Navigating the 'New Normal' for hospitality in European cities

We should expect our cities of tomorrow to give a much more integrated role to hospitality venues within the role of neighbourhoods. This should also broaden the appeal beyond today’s niche markets, by making sure that hospitality businesses are appealing to a much wider range of people, including both visitors and residents. 

In fact, the role the hospitality sector can play in supporting the recovery of European cities was a key theme of the webinar that we held together with our partners at HOTREC on April 29th.
 

How can hospitality venues innovate and flourish in the post Covid-19 world?

Here the answer lies in understanding how technology and creativity can reshape hospitality businesses. In our webinar presentation, we looked at a broad range of solutions including subscription services for local businesses to use a hotel’s facilities, going back to basics and putting guests much more closely in touch with nature, or delivering signature food boxes to couples dining at home in the local area. Other practices involve flexible booking strategies, new products and space uses, experiential concepts and digital applications. 

While the range itself is impressive, more options could be explored as hospitality businesses look more to the communities that lay in the surrounding area, and adapt their core capabilities to serve a wider community. We can definitely expect to see even more exciting changes (such as meetings, co working and in-house dining) in that previously sleepy space, the hotel lobby.

Is constant change the new normal?

That much is definitely clear. However what counts most for hospitality businesses is to be highly flexible. As we saw in a recent blog post by TOPOSOPHY, the concept of hybrid hospitality relates to a series of wider trends in urban planning, architecture, and design. Thus, the more hospitality businesses identify new ways to monetise under-utilised spaces and develop partnerships with local businesses the more they will be able to step up their game and create new revenue streams.

So, where do we stand now? 

We’ll continue monitoring the most ambitious initiatives of the hospitality sector across European destinations and we’ll be ready to support your business plans for a diverse range of hospitality services. 

Until then, for all our partners and friends, the video of our webinar with HOTREC is available here, while we’d be glad to hear your thoughts on respective practices at info@toposophy.com.