Hospitality Leading the Immersive Experience Economy
EHL Research team argues that hospitality is entering a new phase of the experience economy, where guests no longer seek just “nice stays” but fully immersive, multi-sensory, and often co-created experiences that transform how they feel and remember a place. Drawing on frameworks like Pine & Gilmore’s four realms, it shows how hotels can blend human connection, storytelling, gamification, live events, and technology (VR/AR, projection, sensory...
The hospitality industry has been leading the experience economy for decades. After the agricultural and industrial revolution came the development of the service industry, followed by the emergence of a fourth economic driver: the experience economy. Today, the experience economy is evolving, with demand rising for not just memorable experiences but truly immersive ones – a shift that hospitality organizations are uniquely positioned to embrace.
Traditionally, economists have categorized experiences together with services, yet experiences represent a distinct form of economic value. These days, it is clear that experiences stand on their own as a separate offering, driven by consumers’ growing desire for memorable, meaningful encounters and by the increased focus of businesses on designing and promoting experiences to meet that demand.
The Hotel Yearbook 2026 - Annual Edition
The hotel industry in 2026 finds itself at the meeting point of powerful, converging forces: rapid technological progress, climate urgency, shifting guest expectations, labour market disruption and economic realignment. This edition of The HOTEL Yearbook looks at how hotel organisations respond, not by choosing one direction over another, but by designing integrated strategies that combine digital and human, global and local, automation and empathy. A large share of this year’s contributions focuses in particular on artificial intelligence and its growing influence across almost every segment of hospitality, confirming AI as one of the defining themes of this moment. Bringing together expert voices from around the world, the publication explores strategy, technology, sustainability, finance, asset management, food and beverage, human resources, design and more, all through the lens of intentional hybridity in an age of convergence. The message is clear: in 2026, hybridity is no longer optional; it is strategic, and it will be the leaders who approach it with real intention who shape the future of our industry.