He Built a Hotel With No Lobby and No Building | Tiago Venâncio, Treasurests Hospitality | Ep. 010

The hotel of 2035 may not look like a hotel at all.No lobby. No traditional front desk. Mixed-use buildings. Branded residences. F&B-led concepts. And neighbourhoods becoming part of the actual guest experience.Episode 010 of HXD212: unfiltered conversations with leaders, rebels, and builders shaping what's next.Tiago Venâncio, Managing Director of TREASURESTS Hospitality, has spent nearly two decades working across hotel development, investment, brands, and operations. But some of his most interesting work started with a very different question:**What if you could build a hotel without actually building a hotel?**With Urbanauts, empty street-level shops across Vienna were converted into self-service hotel studios. There was no traditional lobby. No conventional reception. Instead, local cafés, shops, restaurants, and businesses became part of the hotel experience.A radically different hospitality model. And one that also exposed how difficult disruption becomes when you try to scale it.Today, Tiago and the TREASURESTS team are taking those lessons into lifestyle hospitality, including Casa Cook Madonna di Campiglio, where design, F&B, experience, and positioning sit at the centre of the operating model.In this episode, Thibault Catala and Tiago Venâncio explore:◾️ How Urbanauts turned empty Vienna shops into hotel rooms◾️ Why the neighbourhood became the hotel lobby◾️ The real economics behind micro-hospitality◾️ Why operational simplicity is often more complicated than it looks◾️ What happened when the Urbanauts model expanded outside Vienna◾️ Why regulation and labour made France particularly difficult◾️ How failure and constraints shaped the next business model◾️ Reinventing the ski hotel with Casa Cook Madonna di Campiglio◾️ Why F&B can become the starting point of a hotel concept◾️ How lifestyle hotels design for a very specific target guest◾️ Why trying to appeal to everyone weakens hospitality brands◾️ How mixed-use buildings can change hotel economics◾️ Combining hotel rooms, apartments, residences, offices, and F&B in one asset◾️ Why unit mix should respond dynamically to market demand◾️ The growing role of branded residences◾️ Whether standalone hotel brands can compete with global chains◾️ What Gen Z will expect from hospitality◾️ Why living, working, and travelling are increasingly becoming one ecosystem◾️ What the hotel of 2035 could actually look like◾️ Why distribution and loyalty remain enormous advantages for global hotel brands◾️ Why human connection may become more valuable as hospitality becomes more digitalCHAPTERS:00:00 Can a Hotel Exist Without Walls?01:09 Turning Empty Shops Into Hotel Rooms05:02 Inside the Urbanauts Hotel Model06:01 The Neighborhood Becomes the Hotel09:31 The Hidden Cost of Micro-Hospitality12:44 Reinventing the Ski Hotel17:54 Why the Expansion Failed25:36 Are Traditional Hotels Becoming Obsolete?29:51 Why Niche Hotels Win35:17 Hotels Are Becoming Mixed-Use39:49 Inside the Mixed-Use Hotel Stack41:11 Rooms That Adapt to Demand42:59 Why F&B Comes First46:49 The Psychology Behind Lifestyle Hotels48:23 Why Branded Residences Are Exploding51:24 Can Independent Brands Still Win?52:58 What Gen Z Actually Wants From Hotels59:53 What Hotels Will Look Like in 203501:03:22 Hotel Brand vs Independence01:06:59 The Real Power of Hotel Loyalty01:10:07 How Hilton Wins Direct Bookings01:12:18 The Future of Hospitality in One Sentence🎧 Follow Tiago & TREASURESTS:Tiago Venâncio on LinkedIn.https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiago-venancio/TREASURESTS Hospitality.https://www.treasurests.com/🔥 Follow Thibault & HXD212:Follow Thibault Catala on LinkedIn.https://www.linkedin.com/in/thibaultcatalaFollow HXD212 on Instagram.https://instagram.com/hxd212Follow HXD212 on TikTok.https://www.tiktok.com/@hxd212podcastCatala Consulting.https://catalaconsulting.co.ukRevenue Management Online Course.https://learn.thibaultcatala.com/revenuemanagement#Hospitality #HotelDesign #HotelDevelopment #LifestyleHotels #MixedUse #BrandedResidences #FutureOfHospitality #HotelInnovation #TREASURESTS #HXD212