When women lead the endorsement, the world should pay attention
In an industry where women make up the majority of the workforce but remain a minority in decision-making rooms, this endorsement is more than symbolic - it's strategic.
The Women in Transport and Tourism Association (WTTA) - a powerhouse voice for gender equity across mobility and tourism has officially backed Harry Theoharis for Secretary-General of UN Tourism.
Why? Because he walks the talk.
This isn't about optics. It's about action. It's about a leader who has shown time and again that empowering women isn't a side note to his agenda, it is the agenda. From grassroots engagement to political reform, Harry has proven that inclusive leadership is not only possible, it's powerful.
When women say he's the right choice, they're not just endorsing a candidate.
They're endorsing a future.
When women lead the endorsement, the world should pay attention.— Source: UN Tourism
About UN Tourism
UN Tourism is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. An intergovernmental organization, UN Tourism has 160 Member States, 6 Associate Members, 2 Observers and over 500 Affiliate Members. The General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization. The Executive Council takes all measures, in consultation with the Secretary-General, for the implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the General Assembly and reports to the Assembly. UN Tourism headquarters are based in Madrid, Spain. The election for Secretary General will be in May 2025.
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Looking ahead to the next decade, I believe three forms of operator are primed to shape this new, hospitality-infused office ecosystem: Landlords as Platform-Builders Traditional office landlords will evolve from passive space-renters to active platform-builders. Rather than leaving lobbies idle after 9 a.m., they'll retrofit reception areas, corridors and meeting rooms with IoT sensors, modular furniture, and open APIs. Each seat, booth, or table becomes a live 'node' in the network, broadcasting real-time data on occupancy and environmental conditions (light, sound, climate), as well as service readiness. Imagine walking into a lobby and seeing 'Quiet Focus Booth—Available' or 'Collaboration Lounge: Two Seats Open' on your corporate booking portal, complete with filtered lighting levels and coffee-machine status. 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These operators already have the playbook for staffing, brand standards, and guest engagement; extending it to full-scale office operations lets landlords tap proven distribution channels, loyalty programs, and perishable-inventory expertise, while delivering a consistent, hospitality-grade experience throughout the building. The real transformation will happen when landlords, brandlords and hospitality operators plug their spaces and services into a single, cloud-based 'office network OS,' seamlessly coordinating availability, personalization and on-site fulfillment across the entire ecosystem. This model relies on three key technology pillars: Holistic Connectivity: IoT sensors, smart locks, environmental monitors, and API endpoints turn every desk, booth, and suite into a live data stream. Static floor plans give way to dynamic 'service canvases,' where availability is updated in real time and users can filter by noise level, natural light, or proximity to amenities. Intent-Driven Matching: When a user logs in, they declare their activity intent: 'deep focus,' 'team brainstorm,' or 'client pitch.' The platform merges this with loyalty profiles (e.g., Bonvoy tier, citizenM+ membership), corporate entitlements, and environmental data to instantly recommend the ideal venue and service bundle. Behind the scenes, AI-driven algorithms predict demand surges (such as a product launch in Berlin or a trade show in Paris) and preemptively adjust pricing, seating layouts, and staffing rosters. Federated Orchestration: A rules engine balances corporate budgets, loyalty tiers, dynamic pricing rules, SLAs, and personal preferences to orchestrate bookings across landlords, brandlords, and operators. By adhering to open federation standards for availability, booking confirmation, personalization parameters, and service fulfillment, each host can plug into the network with minimal proprietary integration. This interoperability unleashes the network effect: as more venues join, the value to each member grows, fueling continuous discovery and usage. Early signs of this federated future are already emerging. CitizenM, Motel One, Penta Hotels, and The Social Hub have all opened their social lobbies for day-use, proving the core concept. ATworld has built on that foundation, first activating Aroundtown's own hotels and offices across Europe, then bringing in external hotel, coworking and gastronomy partners. Now members can browse hundreds of distinct venues, each with its own style and service, through a single app. In Berlin, for example, you might start your morning in a Moxy lobby, switch to a nearby café workspace for the afternoon, and end the day at an event in a Mindspace, all on the same membership. ATworld Mindspace Shoreditch, London — Photo by ATworld Data-Driven Self-Optimization At the heart of this network is a centralized data lake capturing every IoT ping, booking event, and Net Promoter Score. Machine-learning models trained on this dataset will: Forecast Demand : Anticipate surges around regional events or product launches, prompting pre-emptive capacity shifts per location or via pop-ups. Anticipate surges around regional events or product launches, prompting pre-emptive capacity shifts per location or via pop-ups. Detect Service Anomalies : Spot patterns like Wi-Fi slowdowns or AV glitches, triggering automated retraining sessions or equipment audits. Spot patterns like Wi-Fi slowdowns or AV glitches, triggering automated retraining sessions or equipment audits. Optimize Pricing & Staffing: Dynamically adjust rates, headcounts and space configurations in real time, just like hotel and airline revenue-management systems. Coexistence & Competition The future landscape will feature landlord-led platforms, brandlord ecosystems and hospitality-operated venues coexisting, similar to hotels, serviced apartments and coworking today. The ultimate winners will: Embrace open architectures and federation standards Master intent-driven matching and AI-powered predictions Deliver hospitality-grade consistency at scale Because, at its core, work isn't about signing multi-year leases or locking into 9-to-5 schedules; it's about delivering the right space, service, and experience at the right time (sounds familiar?). Hospitality professionals already know how to greet warmly, guide intuitively, and delight unexpectedly. Now is the moment to codify those instincts into micro-services, APIs, and machine-learning models, scaling the essence of hospitality into every office building. The learning phase: citizenM's social lobbies, Denizen's Houses, Derwent's Factory Pass, and ATworld's initial network, is nearly over. The next chapter is scaling: weaving every lobby, foyer, studio, and boardroom into one seamless, service-driven office ecosystem. Whoever masters that platform will redefine not the future of work, but the future of working.
