One meaningful shift in lifestyle hotels since Q1 and why it’s meaningful in Q4: The biggest shift since January is that both capital and consumers are placing a higher premium on differentiation. Investors remain disciplined, but they’re showing greater confidence in projects with a clear identity, strong operating fundamentals and a compelling guest experience. At the same time, travelers continue to seek out experiences that feel authentic and memorable. Experience has become a much more important driver of value creation across development, branding and operations. As a result, we continue to stay focused on achieving our ambition to become the industry’s most sought-after Experience Company.

What “playing offense” look like for innovative hoteliers in today’s market: Playing offense means being willing to create, not just optimize. We’re continuing to invest in new hotel concepts, brands, destination-driven experiences and food and beverage concepts that strengthen the connection between a property and its community. The strongest opportunities today aren’t coming from doing the same things more efficiently. They’re coming from doing something meaningfully different.

One quiet shift in guest expectations that’s poised to have an outsized impact on hotel development and programming: A quiet but important shift is that guests increasingly expect hotels to function as part of the community, not apart from it. They’re looking for authentic food and beverage, local connections and experiences that reflect the character of a destination. The properties that embrace that role are creating stronger guest loyalty and, ultimately, stronger asset performance. Guests are also starting to expect AI to eliminate friction and deliver seamless, personalized experiences rather than create additional complexity.

Where hoteliers should lean in harder: We’re leaning harder into opportunities where real estate, branding and operations can work together holistically and in harmony from the beginning. That’s where we see the greatest potential to create long-term value. We’re going beyond opportunities that depend primarily on market appreciation and seeking out projects where value can be created through vision, execution and experience.

Most overhyped and most underestimated industry beliefs: What’s getting overhyped is the belief that efficiency alone will drive success. What’s being underestimated is the value of creating experiences people genuinely care about. The most successful hospitality companies of the future won’t simply operate better. They’ll build stronger emotional connections with guests and the communities they serve. Maya Angelou said it best: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”