Why the Smartest Brands Are Saying No

We already see that the International Luxury Hotel Association has published its agenda for INSPIRE Europe 2025 under the theme “The Future of Luxury Travel Growth Innovation”

The deeper driver for me is that in luxury hospitality growth alone no longer feels like the badge of success it once was. What matters now is emotional connection with the guest, brand identity and margin protection. We’ve all been in projects where we chased scale and ended up diluting what made the brand feel special.

Is what comes next is a shift toward selective expansion: brands becoming more thoughtful about where how and why they grow. Fewer properties but with felt meaning. Fewer markets but with relevance. Fewer interventions but with difference.

The questions:

• Are we growing just because we can, or because it really makes the brand stronger?

• If we removed our badge what would this new property actually feel like?

• How are we seriously measuring guest emotion identity and lasting value?