The Autumn Budget delivered welcome progress, particularly increased business rates relief for smaller hospitality businesses and a two-year real-terms freeze for qualifying properties. But with VAT remaining at 20%, another 3.9% increase in the minimum wage from April 2027 and economic growth forecast at just 1%, the industry’s calls for greater support are entirely justified. Hotels are significant employers, investors in local economies and contributors to Britain’s international appeal. We should be making it easier for them to succeed, not harder.
What excites me, though, is how quickly the industry is evolving despite these pressures.
Accor’s latest research finds that a quarter of travellers would rather begin planning a holiday around how they want to feel than where they want to go. Hilton calls this the rise of the whycation, with rest, reconnection and meaningful experiences increasingly influencing travel decisions. People are looking for places that help them live differently, even if only for a few days.
Some guests don’t particularly want to leave the hotel at all. They want beautiful spaces, excellent food, movement, sleep, conversation and the luxury of being looked after. The Global Wellness Institute identifies deep rest and cocooning among emerging wellness trends, reflecting a growing appetite for experiences that help people recover from the demands of everyday life.
Look at Six Senses, where wellbeing influences the entire guest experience rather than being confined to the spa. Or The Hoxton, whose restaurants, bars and shared spaces have helped redefine hotels as neighbourhood destinations. Scorpios in Bodrum brings together wellness, music, food and community, creating an experience as much about belonging as accommodation.
These are different businesses serving different audiences, but they recognise something important. The hotel is no longer simply somewhere you stay while doing something else. Increasingly, it is the experience itself.
I think of this as Life 6.0, a way of describing the next evolution of how we live, work, connect and care for ourselves. As we move through 2027 and into 2028, I expect the boundaries between hospitality, wellbeing, leisure, work and community to become increasingly blurred. Hotels are well placed to respond because they already combine many of the things people are seeking: beautiful environments, human connection, privacy, good food and opportunities to experience something different.
The rise of third places is particularly interesting. Hotels are increasingly becoming spaces beyond home and work, somewhere to spend an afternoon, meet friends, work creatively, take a class or simply enjoy being somewhere else. At the same time, we are seeing the opposite desire: guests who want to withdraw from the demands of everyday life and spend an entire stay within the hotel, resting, eating well and feeling cared for. Connection and solitude may appear contradictory, but both reflect a desire for greater control over how we spend our time.
For hotel businesses, Life 6.0 creates opportunities to build relationships with guests and local residents that extend well beyond the traditional overnight stay. It also requires us to think differently about space, programming, partnerships, people and revenue.
This makes the Budget’s commitment to greater devolution particularly interesting.
The government has confirmed plans to give mayors and other strategic authorities powers to introduce an overnight visitor levy from 2028. Local leaders will be able to decide whether to introduce a charge, following consultation, with the levy calculated as a percentage of accommodation costs. The industry’s concerns are understandable. Additional charges could affect competitiveness, particularly for price-sensitive travellers and businesses already operating on tight margins.
But there is also an opportunity to rethink the relationship between hotels and the places they serve.
Edinburgh’s visitor levy is expected to raise £45–50 million annually by 2028/29, with planned investment in infrastructure, culture, events, destination management and mitigating tourism-related pressures. Barcelona has used tourism revenues to support neighbourhood improvements and manage the impact of visitors on residents. Amsterdam, where the overnight accommodation tax is 12.5%, offers a different lesson: taxation is part of a wider effort to manage overtourism, but high charges also raise questions about competitiveness and displacement.
The lesson is that collecting money is not the same as creating value. The success of any levy should be judged by what it delivers for the destination, the people who live there and the businesses that make it attractive.
Imagine hotel leaders working directly with mayors and councils to shape investment in transport, safer public spaces, cultural programming, skills and local supply chains. Imagine visitor revenues supporting apprenticeships, strengthening independent businesses and creating experiences that attract guests throughout the year rather than simply during peak season. There is a real opportunity to connect tourism policy with employment, regeneration and economic development.
By Natalie Campbell MBE
