Experiential elements of hospitality - from F&B to wellness - can significantly elevate hotel performance and real estate value when certain principles are followed.
Beaumier is a hospitality business with 11 hotels and 25 bars and restaurants in Spain, France, and Switzerland. Half of the group’s revenue comes from customers who are not staying in the hotels, said CEO Billy Skelli-Cohen. This vital revenue is, in large part, generated by just three of the group’s restaurants which have single Michelin stars.
Therefore, Michelin-verified excellence of product and execution has an outsized impact on the business, and it’s entirely down to the in-house employees. “We do as much internally as we can,” said Skelli-Cohen. “Ultimately you need to stand for something and have the ability to execute on it.”
Ownership
How do businesses get the very best out of their employees? In addition to the best-practice baselines of effective training and a positive work culture, one further step could be to offer selected team members small shares in the business. Rather than leaving, this gives key employees an incentive to perform.
Creating a feeling of ownership and responsibility within the team is important for Thomas Douzis, founder & CEO of Ergon. “We have set up the Ergon Vision Lab where our top management team can come to us with ideas that we will implement in a hotel or restaurant, or even a new project. And because they are the owners of the idea, they have the commitment to make it work. If you build it, you defend it better,” he said.
Residencies
For global hospitality organisations, creating successful experiences is often about choosing the right partnerships.
“Hilton runs about 120 partnerships across Europe, Middle East, and Africa, and what we really look to do is to bring top restaurants to a location where we can drive external footfall,” said Tobias Schulz, managing director, restaurant & bar partnerships, Hilton Hotels & Resorts EMEA.
These can be short or long-term arrangements. South African restaurant The Pot Luck Club initially had a six-month residency at London’s Waldorf Hilton, which has been extended for another six months. The original Cape Town restaurant is not a high-end design space, so residency did not require a lot of upfront investment, said Schulz.
Focus and commitment are important, he added, highlighting a longer-term partnership with world-renowned British chef Clare Smyth who will open a new restaurant this year at Waldorf Astoria London - Admiralty Arch.
Are your experiences unique?
Whether experiences are built internally or through partnerships, leaders do not necessarily see it as a competition. Skelli-Cohen said: “I don't feel the need to outdo the guy next to me. I actually cheer for the guy next to us to also do fun and innovative stuff, because there is space for everyone.”
So, creating experiences is not a competition and it’s not about trying to be unique, either. “Especially in the boutique lifestyle space, you hear the word ‘unique’ a lot, and I'm a little allergic to that word, because very few people in our space have come up with something unique,” said Skelli-Cohen.
“It's not about coming up with something that's so original. It's about executing well and not forgetting the little details and the magic dust that hopefully add up to something special.”
There is nothing original about offering yoga classes at a hotel, he said, but at Beaumier’s Wengen hotel in the Swiss Alps, the yoga classes happen in a specially built yurt in the nearby forest.
Broad vs. niche
Activities with broad appeal are often more lucrative than niche activities, commented Andrew Boshoff, chief financial officer, Global Hotel Alliance.
“We made this mistake ten years ago. All our experiences were once-in-a-lifetime, book two weeks in advance, dedicate half a day of your holiday to silk screen printing with a Balinese artist, and the redemption rate was tiny, less than half a percent. Almost nobody did them,” he said. “But they do the cocktail class; the things that are easy to book, easy to implement.”
The offer of a personalised leather-bound Kindle to top-tier Global Hotel Alliance members was a big success, he added: “They flew off the shelves.”
Local knowledge
The Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) is an alliance of independent luxury and upscale hotel brands built around a shared loyalty and tech platform. Many of the hotel groups are regional players, which is an advantage, said Boshoff, because local knowledge and authenticity go hand in hand.
“It's something that the guests are seeking out more and more,” he said. “They genuinely want a Thai hotel experience in Thailand, a genuinely Italian experience in Italy. And if that means [the individual hotel groups] are not going to do exactly what I say from the centre, good on them. We give them a lot of freedom to create their own experiences or local offers.”
A recent example from Dubai shows how local teams often know best. At the start of the US-Iran War, GHA member Nikki Beach Resort & Spa Dubai offered free beach and pool access to top‑tier loyalty members. Guests watched drone interceptions from their sun loungers and sent positive feedback.
“We'd been contingency planning, crisis planning. What do we do about the Middle East? How do we generate demand? And they'd been getting on with creating this experience and telling us to market it,” said Boshoff. “Local staff understand their cities far better.”
Staying site-specific
Ergon has 26 company-owned and franchised Mediterranean delis, restaurants, markets, and hotels in Greece, Cyprus, UK and the Middle East. The group is also a retailer of 600 F&B products.
The local specifics of these businesses matter said founder and CEO Thomas Douzis. You cannot necessarily replicate a successful Athens project in London, or vice versa. The reward of running a truly local business is often longevity.
“If you're doing proper Athenian food in Athens, you can become an institution maybe 10 years later. Then, the fact that you survived for ten years creates the authentic experience that people are looking for,” he said. “Staying as site-specific as possible is one of the most important ways to stay relevant.”
All quotes taken from ‘The ROI of experience: Creating amenities and services that perform’ session at IHIF EMEA 2026 in Berlin. The panel was moderated by Pierre Ricord, head of consultancy – hotels, Christie & Co.