From the Jersey Shore to the Sunset Strip, the Garden of the Gods to Boston Common, the Eden Roc to the El Capitan, Curator Hotel and Resort Collection has been on an absolute tear, bringing some of the most unique and independent properties in the country together in a groundbreaking collective.

Jennifer Barnwell talks with us about Curator's ROI-first model and value proposition, the "brand or boutique dilemma" for hotel owners, keeping the indie vibe intact, and the human touch versus automation. Plus: robot massages, Parisian adventures, and the special sauce that goes into evaluating properties to join Curator.

We're here, it's happening, 2026 is officially a thing. As we restart our brains for the new year, we ponder:

• Is Hushpitality a thing?
• The good news about global growth
• Fatigue as a good thing in travel
• The shift away from marquee names and places
• The shift toward shoulder seasons and cost concerns
• How travel will be shaped less by whims and more by economic realism
• Eastern Europe's rise as a travel alternative
• How refinancing pressure is going to reshape hotel ownership structure
• The literary and movie travel trend

When you walk into the Mayflower Hotel, it feels like a film set, the ideal visual representation of what a hotel should be. It is one of the most important venues in the shaping of America, hotel or otherwise. The conversations, the deals, the A-list encounters, the scandals that shook politics. It was a place that knew how to keep a secret. Until it didn't.

It survived depressions, wars, setbacks, inaugurations, ownership changes, and J. Edgar Hoover. This year marks its centennial, and we talk with one of its former employees to see inside "Washington's Second Best Address."