2025 was by most measures a difficult year for the hotel industry, but most hoteliers and experts looking for just a single word to describe the year focus on how companies have been able to weather the storm rather than overcome the storm itself.
Speaking on the latest episode of the CoStar News Hotels podcast, Access Point Financial CEO and Chairman Michael Lipson said the word that best describes the year is "resilience."
"We price every night, and we adjust to the market," he said. "We've been able to adopt, adapt and evolve and continue to push forward. So next year will be a better year."
Lipson was one of nine experts to share their opinions on how to best distill the essence of 2025 into just a single word.
Mary Beth Cutshall, chief growth officer for Vision Hospitality Group, leaned into how guests view the hotel industry rather than metrics to define the year.
"The word that really stands out to me is 'experiential,' and I say that because we've officially moved past the idea that a hotel is just a place to sleep," she said. "Today, people are choosing hotels because they want to feel something when they walk through the door."
While these takeaways might reflect hoteliers' typically optimistic viewpoints, it was impossible to overlook the challenges hoteliers have faced through the course of the year.
HSMAI President and CEO Brian Hicks noted as much by picking "uncertainty" as his word to encapsulate the hotel industry's experience in 2025.
"There were so many ups and downs, whether it be fears of recession, government shutdown, employment, you name it, it just was a year of uncertainties, and I think that paralyzed us as an industry a little bit because people were hesitant to make big changes," he said.
For all of the word of the year selections, listen to the podcast interview embedded above.