From Concept to Culture: Building a Culinary-Driven Hotel Brand

The economics of hospitality development today demand faster-than-ever project delivery to offset rising construction costs, expensive borrowed capital, and deferred operating revenue. Traditional sequential project delivery methods are increasingly unable to meet the speed and flexibility required in today’s market. Featuring perspectives from ownership, procurement, design, and manufacturing, this panel explores accelerated project delivery strategies that challenge the conventional procurement and execution model to compress timelines by months rather than weeks. Panelists will discuss how overlapping procurement, design, fabrication, and decision-making workflows can accelerate delivery while maintaining design intent, operational alignment, and guest experience objectives. Through real-world case studies, including recently completed hospitality projects, the conversation will examine when these strategies are most effective, the measurable impacts they can create, and the operational and financial risks they may introduce. Attendees will leave with practical insights into how collaborative, fast-track delivery methodologies are reshaping hospitality development — and how teams can implement them successfully in their own projects.

Sponsored by Polywood

Wellness is redefining what luxury feels like. Join designer and TV personality Galey Alix, entrepreneur and wellness advocate Dale Moss, and hospitality innovator Kane Sarhan for a conversation on how thoughtful design, sensory experiences and human connection are reshaping hospitality. Moderated by POLYWOOD EVP Megan Pierson, the panel will explore how spaces can do more than look beautiful. They can change how people feel, connect and experience a destination.

Designed for designers, investors, hospitality brands, and operators, this session journeys around the world through recently completed projects that challenge and redefine the future of hospitality—from a treehouse north of the Arctic Circle surrounded by 350 birdhouses, to handcrafted hospitality rooted in 1,000-year-old Japanese traditions with Not A Hotel; from a ski-in/ski-out hotel in the Valley of Watchmaking outside Geneva, to the New Nordic Cuisine and foraging philosophy of Noma 2.0, and the transformation of a 1930s bank along the Champs-Élysées into a new model for retail and culinary experience. Along the way, we’ll taste, test, and explore how design, culture, nature, food, retail, and innovation are converging to create the hospitality experiences and business models of tomorrow