Alexis Readinger

A recent James Beard Foundation survey cited design as a key factor for restaurateurs looking to translate evolving customer preferences into revenue. That’s just the starting point: today’s most beautiful and successful venues meld food, music and art into transformative experiences that only starts with what’s on the plate and the design concept.  Go behind the scenes with the forces behind some of the most-lauded restaurants in the U.S. to get the secrets behind creating award-winning aesthetics that also support unique experiences. Cases in point: Find out how to add a DJ booth to a fine dining restaurant, leverage the intimate scale of a 30-seat restaurant to display a midcentury art collection and use materiality and finishes to create a cinematic sequence of spaces. Attendees will come away from this session with the tools to ensure that there’s something on the menu for all the senses in ways that support lasting success.

As wellness evolves into a major real estate and hospitality sector, new spaces are emerging around ritual, healing, and retreat practices. This panel brings together diverse creators to explore how these environments are conceived, developed, funded, and ultimately designed to create meaningful, even sacred, experiences.

Change is one constant in the world - so how is it possible to create hotels and restaurants that retain their magic through whatever the next decades might bring? Hint: It’s not just stunning design - it’s when brilliant design concepts meld with development expertise, operational genius and the ability to build for the unforeseen. Listen in for lessons from the Sebastien Silvestri, the powerhouse behind Daniel Boulud’s restaurant empire, whose restaurants have defined the dining scene in New York and beyond for decades. Trends come and go. The magic of makers and the joy of human connection endure. Here’s the blueprint for tapping into that for projects whose success goes far beyond the first renovation cycle.Get the lowdown on smart site selection. Find out how to evaluate conversion prospects - even when that means reimagining your own spaces. Get a masterclass in layouts that drive connection for guests - even as dining habits change.  You can’t predict the future - but you can design for it.

Hotel development pipelines hit record highs in 2026.Travel is a $1.37 trillion market in the U.S. The data is clear: Now is the time to rethink how hospitality projects come to be. Owners, developers, investors and brands have a unique opportunity to capitalize on the strength of the industry to rewrite the rulebook. Conventional development thinking considers the hotel as an asset first and foremost. The question is “What can we build here?” Now, development, financial strategy, ownership, conservation and creative direction are sitting at the table together asking “What can this place become and how can it serve the guest, the land and the community?” Hear from leaders in design, ownership and strategy on how they’re building an integrated model, one where capital, operations, guest experience and design begin shaping the project together from the start. Find out what skills designers need to build to elevate their role upstream in the development process. Learn how pioneering clients are redefining the “what” and the “how” of hospitality development. Can hotels change the world? In 2026, the answer is yes - and design plays a central role in powering that positive impact on the guest, community, ecology and yes, business model.