When Hilton bought Graduate Hotels in 2024, it marked a large-scale shift for both of those companies and executive Kevin Osterhaus, who came over to Hilton as part of that deal.
Now serving as president of global lifestyle brands for Hilton, Osterhaus said his company's newly formalized approach to lifestyle hotels is a reflection of the types of experiences guests want to see in modern hotels. He's spent his first seven months on the job helping to "pull together" Hilton's lifestyle brands, identify objectives for the company in that segment and help define what that space means for a large company like Hilton.
"Lifestyle has a perspective," Osterhaus said during an interview with Hotel News Now at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit. "Lifestyle has a point of view. I like to interchange it with experiential hospitality. This is something that could be a shared interest that a community has, like Graduate Hotels.
"At Graduate, we celebrate the nostalgia around a university, the experiences, the shared passion for the history or the heroes or the accomplishments in these communities. But it's something that definitely plays to the shared interest in a community. Or, you know, in Motto's case, one of our other lifestyle brands, it could be the adventurous outdoor ... exploration and in using Motto as a jumping-off spot in locations from Rotterdam to Cusco. It's just something that caters to the point of view or the aspirations of the traveler."
There's been a push at several large hotel brand companies — including not just Hilton but also notably Accor and Hyatt — to formalize lifestyle divisions that can focus on that type of traveler. Osterhaus said that's a reflection of companies trying to balance scale with unique experience to give hotel guests and owners the best of both worlds.
"A lot of the companies you reference are set up to provide consistent experiences to very large brands globally, and we're looking to create something that feels more experiential and more entrepreneurial in its in its approach to providing creative experiences," he said. "So it allows us to put teams in place that are focused on working together to create something that feels like that aspirational experience we're targeting. And I think you continue to see an investment in this organization in order to find creative talent in order to do that, all while benefiting from the amazing commercial engine that that Hilton provides."
For more from HNN's interview with Hilton's Kevin Osterhaus, which includes discussions on the company's expansion in outdoor experiences, efforts to scale experiential travel and what guests are looking for from lifestyle hotels, watch the video above.