Tamara Lohan, co-founder of hotel curation and booking platform Mr & Mrs Smith, spoke on a panel at a recent Citizen Femme event about what she has learnt from her years in the hospitality business, selling to Hyatt and how she sees the future of the industry. Jenny Southan reports

When my husband and I started Mr & Mrs Smith, it was almost a rebellion against beige. Every hotel felt bland and boring. We knew there was this undercurrent of boutique hoteliers doing something very different – places that reflected personal identity and style.

Back then, design was making waves in the home, with the advent of Conran, Heals and Habitat but most hotels hadn’t caught up. We wanted to fix those that had.

Every time we travelled, we were disappointed – and that disappointment drove us. Mr & Mrs Smith became a champion of the beautiful, the stylish, and the individual. Even today, that’s what inspires me: hoteliers who can create meaningful experiences, who make someone’s holiday truly special.

You scaled it from a printed guidebook to a tech-driven brand. What were some of the major shifts you experienced?

We’ve gone through so many different phases of the business, and each one required a different mindset. At first, it was just a guidebook. Then we digitised it – hiring a new team, rethinking how we connected with our audience and our partners. That was a major shift.

Going global was another big transition. We made mistakes – we expanded too early and were optimistic rather than strategic. But eventually, we became a global brand. And then there’s raising money – that’s a whole learning curve. Suddenly, you’re talking to shareholders and investors. It’s a different language entirely.

More recently, I’ve had to learn how to sell a business. And now, I’m learning how to operate in a big corporate environment, as well as how to hand over the role of CEO. Last month I handed over to Natasha Shafi our managing director – she started as a receptionist 20 years ago and is now leading it. I could not be more proud of her.

How do you perceive the travel industry now? What disappoints you?

I think that with the (exciting) advent of AI, we’re in danger of leaning too heavily into cost-saving and efficiency and risk losing the human touch. Efficiency is not an excuse to lose humanity.

I cannot tell you how much it frustrates me when I walk into a hotel lobby to check in, and the receptionist is looking down at the computer. The first thing they say is, “Can I have your name, please?” – without even making eye contact. If we start putting screens and tech in between us, we lose that essential human connection, which in travel is so important – perhaps the most important.

Read an interview with Globetrender founder Jenny Southan on Mr & Mrs Smith "In Quotes"

What excites you?

What excites me most is actually one of the trends mentioned in the Globetrender x Citizen Femme trend report on the Future of Female-Led Travel. It relates to something else that frustrates me: the idea that we always need to go away on a trip and come back as a totally different person.

I don’t think that’s true. Often, we just want to return as a more relaxed version of ourselves. We want to be. And the hotels that allow you to simply be, without pressure or performance, are the special ones.

It’s not about rigid schedules or guilt-driven wellness programming – like having to wake up at 6am for a hike and feeling bad if you don’t go. It’s about being in a place that allows you to just exist, on your terms.

I recently met the CEO of a US$30 billion company. I asked him where he had stayed recently that stood out. He said, “You know what I loved? I was just so exhausted, I sat in this beautiful drawing room, the sunlight was streaming in, and I fell asleep. The hotel staff just let me be.”

He wasn’t moved, disturbed or fussed over. He was simply allowed to rest and recover. And that, to him, was perfection. That kind of intuitive, non-intrusive care is what defines great hospitality.

So it’s exciting to see a trend towards more human connection – and not just “transformative” experiences in the overly programmed sense. Real personalisation is intuitive service. And that’s incredibly difficult to do – but when it’s done well, it’s always delivered by people, not iPads.

What are your views on AI?

AI and technology should exist to support that human service, not replace it.

I look at the three members of my team here today, and their roles are all about people and relationships. Marion heads up curation, which involves meeting hoteliers and hearing their stories. Emily leads partnerships, which is all about buidling deep and long lasting relationships. And our editor-in-chief, Cat, her role is centred around words. Yes, AI can help, but our tone of voice is so special and so close to our hearts. If we’re not providing the human element in that, then we’re failing.

The companies that put the human at the centre of their business are the ones that will win in the future.

What fundamental elements define a truly stylish and desirable hotel experience?

That’s such a difficult question – precisely because the nature of Mr & Mrs Smith is that all of the hotels we work with are so unique and individual. They often reflect the wildly creative personalities of their owners – their personal experiences, their style choices, their quirks. And that’s what makes them so compelling.

But I do think there’s a core principle, and that’s why a curator like Mr & Mrs Smith still has a place in the world. There’s just so much out there now. I was working on a report recently and did some research – Booking.com has about 5 million listings. How do you find anything? How do you know what’s good? It’s overwhelming. Curation is critical.

When it comes to setting up a hotel or shaping an experience, curating with a clear sense of place is the key. If you walk into a hotel and feel like it could be anywhere, then to me, it’s nowhere. The most desirable properties have a strong identity rooted in where they are.

That means working with and supporting local makers and communities, designing with intention, and building a narrative around local culture. That sense of place and collaboration is what’s going to be critical for the future.

We’re already seeing the tension in places like the Canary Islands, Venice, Barcelona, and Mallorca – destinations that rely heavily on tourism, but whose residents are now pushing back. When locals stand up against visitors, it’s a sign the model must change.

So it’s clear that the future of desirable travel experiences lies in creating businesses with a strong sense of community – ones that work with the local context, not just within it.

Panel moderation by Viv Paxinos, CEO of Allbright