Plus: Guest loyalty without the spend | Training teams that stay
Acquisition costs climbing? Staff ghosting you? Tariffs threatening your budget? Welcome to hotel life. (It's fine, everything's fine 🔥) Here’s the plot twist: the fix for all three is the same: turning chaos into strategy.
A smarter guest journey builds loyalty that you don’t have to keep buying. Better training creates teams that actually stick around. And that recent tariff delay? A rare pause button on your budget, just long enough to make thoughtful moves. The chaos isn’t going anywhere—but with the right strategy, it finally has a job to do.
A win on the labor front. The Departments of Homeland Security and Labor released 35,000 supplemental H-2B visas on Dec. 31, 2025, which AHLA said is "vital to helping independent hotels and resorts in remote vacation destinations fill seasonal roles."
A welcome delay. In another buzzer-beater move on the last day of 2025, the White House played tariff referee, delaying planned increases on wood products so America’s mills and makers get a bit more breathing room. The current 25% tariff on certain upholstered furniture, cabinets and vanities will remain for another year while trade talks chug along.
Flattery or fury? Guest reviews are telemetry, not commentary. Reputic turns recurring review themes into testable insights, so small adjustments come with clear outcomes.
Spahhhhhhh. Here are six wellness trends experts predict will be huge for 2026.
Oh look, more trends! Ancestry travel, astro-cruising and period-drama jetsetting… Condé Nast Traveler travel experts and editors to share how they're seeing travel shift for the year ahead. Where does it make sense for your hotel to support the adventures?
Concrete poetry
In Mérida, Mexico, a 16th-century ruin finds its second wind as a boutique sanctuary that isn’t afraid to show its age. At Hotel Sevilla, Berlin design/architecture duo Zeller & Moye have masterfully stitched raw concrete "interventions" into the existing colonial fabric, using a distinct layering approach to place contemporary life over a listed historic site.
Why it matters: Past meets present in this stunning adaptive reuse project, where original checkerboard tiles, timber shutter doors and traditional wooden ceilings dovetail with minimalist modern elements. It's a confident clash of textures, somewhat softened by uses of sisal and leather, while water features and regional tropical plants create natural barriers between various zones. Instead of polishing away the grit, the design leans into faded—but still very present—grandeur. (Wallpaper)
The Hotel Sevilla courtyard. (Courtesy)
"Our goal is simple. Use compelling storytelling to highlight what makes each hotel special and ultimately help drive more guests and more revenue to their members.” —STEVE CARRAN, HOST/HEAD WRITER, THE MODERN HOTELIER
Behold: Better brand assets
Modern Hotelier Media is now a preferred partner for Curator Hotels & Resorts, giving independents easier access to video, content and campaign assets built specifically for hospitality. It’s a practical path to turning what makes your property memorable into polished digital storytelling that performs across channels.
“I have always admired the one-of-a-kind sights, sounds, feelings and moments [Curator] brings to independent properties,” Steve Carran, host/head writer at The Modern Hotelier, told Mint Pillow. “Having created content for them in the past, we are thrilled to officially join forces to tell the unique stories of these properties.”
Why it matters: With distinct locations, experiences and personalities to tout, independent hotels already have the raw material but often lack the time or tools to translate that into compelling digital assets. With this partnership, Curator members can build a reusable library of visuals and stories that elevate perception, support direct bookings and keep their narrative consistent as channels and traveler expectations evolve. (The Modern Hotelier)
Guests feel the gaps
That clunky handoff between booking, arrival and on-property moments? Guests clock it instantly. A recent op/ed by Gemma Hynes, group client services director at Hotel Tech Group, makes a strong case for smoothing the journey so the stay feels easy.
Why it matters: Guests remember how a stay made them feel, not how many systems powered it. When operations fade into the background, your team has more space to deliver those small "I see you" moments that independents do better than anyone, allowing guests to experience fewer friction points and more moments of ease. A smooth stay earns trust and trust drives loyalty, which is still the most reliable hedge against rising acquisition costs and comparison shopping. (Hospitality Net)
Train the team you want to keep
In the latest "Schulering HUB Talking Hospitality Podcast," Yamel Henriksen, area manager for Europe, Africa and the Middle East at the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI), reframes training as both a business decision and a leadership responsibility. The conversation connects turnover costs, career pathways and the growing role of AI in supporting hospitality teams.
Why it matters: Stability on the floor translates directly to better guest experiences and fewer operational headaches, which is why staff training is a critical (and ongoing) investment. Independent hotels feel turnover acutely; every role carries institutional memory. Investing a few intentional minutes a day helps protect team continuity, reduce recruiting churn and create a workplace where people see a future—saving you money long before it shows up on a P&L. (Schulering)
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Mint Pillow is curated and written by Jennifer Glatt and edited by Bianca Prieto.
