Week 38: What CRE Can Learn from Hospitality’s Approach to Tech-Enabled Experience

In this weekly series, we explore how the commercial real estate industry is being transformed by data and digital infrastructure. Guided by the principles in Peak Property Performance, we unpack a new idea every week to help owners unlock value, reduce risk, and future-proof their portfolios. Learn more about OpticWise and Bill Douglas, the authors of this series.

CRE hasn’t always been a Hotel—But It’s Closer Than You Think

Owners of office, multifamily, and mixed-use properties often look at hospitality as a completely different category. But in today’s experience-driven real estate economy, the lines are blurring fast.

Tenants now expect seamless, personalized, and responsive environments—the same way guests expect high-touch service at a hotel.

And there’s one industry that’s already mastered the intersection of space, service, and technology: hospitality.

What CRE Can Borrow from Hospitality

Hospitality isn’t just about beds and breakfasts. It’s about designing every detail of the occupant journey—and delivering it through connected systems.

Here’s what commercial real estate can—and should—learn:

• Personalized Experience
  Just like hotels remember your preferences, buildings can use data to adapt to tenant routines, climate comfort, access, and services.
• Unified Tech Stack
  Hotels run everything—from check-in to housekeeping to energy systems—on one digital platform. CRE often runs on disconnected silos.
• Proactive Service Models
  When a room’s air conditioner breaks, hotels know before the guest complains. In CRE, tenants file tickets. That’s backward.
• Revenue Per Square Foot Mentality
  Hospitality has long optimized space usage and monetized amenities. CRE can replicate this with tech-enabled shared spaces, digital services, and tenant offerings.
• Brand Through Experience
  In hospitality, the guest experience is the brand. CRE can adopt this mindset by building tech-enabled experiences into every touchpoint—from access to amenity booking to issue resolution.

The Role of Data & Digital Infrastructure

You can’t replicate the hospitality model in CRE without the right foundation.

This is where Data & Digital Infrastructure (DDI) plays a central role:

• Property-wide, owner-controlled connectivity
• Sensor-driven environments (temperature, occupancy, IAQ, access)
• Real-time data flows for operations and service delivery
• Smart platforms that adapt and scale across the portfolio

Why It Matters Financially

This isn’t about making buildings “cool”—it’s about making them more valuable.

Properties that offer hospitality-grade experiences:

• Command higher rents
• Retain tenants longer
• Attract next-gen occupiers (especially Gen Z and millennial renters/workers)
• Enable new lines of revenue from tech-enabled services

Experience, when driven by DDI, becomes a performance driver.

Ready to Cross the Aisle?

It’s time to stop thinking of hospitality as a different industry—and start treating it as a performance benchmark. Many of the best ideas in CRE’s future already exist in hospitality’s present.

Start by asking:

• Can tenants personalize their environment?
• Is there a digital interface for services?
• Do building systems adapt based on usage?
• Are operations data-driven and proactive?

If not, the PPP Digital Infrastructure Review will help you map the gap.

Andrew Stanton CEO Proptech-PR

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