Is Co-Working More Than a Gimmick?

A big part of the conversation surrounding the future of meetings is the emergence of co-working over the last decade as a new paradigm for the workplace environment.

Not everyone is buying a bright future for co-working though. The CEO of boutique hotel brand 25hours Hotels, for instance, thinks that gimmicks are no replacement for building a compelling environment for work and play in a traditional hospitality setting. Check out our interview below.

We've also got luxury experts dishing on the clichéd terms to avoid when selling an upscale experience, along with the latest on how Japan has adopted new payment technology to capitalize on the influx of visitors from China.

If you have any feedback about the newsletter or news tips, feel free to reach out to me via email at as@skift.com or tweet me @sheivach.

— Andrew Sheivachman, Senior Editor

The Future of Events and Meetings

Co-Living and Co-Working Are Gimmicks, Declares 25hours Hotels CEO: What’s most interesting about this boutique lifestyle hotel brand is its willingness to take risks and to continually experiment, but not if that means following the pack.

The Luxury Travel Industry’s Most Overused Buzzwords: While journalists are never in favor of banning speech, we are all in when it comes to retiring clichés, shibboleths, and truthiness. See if any of the travel marketing “hidden gems” mentioned below make your list.

Peak DMC’s Zina Bencheikh on Creating a Pipeline for Women in Travel: Zina Bencheikh has witnessed firsthand what it takes to bring greater diversity to the travel industry — and what the business rewards can be.

Around the Industry

Japan Adopts New Payments Tech in Response to Chinese Tourism Boom: Americans and Europeans who used to scoff at QR-style bar codes are going to need to learn how to use them to pay for meals, attractions, and tickets whenever they visit Japan. The reason? Swelling Chinese tourism is prompting the country to adopt China’s preferred mobile payment method.

United Becomes First Airline to Add Gender Identifications for Non-Binary Flyers: United is the first U.S. airline to let its passengers pick a gender option other than male or female when booking tickets. Delta and other carriers said last month that they plan to make similar moves shortly. We’re with they/them.

Ennismore CEO Sharan Pasricha on Reimagining Hospitality: The success of Ennismore’s Hoxton hotels brand is founded on the fact that you don’t have to completely reinvent something to make it exciting or lasting. You just need to know what elements bring you — and your guests — joy (while also making a profit).

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Skift Senior Editor Andrew Sheivachman [as@skift.com] curates the Skift Meetings Innovation Report. Skift emails the newsletter every Wednesday.

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