The Biggest Innovators in Travel and Hospitality: Winter 2025
Photo Credit: The Capella is one of the standout brands in hospitality. Timothy Kaye
Skift Take
The market is forcing a margin call on post-Covid excess, conspicuous consumption, and there is traveler backlash to excessive rates. This pushback has created space for new thinking.
On Experience
Colin Nagy is a marketing strategist and writes on customer-centric experiences and innovation across the luxury sector, hotels, aviation, and beyond. You can read all of his writing here.In my columns throughout 2024, I covered a lot of ground, but one common theme emerged: We are at an inflection point for luxury. The market is forcing a margin call on post-Covid excess, conspicuous consumption, and there is traveler backlash to excessive rates.
This pushback has created space for new thinking. I'm excited to see the stage being set for a new wave of entrepreneurs, innovators, and thinkers who can redefine the next phase of hospitality. The industry is moving away from old codes of ostentation and toward new forms of thoughtful spaces, evolutions in wellness, and solutions for the sharply conceived spaces that the hybrid work world needs.
I'm also keeping a keen eye on Saudi Arabia and developments with the country’s Boutique Group, which specializes in turning former Saudi palaces and government buildings into hotels. I see a need for soulful, heritage-driven luxury amid the sea of hyper-expansion and bold products.
As I wrot
