Cultural Investment Beyond Display
The hospitality brands that will stand out are those that connect guests with creativity – especially their own.
As our day-to-day environment is increasingly transformed by AI and comes to feel more machine-generated, travelers are placing new value on what only people can make. Creativity – with all its emotion, effort, and human imperfection – is becoming one of hospitality’s clearest differentiators.
Experiences That Last
Putting guests alongside local artisans can turn a stay into a skill, and a new skill outlasts any souvenir.
The Power of a Surprise
Brands that add an element of safe surprise can create highly memorable experiences that earn repeat visits.
Creativity as a Brand Differentiator
Cultural investment means more than simply displaying works – it means supporting creators and forging connections with new audiences.
Something has shifted in what people value. As algorithms influence taste and digital content increasingly shapes what we consume, we feel the need to reconnect with what is unmistakably human. The trace of a creative mind has become something to seek out.
In travel and hospitality, the movement is toward craftsmanship and cultural exchange, hands-on learning, and experiences that feel surprising rather than seamless – priorities reflected by the 84.5% of travelers who report seeking “deeper, in-person connections with others in ALL Accor x Globetrotter’s Experiential Travel Trends 2026.” Drawing on the very essence of hospitality, personal connection and the human touch, the industry can answer a real appetite for creative expression by designing experiences that offer travelers new ways to feel, learn, and become.
As part of Accor’s From Change to Opportunity (FCTO) – a dedicated insights and intelligence platform exploring the trends and transformations shaping the future of hospitality – we explore the trend, its opportunities, and how Accor brings it to life across the guest experience.
At Accor, we believe that hospitality is a bridge between cultures. By supporting creation, heritage, and talent, we do more than just open our doors: we open perspectives. Because welcoming is caring for the world, we place culture at the heart of our vision of hospitality: responsible, caring, and deeply human.
Appreciating Human Craft
As humans, we are inherently creative, unpredictable, and imperfect. We value creativity for its moments of beauty; we also cherish its experimentations and imperfections. These are the signs of craft as unmistakably human-created through hard work, individual commitment, trial and error. Human8’s What Matters Report 2026 calls it Human Pride: “a growing desire to reclaim the human touch in an increasingly automated world,” with 76% of surveyed consumers believing human creativity, craft and imperfection will always matter more than machine-made outputs.
Craft and Culture as Brand Differentiators
Brands also see the value, aligning with craft and creativity to emphasize credibility and differentiation. “Brands should be intentional about showing human craft,” says Rebecca Swift, SVP Creative at Getty Images. “People place value in effort and its creative outcomes. In a world rife with synthetic visuals, human-created content becomes even more valuable.”
In hospitality, a number of Accor brands embrace creativity and craftsmanship to enrich the guest experience. Every ibis Styles hotel boasts a unique and vibrant design, leaning into color, fun, and imagination to attract cultural explorers and connect with local creators.
The Swissôtel brand places the Swiss heritage of fine craftsmanship in the spotlight, from the use of noble natural materials to art installations by local artisans, blending regional aesthetics with timeless Swiss design principles.
As a Group, Accor’s cultural engagement is fundamental to its identity and purpose – an essential dimension of the Group’s vision of hospitality. Long-term partnerships bring the strategy to life – for example offering a platform to local artists by broadening accessibility with the Art Explora Festival, and providing emerging fashion designers with financial support and international exposure with the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode.
Welcoming others and sharing what moves us lie at the heart of both hospitality and culture. Through our partnerships, we aim to bring cultural experiences within reach of more people, especially those who have had the least access to them – it’s one way we connect cultures with heartfelt care.
Celebrating Amateurism
For every master-craftsperson there is a league of amateurs. Derived from the Latin amator, “one who loves,” they do not create from a place of expertise – or even a desire for it – but out of pleasure, curiosity, and the drive to try.
Gen Z have been dubbed “Gen Create” by Adobe due to their higher likelihood (63%) of doing something creative every day. Yet amateur creativity is a majority pastime across all age groups, with 57% of people over 24 also creating regularly. Travel reflects the same dynamic: 72% of international travelers believe entertainment should offer opportunities to learn new things as much as it provides fun (Source: Accor / Foresight Factory, Prioritizing Accor’s Consumer Trends, 2025).
Being an amateur means accepting awkwardness, mistakes, and imperfect outcomes. The value lies as much in the journey of attempting and learning as in the finished, wonky result. Canva’s Design Trends Report, drawn from billions of designs across its platform, declared 2026 “the year of Imperfect by Design, where many creators will become unbothered by perfection, polish, or creating for the algorithm, and instead embrace the human imperfections that make work personal, raw, and honest.”
How Travel Is Empowering the Amateur
The trend is reflected in the growing interest in “skillcations” – purpose-driven trips built specifically around learning a new hobby, craft, or competency. American Express calls it “Sight-Doing”: 79% of Millennial and Gen-Z travelers seek destination-specific workshops or activities, while 76% of travelers believe skills learned while traveling stay with them longer than material souvenirs.
Accor’s MGallery Collection annswers the desire with meaningful hands-on experiences that put guests in the creator’s chair beside local masters, from printmaking in Amsterdam, to watchmaking in Geneva, turning local craftsmanship into memorable stories.
The VAWAA (Vacation with an Artist) platform builds on the concept, connecting curious travelers with artists and craftspeople for multi-day mini apprenticeships, from horsehair jewelry making in Chile to hand-building canoes in Maine.
Blending craft, learning, and surprise, these experiences promise a deeply human exchange.
Reinjecting Unpredictability
Human creativity is not a straight line. It’s an unpredictable, unfolding process. As digital tools have made travel easy and frictionless, there is a growing appetite for experiences that leave room for detours and surprises – the things that make an experience feel natural rather than engineered.
Although few travelers desire a return to the days when simply booking a hotel meant international call charges and language barriers, some are looking to reinject (carefully controlled and chosen) friction into their travel experience.
The Appeal of “Safe Uncertainty” in Travel
Crucially, this appetite for unpredictability requires a secure framework in which guests feel supported enough to embrace the unexpected. Mystery travel concepts such as Journee promise handpicked personalized itineraries, pre-booked but kept secret from the traveler until the moment of departure – all packaged in pointedly analogue hand-written style.
Black Tomato pushes the concept further, preparing participants with expert survival training before dropping them in a remote, unknown location with the challenge of finding their way back to civilization – invisibly watched over by a dedicated support team.
Pullman’s playful bar ritual “Unexpected Pairings” – guests pull a playing card to unlock unique food and drink combinations – draws on the trend to spark conversation and discovery, demonstrating that a creative element of surprise can enhance any aspect of the hospitality experience.
Craftsmanship and Creativity Across Accor Hotels and Brands
In the age of AI, experiences that center human creativity can help brands stand out, root hotels more deeply in local culture, and give employees greater space for self-expression and fulfillment – all while giving guests a more profound sense of human connection.
A number of Accor brands make the hotel a place of creative inspiration and exchange for artists, guests, and locals alike. Raffles’ cultural heritage runs deep, with a long-standing connection to and appreciation of the arts embodied by the writer-in-residence at Raffles Singapore. At Fairmont Empress in Canada, the artist-in-residence program supports local talent while allowing guests to glimpse creativity in action through live painting sessions, while at Fairmont Kea Lani, Maui, in Hawai‘i, the Hawaiian Cultural Center immerses guests in local traditions through activities such as lei making, and hula and ukulele lessons.
Across our Raffles and Fairmont properties, we will continue to emphasize our deep connection to arts and culture, offering distinctive experiences with a touch of the unexpected.
MGallery Collection’s “M Moments” experience platform offers guests hands-on creative experiences that create connections with local communities. At Athens Capital Center Hotel - MGallery Collection, in Greece, guests are invited to craft traditional Greek worry beads in an artisan’s workshop, while at the Ming Hotel Nanjing - MGallery Collection, in China, the “Ming Stone Printing” experience allows guests to explore the cultural legacy of the city’s Ming Dynasty walls through the art of traditional carving and printing.
Commitment to culture is not reserved for luxury brands – it is infused throughout Accor’s portfolio. TRIBE’s Global Vinyl Club celebrates the resurgence of vinyl culture with curated listening stations and partnerships with local record stores, reinforcing the brand’s role as a social connector.
At JO&JOE, a rich program of cultural activities, creative workshops and shared rituals brings guests and locals together around the spirit of each property’s neighbourhood and destination.
Vinyl is not simply nostalgia – it represents ritual, intention, and connection. With TRIBE Vinyl Club, we are creating moments and spaces where people engage through culture, creativity, and discovery, and where music becomes a living part of hotel life.
The Power of Cultural Expression for Brands and Teams
Pullman is placing cultural exchange at the very center of its brand, repositioning its hotels as places where people, cultures, and ideas meet and mingle.
The holistic, human-centered brand vision covering design, programming, F&B, and service culture is showcased at Pullman xChange, a flagship event series convening creatives, thinkers and cultural voices.
The Pullman legacy was built on an innovative spirit that invited people to travel differently, live differently, and think differently. Today, we continue to champion visionaries whose ideas do more than inspire – they move culture forward.
Creativity can bring rewards beyond the guest experience. Accor's Choir Games invites hotel teams to reinterpret a shared song through local languages, costumes, and choreography. What began in 2023 with 44 hotels now spans more than 60 countries, with a worldwide competition planned for 2027. The initiative turns employees into creators, and gives them a stage for their own culture and identity.
Harnessing culture and creativity is one of the ways we make Accor’s purpose tangible – inviting guests to rediscover their own self-expression, sparking connections between cultures, and honoring what makes us human.
Explore Further
People At Our Heart
Discover our people-centric culture and how our teams bring our passion for service to life.
Our Strategic Partnerships
Discover how we work with global and local partners to drive our hospitality ecosystem forward.
Our Experience Portfolio
Explore how we craft experiences where human connections flourish and business performance thrives.
