Last week, the Curacity team headed to Skift Megatrends to hear from the industry’s leading trend forecasters shaping the future of travel. From the race to integrate AI to evolving traveler mindsets and an expected 7-10% revenue growth across the travel industry, the event was a trove of insights. In this blog post, we’ll share the most compelling takeaways, the opportunities they present, and how they can inspire your strategy for 2025 and beyond.
First: What do the audiences of luxury and lifestyle travelers want in 2025?
Above all the trends, we enjoyed hearing from Shannon Knapp, the president and CEO of The Leading Hotels of the World. It used to be hotels saying, “This is luxury,” Knapp said. “That has shifted. Hotels don’t choose. Consumers choose what is luxury. It’s extremely personal.”
“Luxury travelers don’t need ‘excuses’ to travel but ‘reasons’ to travel,” Knapp continued. “It’s about story-worthy moments and unique experiences. They want to see passion, individuality, and an individual level of service.”
Now, on to the trends!
- 2025 is the Year Live Tourism Becomes Unstoppable. People used to pick a destination, get on a plane, and go there. In 2025, they will choose an event and build their entire trip around it. Or, they will search for a type of experience and back into the destination that offers it.
- Influencers Are the New Power Brokers in Travel. Influencers who post photos and videos are the “old way.” The new influencers will “design and host trips for their followers.”
- Richard Valtr, founder of Mews: “More people will want to emulate the experiences they have seen.”
- For example, a food writer with a small Instagram following and a few thousand Substack subscribers will host bookable tours. The opportunity is for hotels to partner with creators and indie publishers who can offer experiences that create demand. They can get heads in beds and handle the programming, making it a very low lift for the hotel.
- Gen AI Year 3: Get Ready for Real Change. In 2025, 29% of Americans will use AI for trip planning, and in China and India, 77% of travelers will use it!
- Kayak CEO Steve Hafner: “I don't know if AI is good or bad for Kayak. The jury is out. Google makes all its money on queries; AI eliminates this with snippets. For consumers, AI is incredible for everyone. The next frontier is agentic AI, which makes bookings for you. We're building our own AI; the cost is falling. We're considering how other AI platforms can access Kayak tools, but we can't kill the golden goose: having travelers come to and book through Kayak."
- Thomas Reiner, partner at Altimeter: “If we all ask ChatGPT for the best hotel in Puglia, will we all get the same answer? LLMs offer personalization by understanding users, their emails, and their behaviors. It will know how to recommend the best hotel in Puglia for you. It's better than Expedia, which gives every person the same list."
- Richard Valtr, founder of Mews: “Why is someone coming to say? What are they trying to get out of the stay? We need to care more about the journey than getting heads in beds. It's about using AI to understand the customer journey and anticipate needs before customers know they have them."
- Google's Search Dominance Will Face New Threats.
- Thomas Reiner, partner of Altimeter Capital: “Eyes are coming off Google in the discovery phase as people turn more to AI and social media, compressing the commissions they can charge. They have to make up for lost revenue. Google used to have 3-4 sponsored listings; now, it's the entire first page. SEO is going to the second page."
- Hotels Will Start Selling So Much More Than Rooms. Hospitality is catching up to airlines in upsells.
- Richard Valtr, founder of Mews: “The most natural way to think about hospitality is the guest at the center. A PMS used to be a ‘room management’ system. The room was the center, and we added guests. Now, the guest is at the center. You're not selling inventory. You're selling a 24-hour lived experience. 'Sleep' is your biggest competitor. What else can you sell? Restaurant, bar, experiences, meetings, events, and more."
- The Soft Power of Quiet Luxury. Affluent travelers are done with personal butlers and gold-plated fixtures. To them, luxury is a more personal, one-of-a-kind experience.
- Shannon Knapp, president and CEO of The Leading Hotels of the World: “Quiet luxury isn't a trend. LHW has been doing this for 97 years. 80% of LHW properties are independently owned and individually led: the owner welcomes guests into their home. There is an incredible sense of pride in the property. There is also a sense of pride in the culture and history of the destination and the artisans (cheese mongers, winemakers) who offer genuinely bespoke experiences."
- Jenn Scheurich, managing vice president of Capital One Travel: “People's sense of luxury has evolved. They want a feeling of discovery as if they were the first to discover a hotel. They want something local, authentic, and even off the beaten path, but they want quality. Long tail of luxury: helping people push the boundaries of traditional luxury. For many people, vacation rental homes would be practical (family travel, pet travel, group travel), but there's no reputation for quality. We have changed that with high-end rentals where fridges are stocked upon arrival by Michelin-stared chefs and in-destination partnerships that connect people with authentic, local experiences."
- Richard Valtr, founder of Mews: “It'll no longer be about defaulting to a helicopter ride above NYC. It'll be about telling ChatGPT, “I have six hours to fill in NYC. How do I maximize them based on my interests?"
- Cool Climates Will Be In High Demand. As global temperatures soar, cooler climates are calling.
- New opportunities will arise for destinations with colder weather in the off-season and shoulder season, allowing hotels to leverage programming and other offerings to push the limits of seasonality.
Interested in learning how to put some of these trends into action? Curacity helps hotels reach and convert the highest-value guests by leveraging premium content from hospitality’s #1 media brand network. Learn how to get your story told in the newsletters of AFAR, Travel + Leisure, and many more by booking a demo with us.
