Generic luxury in hospitality has come to an end. Here’s what’s coming next.

Generic luxury in hospitality has come to an end. Here’s what’s coming next.

https://hotelsmag.com/news/generic-luxury-in-hospitality-has-come-to-an-end-heres-whats-coming-next/

by Guest Contributor

Story contributed by Peter Tashjian, partner at Love & War, a brand strategy and design firm based in New York City.

Luxury has always promised a sense of being part of something rare. For much of the last century, that rarity was conveyed through grandeur: marble lobbies, high‑end materials, white‑glove service.

Today, a combination of efficient global production and the constant visibility of high‑end aesthetics online have made it easy to replicate the look and feel of luxury. As a result, it has become far more challenging to create that elusive sense of rarified air.

In an era of look‑alike luxury, true distinction comes from knowing exactly who you’re for and shaping the experience to feel unmistakably theirs. It calls for brands so precisely attuned to their audience that they become “dog whistles” of exclusivity: insider‑coded signals that resonate deeply with those they’re meant for and remain virtually silent to those who don’t matter to the brand’s success.

This shift in luxury, from universal material appeal to targeted cultural alignment, is becoming the defining quality of true high‑end hospitality.

The fading power of generic luxury

Today’s guests are too well-travelled, too visually fluent and too culturally aware to be moved by luxury formulas. They’ve seen the bespoke bathrooms, the library lounges, banquettes, and mood lighting online, in boutique chains, even in credit card airport lounges. So what once felt rare now feels commonplace. As a result, luxury based purely on aesthetics and price point no longer carries the same weight.

Increasingly, what resonates isn’t how overtly luxurious something looks, but how precisely and thoughtfully it taps into and is able to speak a specific cultural language. The most successful brands understand who their guests are and the world they aspire to belong to, then reflect that back through a version of luxury that feels personally attuned and confers the specific kind of cultural clout they value most.

Consider the MacArthur Place in Sonoma, a retreat that speaks directly to Northern California’s elite tech class through a deliberately analogue, materially grounded experience. With its quiet design language, ecological sensitivity and low-gloss intimacy, it flatters the guest’s self-perception as down-to-earth, enlightened and attuned to the natural world, while still delivering a deeply elevated stay.

Subcultures, not segments

Demographics were once a fairly reliable shorthand for taste: age, income, profession. But in today’s hyper‑fragmented culture, those broad categories have splintered into a mosaic of micro‑communities, each with its own values, aspirations and aesthetic codes.

Some guests seek refined simplicity. Others crave immersive localism. Some value scientific wellness, others long for calm. These aren’t demographic clusters; they’re cultural tribes. When a hotel brand tunes into one of these tribes properly, the entire experience aligns: service, materials, interior vibe, visual language, tone. Nothing feels generic. Everything ladders up to the worldview and sensibility of the target.

The DeBruce in upstate New York is another prime example. Rooted in a back‑to‑the‑land ethos and anchored by a James Beard–recognized food program, it channels the values of a rural creative class: craft over polish, slowness over spectacle. It delivers a luxurious experience not by copying other hotels, but by genuinely understanding and serving the tastes and values of the specific subculture it serves.

A hyper-personalized future

As culture continues to fragment, the luxury landscape is responding with ever‑tighter audience targeting and more personalized expressions of brand.

We’re seeing this across lifestyle and leisure: starting with members clubs like Soho House, Zero Bond and The Twenty Two and now extending into private supper clubs, invitation‑only gyms and cultural salons–all built for narrowly defined tribes. In hospitality, the move from mass-market chains to boutique hotels has already played out. Now, sameness at the boutique level is driving demand for brands with even sharper, more culturally specific worldviews.

The future of luxury is unbranded

Follow this trajectory to its logical end and it is easy to imagine the luxury brands of the future becoming so precisely tuned they virtually disappear, behaving more like embedded “cultural operating systems” that guide the experience from within rather than as a packaging system for external audiences.

A private jet with a logo is less rare and elite than one with none. A members’ club that markets itself publicly is less compelling than one discovered by invitation only. Elite luxury is weighed down by external expression, which erodes the sense of exclusivity and private ownership.

Ironically, an unbranded future puts more pressure on the brand itself. Its role becomes more essential than ever: as a cultural North Star, a filter, and a point of view that guides everything a guest feels and experiences. As external expressions fade, the job of the brand is to shape identity on a deeper level: in the minds, expectations and emotional world of the select people it serves.

Actabl data show hotel labor costs not abating

https://hotelsmag.com/news/hotel-labor-costs-2025/

by Denis Stackeusky

Despite wage increases rising some 5.9% this year, labor costs per occupied room rose between 2% and 11.2%, while staffing  grew 4% to 9%, according to data from Actabl, used as part of a 2025 Hotel Labor Costs & Trends report. Operators, it was noted, looked to shore up profit margins by reducing hours per occupied room and improving productivity across key departments.

From January to September, hours per occupied room declined 13.5% in guest services, 7.1% in housekeeping, and 14.6% in management. Productivity, measured by minutes per occupied room, increased across front-line and leadership positions. Room attendants became 5.5% faster, guest service representatives 12.7% faster, and assistant and general managers roughly 14% faster. Overall, minutes per occupied room dropped 9% across evaluated roles.

“Labor defined hotel performance more than any other cost category in 2025,” said Sarah McCay Tams, head of research at Actabl. “Operators entered the year expecting strong revenue, but softer top-line results and rising labor costs forced a new level of discipline. What stands out is how hotels improved productivity without cutting teams, instead using forecasting, cross-training and scheduling accuracy to protect margins in a challenging environment. Labor efficiency is now as important as rate strategy. In 2026, the hotels that outperform will be those that connect labor directly to demand and deploy staff dynamically.”

Hotels entered 2025 with aggressive revenue expectations. Room revenue budgets were projected to grow 14.1% year over year in the first nine months, while ADR was anticipated to decline between 1.9% and 2.4%. Efficiency improvements enabled operators to keep profitability near 2024 levels despite these gaps.

Average wages rose 3.7% to 5.9%, and labor costs per occupied room increased 2% to 11%. Operators limited margin erosion by optimizing shift structures rather than reducing headcount. Total staffing grew 9% through summer and remained 4% higher than January levels, with overtime used as a controlled buffer for demand.

Hotel type influenced labor intensity. Extended Stay properties had 1.30 hours per occupied room, Select Service 1.44, Full Service 2.57, and Resorts 4.48, highlighting the need for type-specific forecasting and staffing models in 2026.

The report recommends three priorities for hotels in 2026: integrate forecasting directly with labor to align staffing with demand, prioritize efficiency over cuts to maintain margins, and continue evolving service models through refinements to stayover cleaning, digital engagement, and streamlined F&B.

These findings demonstrate that hotels can protect profitability by enhancing labor productivity and aligning staffing with operational demands, even in an environment of rising wages and slower revenue growth.

Curio Collection by Hilton debuts in Medellin

https://hotelsmag.com/news/york-medellin-curio-collection-hilton/?

by Denis Stackeusky

Hilton has opened York Medellin, Curio Collection by Hilton, marking the lifestyle brand’s debut in Medellin, Colombia. The property is Hilton’s 27th hotel in the country and the third Curio Collection by Hilton, following locations in Cartagena and Bogota. The opening supports Hilton’s plans to expand its lifestyle brands in the Caribbean and Latin America, with nearly 40 open hotels and a similar number in development.

“Medellín’s dynamic culture and vibrant spirit make it the perfect home for Curio Collection by Hilton,” said Maxime Verstraete, vice president, brand management, Caribbean and Latin America, Hilton. “York Medellin brings travelers a distinctive lifestyle experience, from striking design and locally inspired art to world-class dining and panoramic rooftop views. This opening is all about creating memorable moments for guests who want to immerse themselves in the energy and creativity that make the city so special.”

York Medellin is located in the El Poblado district and combines contemporary architecture with a façade that aligns with the surrounding urban landscape. The hotel has 111 suites ranging from 33 to 56 square meters, featuring elevated furnishings, separate living areas, fully equipped kitchens and select suites equipped with voice-controlled settings, smart home assistants and 4K televisions. The property is pet-friendly and offers a rooftop infinity pool, Henko Spa, and a fitness center on the 22nd floor.

Dining outlets include Nomade Restaurant, which features local and international cuisine with Peruvian influence, and Ze View Rooftop Bar, offering panoramic city views and curated beverages. Guests can also enjoy a complimentary breakfast buffet with regional and international options.

The hotel provides venues for meetings and social events, accommodating up to 100 guests. Coworking spaces and business services are also available for corporate travelers. In addition, York Medellin implements sustainability initiatives such as responsible waste management and recycling to support community projects.

The property offers access to Medellín’s Chamber of Commerce, Club Campestre, EAFIT University, shopping centers including Oviedo and Santafé, Parque Lleras and Atanasio Girardot Stadium. York Medellin participates in Hilton Honors, Hilton’s guest loyalty program, allowing members to earn and spend points across Hilton’s portfolio of 25 brands.

Curio Collection by Hilton is part of Hilton’s Collection brands, which also include Tapestry Collection by Hilton and Outset Collection by Hilton. The opening of York Medellin highlights Hilton’s continued growth in the Caribbean and Latin America, where the company operates nearly 300 hotels and maintains more than 150 properties in development.

What Really Happens to Your Airplane Meal Before It Reaches You

Cathay Pacific

https://www.fodors.com/news/restaurants/what-really-happens-to-your-airplane-meal-before-it-reaches-you

 Scott Laird

The meticulous work of serving a restaurant-style meal in the air is more involving than you think.

Some of my earliest memories are of airplane food.

Back then, I’d be on a Hawaiian Airlines L-1011 winging my way from Anchorage to Honolulu or an Alaska Airlines 727 from Anchorage to Sitka. And back then, whether it was the five-hour flight to Hawai‘i or the 90-minute flight to Juneau (then Sitka), a hot meal was always served.

On Hawaiian, I have distinct memories of stir-fry (whether chicken or beef, which always came with a generous helping of red pepper), chocolate cake, and little plastic packages of butter shaped like a flower. On Alaska Airlines, I’d be served an omelet breakfast with reindeer sausage, giant ice-cold muffins, or lasagna with those little semi-rigid paper tubes of salt and pepper, and the inevitable prayer card containing a verse from the Book of Psalms (Alaska faithfully distributed the prayer cards on their meal trays right up until 2013).

You could invariably smell the meals cooking before that magical announcement: “Ladies, and gentlemen, we’ll be coming through the cabin to serve a hot meal shortly…”

It was never lost on me that the technology to serve a tray of food to a diner in a pressurized metal tube, seven miles up, hundreds of miles from where the meal was originally assembled and cooked.

But how do they do that? We’ve all seen the carts and the plastic meal trays and the funny-looking scissor trucks that load the food and beverages in the airplane, but how about the rest? I talked with a couple of airlines, and even visited one of their catering facilities to learn a bit more.

Meal Planning

Alaska was once known for over-the-top onboard meals. In the late 1970s, they were a tiny regional airline just expanding south of Seattle for the first time, and in order to compete with larger airlines, they introduced a lavish dining concept they called Gold Coast Service. If you were a coach passenger flying from San Francisco to Anchorage via Seattle, you’d have a lovely prime rib dinner on the two-hour flight up to Seattle. You’d change planes, and then, if you wanted, you could have a second massive helping of prime rib on the flight up to Anchorage.

Alaska was so committed to better meals that, when it came time to order new aircraft, it opted for a seating configuration on its MD-80s that allowed for larger galleys to accommodate its elaborate dining.

The early 1990s recession hit the airline industry hard, and competition on the West Coast heated up. In response, Alaska progressively trimmed back its onboard meal service before finally switching to a buy-on-board meal model in 2006.

I chatted with Todd Traynor-Corey, the Managing Director of Guest Products at Alaska Airlines, about how Alaska plans meals for its passengers. Alaska still plans meals somewhat differently from many airlines, he says. Alaska likes to infuse seasonal flavors into its dining, so it still has a quarterly menu-planning session, compared to other carriers that might plan their menus for an entire year with just one or two cycle changes. A sample summer dish, he shared, would have strawberry rhubarb ice cream from the Portland, Oregon-based Salt & Straw, with cinnamon crumble.

The planning session comprises 100 to 175 dishes for First Class and Main Cabin, from snacks and lighter meals to full breakfast, lunch, and dinner entrees. The team evaluates how they look on the plate, taste, and importantly, how complicated it would be for caterers to source and load, and the ease of serving for the in-flight crews. Flight Attendants used to spend more time plating dishes in-flight, which he said could be difficult on shorter flights or during turbulence, so they worked with their catering partners to create dishes that required less prep time in-flight.

He also noted that some development goes on in the air. The team will take samples of coffee and wine onboard and test them in the in-flight environment, because the aircraft’s dry air and pressure mean food tastes differently than on the ground.

                                 

Cathay Pacific

Getting Meals out the Door

But once the meals are designed and planned, how do they get cooked, stored, delivered to the aircraft, and served?

For a glimpse behind the scenes, I visited the Cathay Dining facility at Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok International Airport. They take sanitation very seriously at the facility—we were swaddled head-to-toe in white jumpsuits, shoe covers, and face masks to be allowed in, and we couldn’t take any photos or videos while in the facility (because catering instructions from customer airlines—posted all over the facility—are proprietary).

It’s a massive facility, and it’s more than just a kitchen. There are also huge storage facilities for frozen, chilled, and dry goods, and washing facilities. When aircraft from Cathay Pacific or one of Cathay Dining’s contracted airline customers come in, the carts are offloaded on the big scissor trucks directly from the aircraft galleys. Trash from inbound international flights is heated before being disposed of to kill any foreign pathogens, and the carts and dishes are separated and sent through industrial washing machines to be cleaned and staged for their next flights.

There’s an entire room dedicated to fruit—and it smelled delightfully like it. Workers were clustered around tables speedily hand-slicing watermelons (to spec, of course) from a massive crate of them marked “imported from southern China.”

Another delightful-smelling room was the bakery, where bakers worked producing breads, muffins, pastries, and cakes for various airline customers, or staged pre-packaged bakery items for the airlines that preferred to source their own and send them to the facility instead of having them baked onsite.

Perhaps the most interesting process was the omelet machine, which can make about 6,000 omelets per day. The machine is a circular table lined with oiled frying pans, with eggs added as the table slowly turns. The omelets fry for about 60 seconds, then are flipped out of the pans directly into the thin metal casserole dishes, where they’ll be heated and served onboard. They’re also only cooked to about 75% done, so they won’t end up overcooked, since they’ll be chilled and reheated again before serving.

In another part of the facility, conveyor belts help workers assemble tray setups. Each worker might add cutlery, a bread roll, or a dessert to the tray before the worker at the end of the conveyor belt loads it into the cart. There are also conveyors for the casserole dishes themselves. We watched workers assemble breakfast dishes for MIAT Mongolian Airlines flights the next day, and I found myself thinking the meals looked so good it was almost an excuse to fly with them someday.

We were also led past cooking stations where chefs tended what seemed an army’s worth of food. At the massive grill station, a chef turned steaks over expertly, with the grill marks so neat they looked painted on. He was an expert with the tongs, working quickly on each steak, for he had several dozen to get through. At a nearby stir-fry station, another worker tossed a massive amount of shrimp noodles.

Many of the meals were for other airlines, but Hong Kong is also the main hub for hometown carrier Cathay Pacific, and their meal standards are exacting. In the airline’s earlier days, standardized menus were the aim, focusing on the cuisines of Hong Kong and Great Britain, which counted Hong Kong as a colony until 1997.

Now, Cathay has partnered with several Michelin-starred Hong Kong restaurants, including Louise and Duddell’s for First and Business Class meals, and Yat Tung Heen for Economy and Premium Economy meals. Cathay also focuses on “Chinese Classics” in Business Class, featuring meals from the Eight Great Cuisines of China. Cathay’s catering kitchens also have to produce meals that reflect the dietary restrictions and tastes of the airline’s global customers, from Halal to Kosher to Asian-style vegetarian.

Once the carts are loaded, Cathay Dining has an automated system. The cart is picked up on a ceiling-mounted hanger system called Power & Free, which keeps the carts chilled and moves them to the staging area where the trucks are loaded to take them to the aircraft. All told, the system can move 12,432 meals per hour.

Once onboard, meals are heated in convection steam ovens in virtually all cabins, although there are facilities for cooking eggs, toast, and rice to order onboard Cathay’s First Class cabins. The airline also offers on-demand dining between meal services, and more than a few flight attendants onboard mentioned that the airline’s burger, one of the available “anytime” items in Business Class, has its own devoted following among the airline’s frequent fliers. I even overheard several of the regulars ordering the burger instead of the regular Business Class meal.

Of course, there are logistical issues to deal with. Just accounting for the dishes is difficult enough, and airline meal planning takes that into account as well. If one of your tray setups includes a reusable hot beverage cup for coffee (like on a breakfast tray), then a tray setup on the return flight must be identical—even if it doesn’t exactly make sense for the meal period—otherwise your coffee cups start to pile up somewhere.

An Inflight Repast

Airline meals can be big business—especially for airlines like Cathay Pacific and Alaska Airlines, which use them as a point of differentiation. Cathay’s focus on meals is necessitated by its extensive long-haul network and fierce competition among Asian carriers—particularly on the quality of their food service. Alaska Airlines is also growing into the international long-haul market and will likely offer free hot meals in the Main Cabin on those flights—the first free hot meals to be served in Main Cabin by Alaska in nearly 20 years.

It’s almost a small miracle if you think about it. While you’re checking in online and getting your bags together for the flight, a team is busy preparing meticulously planned meals, putting together globally sourced ingredients onto plates that have just arrived from far-flung locales, been washed, and put right back into rotation to offer a restaurant-style meal thousands of miles away, seven miles up.

It’s kind of a feat—and oftentimes a memorably tasty one.

DUHC&S | Strategic Hospitality Consulting & Advisory

We transform hospitality and tourism businesses through strategic solutions, operational efficiency, and comprehensive renovation. With over  40 years of experience  working with brands like Hilton, Hyatt, Sheraton, and Sonesta, we enhance asset value and profitability through:

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