the top 5 luxury hospitality trends in 2022

February 28, 2022

After having spent nearly six weeks in the St. Moritz/Engadine area in Switzerland at the beginning of this year, I would like to share and cluster my experiences from a hospitality perspective. As Switzerland has been handling the pandemic in a more liberal way, Swiss hospitality players were forced to act faster than their competitors in other countries, with stronger governmental restrictions and more governmental aids.

These recent observations, combined with own research and multiple international hospitality engagements during the pandemic, can be summarized in the following Top 5 Luxury Hospitality Trends in 2022:

Fextal Engadine

Top 1: Substantial capital resources are today's best investment against future turbulences

A lot of promising businesses during the last years failed due to the lack of financial flexibility and capital resources. To stay in business in a rapidly changing market environment involves a resilient business model that is either backed up by strong own capital resources or by strategic investors.

St. Moritz

Top 2: Hotels are acquiring or cooperating with complementing businesses

We see properties buying or cooperating with offside F&B businesses for multiple reasons: to add innovation to their business models, to protect customers from spending their wallet share with competitors, to improve the customer experience to a more seamless approach, and to enlarge their customer base.

St. Moritz

Top 3: On-property experience is a steadily growing trend

Growth can be reached by acquiring businesses but also by investing in organic growth through offering new services for clients. For example, supper clubs have become again a growing trend. By offering entertainment opportunities for both inhouse and external guests, they also contribute to a better resource allocation (staff, infrastructure).

St. Moritz Polo

Top 4: Destination marketing does not stop in front of hotel doors

Whether it is an art festival, sports tournaments or a connoisseur festival,hotels have learned to include themed destination marketing, helping them to infuse their branding, to offer new experiences to clients, and to access a new client base.

Badrutt's Palace Hotel St. Moritz

Top 5: Luxury hospitality will increasingly flourish with branded high-end restaurants

This trend emerged more than a decade ago with Nobu Matshuhisa's approach to fusion food dining, hosted by major luxury hotels. Branded restaurants are now an essential part of a cutting-edge F&B-strategy. It is not only a clever approach to outsource F&B to a trusted and well experienced partner, it is also a great opportunity to use the impact of a well-established brand to drive more demand and to enhance the own brand value.

Want to learn more?

For further inquiries and how to make use of these trends, please contact: info@viable.design

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