PKF Hospitality launches new think tank

PKF Hospitality Group has founded a new think tank for the hotel, tourism and leisure sectors.

The new venture called the Future of Hospitality Institute will be headed by Paul Rands.

Rands has spent 25 years in the hospitality industry, working for the likes of CBRE, Premier Inn, and hotel fund start up Quant Capital Partners. In 2013, he joined US business BridgeStreet Global Hospitality, a serviced living provider, where he led development and real estate in EMEA/APAC and was a member of the global senior leadership team.

The aim of the institute is to bring together a community of industry stakeholders to cooperate to identify important changes and innovations that are relevant for the future of the industry on a global scale.

Its first research project will be on future living with project partners brought together to help define serviced living concepts.

According to PKF’s definition, serviced living includes serviced apartments, aparthotels, co-living, student accommodation, branded residences, micro living, and senior and assisted living.

What They Said

Michael Widmann, global CEO of PKF Hospitality Group, said: "Globalization, urbanization and digitization influence our daily lives. In the last ten years, we have seen a dramatic change in our everyday world. The advent of remote working, the development of a sharing economy and socio-demographic changes are just a few examples that will have a significant impact on our future living spaces and our lives as a whole. This leads to the common intersection of residential and hotel in the area of 'serviced living', and developers, investors, operators, architects and suppliers will have to follow these developments and react quickly to them.”

Paul Rands said: "I am delighted to have joined PKF to lead the Future of Hospitality Institute and our wider involvement in the field of serviced living. There is already great appetite for innovation in this sector, which is becoming acknowledged as a viable investment alternative. Combined with rapid changes in user trends and demand, it has huge growth potential. It is therefore perfect timing for us to launch the future living project and over a 24-month period seek to identify key future trends and solutions."