DISCOVERING
     HOSPITALITY

Research highlights the growing convergence of business and leisure travel, creating new opportunities for hotels, resorts and destinations

The announcement sent ripples of pride through New Zealand’s hospitality and tourism sectors. More than a list of restaurants, the guide revealed a country whose culinary identity is deeply rooted in its land, sea, and people, and whose hospitality feels both world-class and wonderfully grounded.

Every reservation, stay, dining experience and preference is recorded somewhere. Yet if those insights fail to reach frontline employees at the moment of service, they deliver little value.

The State of Hospitality 2026: Sydney Edition, released by Bertoni Hospitality, found that 54% of hospitality businesses were either breaking even or operating at a loss over the past three months despite maintaining customer demand.

Wine has a habit of presenting itself as a finished thing. Pour it correctly, serve it at the right temperature, pair it with the appropriate dish, and the experience completes itself. This is, broadly speaking, true of the finest bottles in the finest circumstances. It is not, however, the whole story of how wine has been consumed across most of its history.

The hospitality industry is undergoing a significant shift as operators increasingly embrace connected technology to create seamless guest journeys, improve operational efficiency and strengthen customer loyalty.

To say 2025 was challenging for the restaurant and hospitality industry would be an understatement. The sector relies on discretionary spending, and the protracted cost-of-living crisis has placed enormous pressure on an industry still finding its post-pandemic footing.

As mass travel accelerated in the latter half of the twentieth century, the hospitality industry embraced scale, efficiency and standardization to serve an increasingly mobile world, therefore temporarily distancing itself from its original essence. Yet, hospitality found its way back to its roots, rediscovering the inn as the heart of local life, a place of encounter, culture and exchange.