The hotelisation of real estate is moving from a niche trend to a core investment strategy, and FHS Living Paris 2027 is where Europe’s capital, developers and operators will meet to put it to work. Taking place on 23–24 February 2027 at Pullman Paris Montparnasse, the forum has confirmed its first speakers, with more names to follow in the coming weeks.
FHS Living is part of Future Hospitality Summit (FHS), the investment series organised by The Bench, which has run hospitality investment forums for more than two decades. The first line-up includes leaders from Brookfield, Nuveen Real Estate, Aroundtown, Realstar, Candy Capital, citizenM, Maslow’s, Accor and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.
What Is the Hotelisation of Real Estate?
The hotelisation of real estate means applying hotel-style hospitality, design, services and management to properties that were never hotels, including offices, residential apartments, co-living spaces and mixed-use developments. FHS Living covers nine asset classes: hotels and resorts, branded residences, student accommodation (PBSA), senior living, serviced living, co-living, shared ownership, club concepts and mixed-use developments. Investors are no longer asking whether hospitality-led real estate works. They want to know which operators and structures make it bankable.
Europe Living Sector Investment: The Numbers Behind the Momentum
The case for Paris rests on the data. Investment in Europe’s living sectors rose 22% to €62.2 billion in 2025 and is forecast to exceed €70 billion in 2026, according to JLL. In its EMEA Living Market Perspectives 2026, JLL also reports that living made up 30% of direct real estate investment in 2025, the largest sector in EMEA for the second year running.
Large deals are driving the recovery. Investment in deals over €500 million more than doubled from 2024, reaching the highest level since 2021. Diversification is also underway: care homes were the fastest-growing sector, up 165% year-on-year with some €14.4 billion invested. Buyers from the Americas made up a third of total investment.
Supply is the other side of the story. CBRE estimates that Europe faces a shortfall of 9.6 million homes. That gap is why policy, planning and new operating models feature so prominently on the FHS Living programme. JLL’s own research director has noted that challenges persist in unlocking new supply.
Branded Residences Europe: A 38% Premium
Branded residences show most clearly what hospitality expertise can add to a property. According to Savills, Europe’s brand premium now stands at 38%, up from 29% twelve months earlier, against a global average of 33%. The same Savills research shows 141 completed projects in Europe, projected to grow by 113% to over 300 within the next decade. Resort-led schemes are expected to account for nearly two-thirds of the European market by 2032.
For investors, the lesson is that operators and brands now carry real pricing power. Savills’ broader branded residences research shows how widely premiums vary by location, which makes careful asset selection essential.
Who Is Speaking at FHS Living Paris 2027?
The first confirmed speakers span the whole value chain:
1. Investors: Lauren Okada Young (Brookfield), Jasper Gilbey (Nuveen Real Estate), Kamaldeep Manaktala (Aroundtown), Ryan Prince (Realstar and UNCLE), Nick Candy (Candy Capital) and Annemarie Manning (Orange Capital Partners).
2. Operators and brands: Michael Levie (citizenM), Guy Ivesha (Maslow’s), Jan Garde (THE EMBASSIES of Good Living), Dimitris Manikis (Wyndham Hotels & Resorts) and Jeff Tisdall (Accor One Living).
3. Developers and advisors: Barry Landsberg (Landsberg Residential Consulting), Dirk Bakker (Necron Group), Fritz Dickamp (Studio 49), David Keen (QUO) and Eric Jafari (Aendre).
Former HARDtalk presenter Stephen Sackur completes the line-up. Accor One Living is Founding Partner, with Maslow’s and Meliá Hotels International as Headline Partners.
A Programme Built Around Deals
FHS Living is investor-led and hosted investor meetings run on both days. These are pre-qualified, pre-scheduled 1:1 introductions between capital, developers and operators, so delegates meet the partners relevant to their mandates in one visit.
Main-stage sessions cover Europe’s living investment outlook, whether the operator is the missing piece in hotelisation, who the resident really is, and what makes hotelised living bankable. Dedicated tracks look at student housing, senior living and branded residences. Masterclasses, roundtables and case study clinics reveal the real numbers behind completed deals, and a networking reception and site visits to key living assets round out the two days.
The format draws on the FHS series’ track record. In 2025, it brought together more than 3,000 senior delegates, including 621 investors, and generated €2.68bn in business opportunities.
Why FHS Living Paris 2027 Matters
Ali Shahid, CEO of The Bench, describes FHS Living as the one room that brings Europe’s living-sector investors, developers and operators together to move deals forward. With record capital flows, a deep housing shortfall and rising premiums for hospitality-led product, the timing is hard to ignore.
To explore the programme, partners and delegate options, visit The Bench.
