Coral Gables, Florida – The owners looking for membership of today’s lifestyle customers need to put their egos to rest. The stars in the sector do not dictate what the “lifestyle” looks like; The guest does it. Budgets must extend to cover each element of their list of wishes, leaves without whitening and vegan menu elements with artificial lagoons.
The delivery of hotels that align perfectly with all aspects of customer personal lifestyles is not only for 1% of investors with ultra-pro-depth pockets.
A panel of industry experts who understood Chris Falce, vice-president, Kimley-Horn; Darcy Lawrence, director; Director of Strategy and Development, Hospitality, HKS inc.; Roland Mouly, managing director, hotel advisers; Victor Vazquez, vice-president of operations, Peru Portfolio, Highgate and Alexandra Walterspiel, president and chief executive, Sensei, presented the framework of lifestyle who can go beyond the king’s expectations without breaking the bank. They shared their expertise on the way of life on the discussion “Vision + Investment = Lifestyle Success” moderate by Mary Scoviak, Director of personalized content and design, the BHNSTAR group by Northstar, during the Conference Alis Cala 2025.
With today’s data exploration techniques, the tools fueled by the AI and the advances of the CRM, investors have access to the details of each customer preference, whether they are flowing drapery that block light pollution or immersion in a “refuge” of sustainable well-being that gives access to a health consultant as part of a service after the peak.
Doing things correctly is a home run lifestyle
“Look at the Equinox Hotel New York,” said Lawrence. “This is an example of a lifestyle concept. People want to live and breathe in this environment. But investors and the operator have also thought about what the lifestyle of their customers looks like.
There is no room for the lip service. If a hotel claims sustainability, customers will check everything, from the LEED certification, namely if the gas carpets. Well-being resort? Walterspiel is not the only one to make sure that the blackout curtains really darken the room. The guests who like the outdoors expect their yoga lessons to be served outdoors. Budgeting watches creates hotels that anticipate hyper specific preferences for each guest without adding additional costs.
One thing that investors will not need to spend: public space infrastructure. “Looking at moxy hotels and similar brands, what works for them is the flexible design of the hall. It starts the day as a business space, and ends it like a social atmosphere where there is a little music and drinks live,” said Falce. A set of retractable doors and a pop-up bar meet the needs of customers looking for afternoon tea and evening cocktails, added Lawrence. Event lawns can be adapted to respond to modes of well-being well-evolved and also be reinvented for weddings without representing an important commitment to the CAPEX.
The choices of equipment give investors another win-win between the return on investment and the return to the experience. Sustainable decisions such as locally supply could provide an unexpected gain with tax relief in certain places, said Vasquez. He added that focusing on fireproof materials can help reduce insurance costs. “It will be more and more important for investors, because they want to make sure they get the best offers without having to spend more,” he added.
Save the CAPEX for movements that do more than WOW
The restoration of the expectations of the lifestyle of guests changes which is worth the big dollars. If it is a “moment” or “functionality”, don’t worry. The owners of flavors hatched financial fireworks for decisions that transform market positioning. For Evermore Orlando Resort, it meant created an artificial lagoon to attract beach lovers far from Disney brand stations and short -term rentals. This decision allowed them to overcome the geographic challenge to be 15 minutes further from the theme park.
Tap in the trend of well-being travel opens a subset of lifestyle guests who spend 40% as their peers in the same property, said Walterspiel. “Customers focused on well-being stay longer and they spend more in all areas,” she added. These figures facilitate the justification of significant investments to ensure that the hotel travels the march of social responsibility, intelligent programming and well-being services.
The same decision “what customers want” guided Vasquez’s decision on a flag for one of the Peruvian Highgate stations. “We went with the luxury collection because it would not have adapted to a hard brand,” he said, adding that the owner’s financial commitment would have been similar anyway.
For high-end and high-end lifestyle properties, prepare for the brand’s attorneys
“From the point of view of a developer or an owner, you are missing if you are not part of a growing brand,” said Mouly. “Between brands, there are huge differences in the way a lender examines the property, even with a concept valid for a brand that is established on the market. They will examine Marriott against then-Carlson (where I worked), and they will have different loans for value.” In other words, a flag could be equal to an LTV of 65% while another is 50% LTV.
With long lists of wishes of the guests, the discipline has its own return on investment
Being everything for everyone is not possible in lifestyle. The key is how to allocate expenses to all be important things to all good people. Nothing will convince Walterspiel to cross the space of medical well-being. “We have spirit coaches, not therapists,” she said, adding that Sensei builds what he is not in the design of the property to bring the point home. Lawrence takes market studies on the ideal guest as a railing to keep the decisions on the right track.
Mary Scoviak is Director of personalized content and design for hotel investment today by Northstar.