What’s on your Christmas list?

“A VAT cut, of course. Nobody’s forecasting a particularly exciting 2026, but a proper VAT cut could stimulate growth and have a significant effect on tourism, too. Personally, my wish is to go down a skiing black run in January. I’m a relatively new skier so it won’t be easy.”

What did you learn this year?

“2025 felt like a tipping point year on sustainability. Everyone has been talking about it for a long time, and we’ve been on a journey to accreditation. Two things had to happen with sustainability: hotels needed to be able to reinvest in better lighting, more efficient heating and so on, and customers needed to recognise hotels’ efforts. Without that, being more sustainable was a big cost that hotels couldn’t pass on or demonstrate consumer recognition for their investment. This was the year the tide started to change.

“We offered all hotels a carbon calculator to really make a dent in carbon consumption and we’re now seeing lots of examples of customers choosing the more sustainable option. Throughout the corporate contracting season, we’ve seen a significantly higher number of corporate customers mandating certain sustainability credentials to get on their programme. That’s been a reassurance for hotels that they’re doing the right things and need to keep going on a sustainable journey. People are increasingly exercising their right to choose a greener stay.”