The New Language Of Luxury

Welcome to the seventh edition of SOCIETIES Quarterly, our perspective on the ideas shaping hospitality, design and travel.

We are entering a period where almost everything surrounding a brand is becoming more fluid. AI is changing how people discover places, how content is created and how digital experiences are built. New materials and fabrication methods are changing what designers can make. The boundaries between hospitality, wellness, work and culture are becoming less defined.

Hospitality is changing too. Historic hotels are being restored rather than replaced. Wellness clubs are becoming places to work, eat and socialise. Technology is increasingly operating behind the scenes, removing friction and allowing experiences to become more personal.

The tools will continue to change, probably faster than any of us can follow individually.

But that makes what sits underneath them more important, not less.

When almost anyone can generate an image, build a website or produce content in minutes, execution alone becomes less distinctive. What matters is having a clear point of view. Knowing what deserves to be preserved, what should evolve and what your brand represents when everything around it is changing.

For hospitality, this may be the defining challenge of the next few years. Technology can accelerate the process, but it cannot decide what is worth saying.

The future belongs to brands with a strong enough identity to evolve without losing themselves.

Sebastien Felix, Founder and CEO, Influence Society