MILAN — Luxury hospitality is entering a dynamic chapter, with a flurry of openings scheduled for the final months of 2026 and into 2027. Among them are The Four Seasons Gstaad, Six Senses Milan, Mandarin Oriental Gellért in Budapest, the Bulgari Resort Ranfushi in the Maldives, Hotel The Mitsui Hakone in Japan and more.
On Friday, at a summit in Milan organized by Italy-based Teamwork Hospitality group, industry leaders said during this next chapter of luxury hospitality, the focus will be less brand-centric and more human, intimate and in-tune with the local culture and community than ever before.
The aim at London-based IHG, which controls the Six Senses, InterContinental, Regent Hotels & Resorts and Kimpton chains, is addressing “the needs of each customer, for every moment of their life and every type of journey,” said Julia Mastrogiannaki, IHG’s EMEA director of global luxury and lifestyle sales.
“There isn’t one luxury customer. The same customer, at different moments, may choose Six Senses in the Maldives for a barefoot-luxury experience and InterContinental in Berlin for a business trip,” Mastrogiannaki continued. Six Senses, for example, is a banner focused on experiences with purpose and custom programs that blend spa treatments, biohacking [such as CellGym or Red Light Saunas], and nutrition plans around guests’ specific goals.
The Hospitality Boom
Driven by demand for wellness getaways and experiential travel, luxury hospitality and tourism are outpacing many other consumer and real estate sectors, according to the Bain-Altagamma Luxury Goods Worldwide Market Study. The category grew 3 percent to 251 billion euros in 2025, with sustainability and regenerative hospitality at the forefront.
According to data compiled by Thrends, a tourism and hospitality analytics firm, Italy is at the center of the trend. The number of five-star hotels in the country is expected to rise from 779 in 2026 to nearly 900 by 2029.
Among the openings planned in Italy are Six Senses Milan, expected in April; Cheval Blanc’s Petrizza property in Sardinia, the brand’s first Italian hotel, expected in May, and Mandarin Oriental Cristallo in Cortina, slated to open after the new year.
Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, which is owned and operated through a joint venture with Marriott International, is preparing for new locations in the Maldives; Bodrum, Turkey; Abu Dhabi; Miami, and the Bahamas with the intention to cap out at a manageable number of about 20 properties.
Bulgari’s global sales and retail executive vice president Vincenzo Pujia said overall, the firm across the board is moving toward creating experiences that are as customer-centered as possible and “less centered on the brand itself.”
“A store in Covent Garden and one on Bond Street in London cannot be the same store. They have different customer targets, different types of clientele and different missions,” Pujia commented during a panel discussion on creating value and credibility in a changing market.
Storied porcelain maker Ginori 1735, which in recent years has amped up its activity in the hospitality sector, echoed this. The Sesto Fiorentino-based company has been working hard since the COVID-19 pandemic to expand its vision within the hospitality sector.
Its chief executive officer Mehdi Benabadji explained that luxury previously benefited from the belief that strong brands had what was known as pricing power. “I believe that concept is now dead: pricing power no longer exists. What exists today is value power,” Benabadji said.
The future of luxury overall, he added, will be more measured and more personalized.
“By personalization, I mean understanding consumers in a more nuanced way. Until now, we have largely worked with a pyramid ranging from aspirational customers to top-tier clients, while organizing products by price point and customers by geography,” he added.
Earlier this year, Benabadji told WWD that Ginori 1735 is primed for growth in luxury living spaces, potentially including branded residences. In 2024, the brand launched Café Ginori at Florence’s St. Regis. Its wider universe, including the Domus home decor collection and Oriente Italiano wallpaper, has also been introduced at Rome’s Hotel de la Ville.
The Ginori Terrace concept was also unveiled on The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection and the St. Regis Venice.
From the Renaissance palaces of Italy to the ryokan inns of Japan, the hospitality sector has been an active player in restoring old properties. The trend is also prompting family-run businesses to hand more control to larger conglomerates or form strategic partnerships, contributing to a market led by powerful groups including Hyatt Hotels Corp., Marriott International, Hilton Worldwide, IHG and Accor.
Other major players include Four Seasons, whose majority owner is Bill Gates’ Cascade Investment, and Aman Group, acquired by Russian businessperson Vlad Doronin in 2014.
Shannon Knapp, CEO and president of The Leading Hotels of the World, addressed the challenge of maintaining a consistent ethos across a large and diverse portfolio.
The Leading Hotels of the World is an international consortium of more than 450 independent luxury hotels that include Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria in Sorrento, Italy, and The Reverie Saigon.
On a panel discussing bespoke experiences and connection with local soul, she said large groups need to have a curated approach to services and experiences.
“You need to have a perspective,” Knapp reflected. “You need to have a vision for the experience that you’re delivering and be OK that it may not be for everyone, be confident that there are travelers for whom that is the experience they would love…[what] I would say is stop mistaking personalization for unlimited choice. Again, luxury is curation. Luxury is curating the experience relevantly for the guests, not providing endless choice,“ she said.
Reflecting this shift, Viceroy Hotels & Residence recently launched “A World Made by Many,” a campaign spotlighting 10 local makers across five destinations, photographed and directed by London-based Jonangelo Molinari.
The campaign offers bookable experiences with beekeepers, vintners, chocolatiers, divers, musicians, mountaineers and other local experts in locations like New York City; Algarve Region, Portugal; the Caribbean island of St. Lucia; Sun Valley, Idaho, and Chicago.
The Role of AI
At the conference, executives also debated the role of artificial intelligence in creating personalized experiences. In this vein, moving away from a brand-centric model and embracing a more client-facing approach, getting to know visitors face-to-face remains the ultimate personalization tool.
Many leaders like Knapp contended that technology is useful for an initial snapshot of their guests, but could not replace human connection.
“Technology might make for an easy stay but you won’t feel a connection without spontaneous moments and without that curiosity. It’s that spontaneous discovery that creates that emotional connection,” she said.
Relais & Chateaux president Laurent Gardinier agreed. Technology should support — not replace — the human side of hospitality, he explained.
“Regarding technology, we consider our tools a tool, but it’s not a goal. So we absolutely need to be at the standard of all the competition worldwide, otherwise you’re going to lose a guest. You absolutely need to go back to what is the reality of our industry. It’s a human-sized and human-service-oriented industry, not a technological one.”