw the news
I think you are absolutely right and I love the comparison. Look at the main shopping street of each and every middle to large cities. Same global brands, same global trends. Backed by large capital. Exactly the same as with hotels. But on the other hand, they also make the boutique local shop around the corner stand out because of the contrast. Exactly the same with hotels too.