Where the needle has moved most for designers: The opportunity has moved upstream, before scope, budgets, brand requirements, and delivery strategies become fixed. I am focusing more on the early decisions that determine whether design becomes an asset-performance lever or a downstream cost. 

 The biggest constraints and the best workaround: The greatest constraint is fragmented decision-making, not a shortage of ideas. Which in fact has turned into a personal opportunity for me. I decided to set up a concierge design advisory, Design SAFAR to address the gap/lack of clarity, to align investment value to performance outcomes. I aim to create a shared fact base early, clarifying who decides what, and connecting design choices directly to capital, operations, guest value, and delivery consequences. 

One overlooked risk the industry should be paying more attention to: The operating burden embedded in design decisions. A project can meet its capital budget yet underperform for years if staffing, maintenance, durability, energy use, and replacement cycles were not taken into consideration as part of the overall value proposition. 

The smartest way to protects margins without sacrificing long term value: While we’ve been saying this for a while, we must act on this now. Reduce complexity, not quality. Concentrate on the experiences guests value most, while testing every decision holistically, against staffing, maintenance, durability, energy use, and replacement cost. 

The most thought-provoking idea she heard at ALIS DESIGN+ and how she’s applying it: Clarity vs complexity as it relates to integrated decision making. Design cannot succeed in isolation from operations. It reinforced my focus on holistically approaching the objective as- guest experience, operating model, and delivery implications together, while there is still time to influence the outcome. 

One contrarian bet for right now: Fewer, better-resolved experiences will outperform amenity proliferation. Guests will reward places that deliver comfort, character, and human connection consistently, not hotels burdened with artifice, applied storytelling, and brand standards which offer no value long term. 

The industry’s biggest winners and losers for 2026/27: The winners will be owners who reposition existing assets with a distinct proposition and a credible operating plan. The losers will be generic hotels, teams chasing trends, and projects that cut visible cost while quietly adding years of operational expense.