Hospitality is having a direct influence on other real estate asset classes - notably office - as hotel-style operations become increasingly important to maximising occupancy and tenant satisfaction.
The trend coincides with investors and owners taking a keener interest in the operational strategies behind their assets.
Vincent Mezard, global head of residential and hospitality, BNP Paribas Asset Management, said: “Customer centric operations are a trend that is spilling out of hospitality into real estate.”
This means both more complexity and opportunity, he said. In response, BNP Paribas Asset Management is focusing on its data capture and its people.
“Any contract, any discussion with a tenant or operator must start with sharing data in a very open way,” he said. “And all this data and decision-making lands on the shoulders of people, so we are making sure we have the right people, who are passionate and can make good use of data,” he added.
Buildings with energy and life
Covivio is a French real estate group that owns hotels, residential, and offices. Tugdual Millet, CEO hotels, Covivio, said: “We are moving away from being a pure space provider to being a service provider. If you want to increase profitability and to attract the best clients into your offices, that means more personalisation, something the hospitality industry has learned for a while.”
Overall demand for office space has declined, driven by hybrid work and lower office attendance. Competition among landlords to attract and retain tenants has consequently intensified.
Covivio has applied a hospitality-inspired approach at its own Paris HQ - home to 250 employees - plus its office assets in major European cities.
“First, we’ve completely re-thought the front desk experience, second we’ve invested heavily in design, and thirdly, a building needs energy and life, so we have event managers who organise after-work events and activities, even fashion shows,” said Millet.
A hotel-style welcome
Rather than a transactional “name, ID, who are you here to see?” interaction, front desk teams are trained to genuinely welcome people - employees, guests, and visitors alike – with the kind of reception you’d expect in a good hotel.
Covivio has employed designers who specialise in hotels to give its office buildings character and atmosphere. Rather than putting meeting space on the ground floor or in the basement, meeting rooms on higher floors give attendees panoramic views and a memorable experience.
“We are not serving just the head of real estate at a company when we let an office. We are serving everyone who works in the building,” commented Millet.
One measurable result has been that employees at the Covivio Paris HQ now only work from home one day a week on average, down from two days previously.
“For us, having people on site creates real value: it strengthens communication, makes collaboration easier. In the end, people who are happy being in the office are more effective in their work,” said Millet.
Double NOI without spending big
Creating value does not necessarily require large amounts of capex. The Grand Hyatt Barcelona is among BNP Paribas Asset Management’s hotel investments. Mezard commented: “We were convinced we could double the net operating income without doing capex.”
This was achieved by changing the brand but not the operator, allowing third-party F&B businesses into the hotel, and incentivising the management team, plus bringing in a new sales and marketing team.
The start of a project presents opportunities for value creation. Phil Andreopoulos, CEO, Yotel, remembers the construction of the brand’s hotel in Ginza, Tokyo, as a strong collaboration between owner and operator.
The original scheme had 190 keys, but Yotel proposed to the owners, Frasers Hospitality, to increase it to 240 keys without compromising general service levels.
“And they were an amazing owner, and they continue to be an amazing owner,” he said. “We ended up with a wonderful hotel, great public areas, and 50 more keys than we would have had if we hadn't asked them to take a bit of a gamble with us.”
Enough cake for everyone
As both an owner and operator of more than 500 economy and midscale hotels in Europe, the business model at Essendi needs to focus on building infrastructure, operational efficiencies, and guest expectations all at the same time.
ESG is at the heart of Essendi’s strategy, said CEO Gilles Clavie: “We are strongly convinced that sustainability and profitability go hand in hand.”
Group-wide initiatives include moving hotel property management systems into the cloud, efficient management of in-room utilities, and an AI-driven food waste reduction programme.
Like Mezard at BNP Paribas, Clavie said Essendi has been able to achieve certain efficiencies, including a 20 percent reduction in carbon emissions, without large outlays of capex.
In businesses with multiple stakeholders, Mezard said it is crucial that owners understand their position in the value chain: “As an owner, you are the last one to eat, so make sure that the cake is big enough and that everyone is incentivised to cook the biggest cake possible.”
All quotes taken from the panel: ‘Shaping places: How hospitality drives value by redefining real estate innovation’ at IHIF EMEA 2026. The panel was moderated by Larissa Esser, senior advisor, Colliers