There’s a classic expression that goes something along the lines of: When you try to appease everyone, you end up pleasing no one.
This is exceedingly true for hotels and resorts in 2026 and onwards. The ease of internet-fueled awareness and distribution means that travelers of all segments and microsegments have boundless options for discovery and location or price selection.
There are more flights, more travel blogs, more itinerary planners, more retreats and more ways of booking than ever before. All that comes before mentioning how machine readability and AI travel search are going to further fracture the channel mix towards exceedingly specific traveler criteria.
Together, it’s no longer a matter of simply being a destination resort or a grand lodge in the Canadian wilderness, or what may be classified as ‘demand capture’ and in contrast to ‘demand creation’. That is, barring geopolitical interruptions, hotels and destinations are now competing globally as well as locally – ‘glocal’ being the fun portmanteau.
For real growth and long-term value, hotels need a strong story that’s a signal rising above the perpetual digital noise of today’s world, where a property or brand can be known as the best of the best for a few very specific things in order for travelers to remember you in a world where options abound. It’s this detailed storytelling and the wow moments nestled within that generate word of mouth, high return guest rate (RGR), above-market ADR and, overall, sizable customer lifetime value (CLV).
More Than Just Branding
This globalization of hospitality competition is akin to a jungle where plants, animals and fungi have evolved and diversified to fill highly defined niches. In a desert, species are resilient by being flexible generalists. In a tropical forest brimming with biodiversity, however, one can only eek out an existence a narrow food chain. This is survival of the fittest, or should we say, the ‘nichiest’!
In our industry, the more apt terms denoting this competition and need for storytelling are themes or concepts. Typically, these are conjured by branding or design agencies that command steep fees to deliver the overall look and feel, restaurant concepts, spa concepts and a semblance of the master plan alongside architects. We’re here to tell you that after studying and perusing nearly 3,000 luxury hotels and resorts from around the globe, more often than out their work isn’t worth the price tag, let alone one-tenth of it!
As has been remarked upon in past months, there is indeed a ‘great hotel blanding’ or ‘beiging of the boutique’ happening right now. Agencies are copy-pasting to stay efficient on resources or, potentially worse, they are overly reliant on generative AI tools that deliver average results (as they are programmed to do).
To approach this blanding another way, consider the amazing growth of luxury and ultraluxury hotels that’s intensified over the decade through the new term ‘accessible luxury’. It means precisely as it’s spelled – lower price point – but it’s also a reflection of the experience economy and the yearning for something genuinely different. These hotels are accessible – and now experiencing rate resistance, mind you – only because the others are not. Accessible luxury is a polite way of saying ‘standardized’ or ‘not exceptional’.
In contrast, the hotels and resorts where there are truly wild ideas deployed are the ones where rate resistance isn’t really a challenge. So, what makes certain luxury and ultraluxury hotels inaccessible and deliver this storytelling that creates demand instead of only capturing it?
Defining Exceptionality
There’s never one answer for why guests are willing to pay thousands of dollars per night for a room, and that’s entirely the point. Uniqueness breeds demand. Or, think of it as an ‘It Factor’ in terms of the overall experience that’s truly different amongst all other hotels that holistic brings together differentiated facilities, in-room amenities, service delivery, dining presentation, wellness offerings and activities. It’s the sum of the parts, and development teams can spend years figuring this out before they open.
Exceptionality by way of concept can mean firmly embracing eco-conscious and sustainability at every level, even done to the keycard that’s made of recycled paper and shaped like a leaf. Art and design are as important as ever, so much so that hotels can curate thousands of pieces with onsite tours given by trained docents. Exceptionality can mean ingenious cuisine and developing farm hospitality activity programs, using not just the same plant species as other properties but those forgotten indigenous landraces that can’t grow anywhere else.
While exclusivity is at the core of supply-demand economics determining this exceptionality and resultant ADR, equally as fundamental is that service must be flawless. Hospitality will always proceed in the order of mastering the basics, then delivering consistent luxury service, and only then attempting something bold.
But boldness is precisely what’s driving the growth right now in mid-2026. Brands are everywhere, as are management companies, designers and suppliers. But capital is highly selective and shrewdly intelligent when it comes to knowing what will print.
Overall, the path forward is to find your niche then hone it around a few targeted customer personas and the story you want to tell. Oh, and be sure to look at hundreds of hotels when doing a competitive set analysis, not just a couple dozen, challenging your design partners’ assumptions at every turn. Only then can you synthesize what’s going to truly work within this new world of heightened hospitality competition.
