PillowTalk#13: Hotelification, getting locked out in Madrid and when will Wallet be the norm?

The hotelification of real estate is not a new concept. It didn't just pop up post-pandemic after those years stuck indoors forced us to reimagine our relationship with 'buildings'.?

It's a concept that has been developed across various real estate sectors over a generation or so. There's no doubt Covid accelerated it. But it didn't invent it.

Hotelification dumbed down

Hotelification, in its simplest form, is about looking at buildings from the consumer's perspective. That means having an occupier-first mentality. People-centered amenities, services, and people-centered management practices being hardwired into residential and commercial properties.?

Creating living and working spaces that emulate the comforts, conveniences, and high-quality service typically found in hotels.?

Hotelification is now evident in serviced apartments, retail spaces, multifamily buildings, office complexes and mixed-use developments. At its core, it is about experience, loyalty, community, and customer lifetime value — it requires a heart and mind shift.

Hospitality is the new normal

As part of a project I'm working on (I'm launching three big initiatives this year…watch this space), I've been having conversations with operators, consultants, tech companies and generally just very well-informed industry folk about how the residential Living and BTR sectors are increasingly moving to a hospitality model for their operations.?

What excites me most about these conversations is that everyone agrees that technology has had a greater impact on our experience of the built environment than any other factor. Guest app? Think resident app. Virtual concierge? Think digital doorman. The customer journey beginning with awareness and consideration is just as important to get right for senior living or student housing as it is for turning a hotel looker into a room/spa/diner booker.?

When will Wallet be the new normal?

Talking about tech…. this PhocusWire article caught my attention. I’ve yet to book into a place that has allowed me to add my keys to my Wallet. It would make complete sense for my hotel room key to be stored there, as everything else is.?

I'm writing this from a short-term rental on the outskirts of Madrid (still welcoming tourists), where I'm traveling with family. We've got two key cards amongst six of us. We've had to call the manager out twice. Once because we left both inside and once because neither worked. I've reverted to hoisting my 13-year-old nephew through the bathroom window when a third call out seemed just a bit too embarrassing. When we are not locked out, we are juggling who gets the key or where to hide it in the event we return at different times.

I've got my Easyjet boarding pass, train tickets, supermarket loyalty cards, cinema tickets, and various air mile cards logged to Wallet. Surely room keys as standard and not the exception are the next frontier?

Blending is the new normal

In July, Numa announced its acquisition of Native Places to expand apart-hotels and serviced apartments. Bob W announced a JV with Osborne+Co to develop 2,000 vacant office spaces and Lavanda published its Global Flex Report 2024, an insightful read into the adoption of flexible (Flex) operating strategies (short, mid and long stays) and their impact on the residential sector.

Just more evidence of blending, converging and hotelification.?

About me - I'm the CEO and founder of Abode Worldwide, a public relations?agency focused on raising the profile of technology solutions and enterprise operators, transforming the?global lodging, hospitality and living sectors.?

Pillow Talk -?shares musings, learnings, and insights about the pioneering lodging technology brands and operators transforming how we work, rest, and play.

You can subscribe here.