60 Years of Hospitality in Motion: A Report for Pandox Hotel Market Day 

The report was presented by Carine Bonnejean, Managing Director – Hotels & International at Christie & Co, as part of Pandox Hotel Market Day in Stockholm in November 2025. 

The research project required both a retrospective analysis of historical disruptions, and a forward-looking framework to guide strategic thinking in an increasingly complex and interdependent hospitality ecosystem. The methodology centred around the Hospitality Trinity model, encompassing Guests (demand), Operators & Brands (supply), and Investors (capital), which served as an analytical lens for understanding how shifts in one stakeholder group cascade through the entire system. 

The report examines how power has continuously shifted between guests, operators and brands, and investors, and how rebalancing these forces will be critical to enabling sustainable, long‑term transformation across the industry.  

Major strategic transitions observed from 1995 to 2025 are covered in the report, including: 

• The rise of lifestyle brands 
• The shift to asset-light models 
• The exponential growth of brands 
• The geographical spread of growth 
• The financialisation of hospitality 
• The emergence of experience-driven ecosystems 

While the sector has long optimised for efficiency fuelled by technological advancements, this has contributed to a persistent imbalance: employees have been undervalued, leaving the industry increasingly exposed as labour shortages are forecast to intensify over the coming decades. Addressing this strain will require more than rebalancing the priorities of guests, operators and investors; it demands placing employees at the centre of future strategy. Growth, resilience and long- term transformation will depend on operators and investors accelerating employee-focused initiatives and recognising human capital as a core driver of value. 

Building on these insights, the report also identifies three development paths that will define the sector’s structural evolution over the next three decades: 

• Responsible intelligence: AI-driven personalisation with ethical and ESG accountability 
• Living assets: Hybrid, multifunctional real estate that adapts dynamically to user needs and regulatory environments 
• Reviving territories: Regenerative hospitality models that revitalise rural regions, repurpose existing assets, and distribute tourism benefits more equitably