HIX Returns November 26th and 27th at the Business Design Centre

20th October , 2025

HIX Returns November 26th and 27th at the Business Design Centre

HIX TALKS

2025 Programme Announced

HIX – Europe’s leading hotel design event – has revealed the line-up of major designers, operators, and experts taking part in this year’s HIX TALKS programme.

Returning to London’s Business Design Centre on 26 & 27 November for two days of panels, presentations and perspectives, the Kohler-sponsored HIX Talks programme brings the hospitality industry’s brightest minds together to explore the future of hotel design and experience.

Guided by this year’s theme of Culture Clash, the 2025 agenda is a platform for hospitality without borders, celebrating the ability of hotels to connect people and bring down barriers all around the world.

Addressing topics including the shifting definitions of luxury, the rising longevity movement and the next wave of high-tech smart stays, the free-to-attend conference allows guests to hear about the future of hotels from the people shaping it.

With senior executives, principals and studio leaders from Ennismore, Starwood Hotels, 25hours, Maybourne, Accor, Conran & Partners, G. A Group, Yotel, Rockwell Group and more all set to join the conversation, HIX TALKS 2025 is now open for registrations.

Read on for more information about this year’s line-up:

DAY ONE

26 November

Day one of HIX TALKS kicks off with a deep-dive look at this year’s theme of Culture Clash, and how branded hotel groups can translate their offer for new markets while retaining a distinct and memorable core identity.

Moderated by Kaitlyn Skov of Studio Skov, A Brand Apart: Crafting Cross-Cultural Hospitality Experiences (11:00 – 11:45) will ask how speakers from Accor, Beaumier Hotels and MKV Design create common threads across varied portfolios.

After that, The Shape of Luxury to Come: Navigating the new luxury hotel landscape (12:00 – 12:45) will see design leaders from Ennismore, Starwood Hotels, Conran & Partners and Studio Shayne Brady discuss whether the old definitions of luxury hospitality still apply in a rapidly changing world.

Discover what is driving these shifts, how to adapt, and what it means for guest, designer and operator alike.

Back for a third edition, Studio Confidential (14:00 – 14:45) takes a look behind the scenes of leading hospitality design practices to find out how their leadership teams navigate design decisions, inspire their teams and create some of the world’s most memorable hotels.

This year, luxury hospitality specialists G.A Group will share the strategies that defined acclaimed projects including 1Hotel Mayfair and Atlantis The Royal Dubai.

Closing out day one, the HIX Talks Keynote Interview (15:00 – 15:45) for 2025 will be delivered by Christoph Hoffmann, Founder of 25hours Hotels and CEO of Bikini Island and Mountain Hotels.

Having shaken up the hotel scene with a bold, provocative and playful take on luxury hospitality, Hoffmann will share the inside story of how he changed the course of hotel culture, and what it takes to truly challenge the status quo.

DAY TWO

27 NOVEMBER

Day two commences with a session from AHEAD – the leading awards programme for hospitality experience and design – who bring four esteemed members of the European judging panel to the HIX TALKS stage for a look at the ideas, trends and concepts that defined some of the year’s best new hotels.

Couldn’t grab tickets to the ceremony?

Join AHEAD of the Curve: AHEAD Europe Shortlist Spotlight (11:00 – 11:45) for a look behind the curtain.

After that, a technology-focused session with speakers from YOTEL, OBMI and WeWantMore will address the new wave of technology sweeping through both hotel spaces and the studios designing them.

Expert Systems: How technology is transforming hotel design (12:00 – 12:45) will decode the jargon behind LLMs, AI, androids and more while asking how a balance between efficient optimisation and organic experience can be achieved.

With hotel wellness evolving to reach far beyond the spa and become a platform for some of the world’s most innovative treatments, Live Forever: Longevity and the Future of Hotel Wellness (13:00 – 13:45) welcomes speakers from Maybourne, White Mirror and Blink Design Group to discuss what the rise of the longevity movement, a closer relationship to medical procedure, and the incorporation of sensory therapeutics all means for hotel wellness facilities.

For the closing session of HIX Talks 2025, moderators Festival of Hospitality are joined by the founders of Adẹ̀kọ́ & Co, Jolie and Sin&Co as part of Founders Forum: A Blueprint for your hotel design studio (14:00 – 15:00).

Exploring the challenges and opportunities any designers thinking of going it alone might face when backing themselves, this session is a must-see for any designers thinking about their future in the industry.

Discover the full line up of topics and speakers in the HIX 2025 programme.