Lipstick on Legacy — and Other Signs of the Times

For years I told myself this was cyclical, that quality, taste, and a sense of proportion would eventually return. The pendulum, I thought, would swing back. This year cured me of that illusion. What we are watching is not a pendulum at all, it is a ratchet, one that only tightens.

Not long ago, a viral post on LinkedIn put it rather bluntly, “Ritz-Carlton is just a Marriott with lipstick on.” I have quietly thought the same for twenty years. The comments that followed swept in Four Seasons, Aman, and almost every brand that once stood for individuality and now seems intent on ironing it out. If 2025 proved anything, it is that the industry has stopped even pretending otherwise. The masks have slipped, and behind them lies not malice, but indifference. Growth has replaced greatness.

A few weeks later, Six Senses announced the creation of a Cluster Reservations Centre for Rome, Ibiza, and soon-to-open Milan. The tone of the announcement was breathless, “Think of it as a hub where la dolce vita meets Mediterranean sunshine!” The reality was less poetic. One call centre in Milan will now handle enquiries for three hotels, in two countries, and three very different destinations. The people answering the phone will almost certainly never have set foot in any of them. They will sell “immersive experiences” by reading from a script, the very script the brand once prided itself on never needing.