LSN : Daily Signals : Need to Know 08 : 03 : 18

1. Knours skincare app tracks hormonal fluctuations

Knours, US

US – With the tagline ‘Know your skin. Period.’, Knours provides product recommendations at different points in a woman’s hormonal cycle. The eight-product clean beauty range is accompanied by an artificially intelligent app, known as U-Kno, which tracks users’ monthly cycle, collating this with medical insight into skin condition and mood fluctuations, to demystify their changing beauty needs throughout the month.

The collection includes a Double Duty Mist, which contains moisturising squalene and jojoba oils. These ingredients naturally rise to the top, while the aloe vera water and botanical extracts sink to the bottom, allowing for the option of shaking them together to target dry, tired skin or using the water-based ingredients on their own when skin is at its most sensitive.

2. The family hostel gets a Millennial revamp

A&O hostel, Bremen

A&O hostel, Copenhagen

A&O hostel, Bremen

A&O hostel, Copenhagen

Berlin – At ITB Berlin 2018, Europe’s largest hostel company A&O presented a redesign that will see all 34 of its locations become design-led hostels with living room lobbies by the end of the year.

A&O’s budget hostels cater for guests of all ages, with a particular focus on the family market. Hostels feature a kids’ corner with indoor play facilities, family rooms with double beds and children's bunk beds, and outdoor play areas where seasonal barbecue events are held. With its rebrand, the hostel is acknowledging the ageing Millennial demographic, who are increasingly travelling with children but still seeking out stylish accommodation that remains value for money and fits with their design-led lifestyle.

As outlined in our Millennial Family Travel Market, hospitality brands must mature with their Millennial consumers, who prefer the community-driven hostel experience over child-friendly resorts.

We will be reporting live from ITB Berlin, so check back tomorrow and next week for insights from the show.

3. Scientists pioneer new probiotic snack category

Spain/Brazil – As interest in probiotics continues to grow, researchers at the Universitat Politècnica de València and the Universidade Federal do Ceará have developed a method for fortifying fruit to promote good gut health.

The scientists impregnated apple chunks with the probiotic Lactobacillus casei and dried them at a variety of temperatures using both ultrasound-assisted and conventional air-drying.

The study shows that drying the fruit at 60 degrees left enough viable cells for it to qualify as a probiotic product. ‘[Probiotics] contribute to reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes. They have anti-inflammatory potential and protect against colitis,’ says the study’s co-author Juan Andrés Cárcel.

Fermented foods such as kimchi and kombucha can be an acquired taste. This break-through signals the development of a new food category in the near future with all of the health benefits of traditional probiotics but with less divisive flavours.

Hybris Series by Monica Piloni at The Embassy of Food, Dutch Design Week 2017

4. Routinely wants to simplify fitness for travellers

Manhattan, New York – Routinely makes working out easier on the go with a new subscription service that delivers high-end workout gear to any hotel front desk in Manhattan. For £7.20 ($10, €8) a day, customers can rent a set of Nike, Under Armour, adidas or Rhone activewear, guaranteed to arrive within two hours of ordering online.

Although not directly affiliated with any hotels, Routinely taps into the growing desire among consumers for hotels that facilitate wellness by enabling consumers to keep up their fitness routine even while away from home.

‘We want to change consumer behaviour and make rental activewear a viable solution,’ says co-founder Will Tso. ‘The pain point is biggest in travel, but the hassle also exists for locals who carry their workout stuff around all day... stay tuned.’

5. Luxury e-commerce becomes increasingly important

E-commerce is now increasingly popular among luxury consumers, who are searching for products online from trusted high-end brands. This shift in consumer mindset is having an effect on bricks-and-mortar retail, which according to Bain & Co, will need to evolve beyond ‘a transactional role to become venues for a broader range of customer interactions’.

‘With the remarkable growth of the online channel, the role of physical store will need to change. Stores haven't lost their purpose, but brands need to re-invent them to better engage with customers in a way that transcends channels,’ explains the Bain Luxury Study.

We will looking in depth at the future of retail across both the mainstream and luxury sectors at our forthcoming Retail Futures Forum.

6. Thought-starter: Can Arctic travel be eco-friendly?

Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta has unveiled the design for Svart, the world’s first energy-positive hotel in Norway’s Arctic Circle. We talk to senior architect Zenul Khan about the importance of conscious design in extreme environments.

‘From the beginning we were aware that trying to achieve an energy-positive hotel was relatively challenging,’ Khan tells LS:N Global. The brand incorporated solar panels across the entire circumference of the roof to generate a high amount of energy throughout the year, which it then sells back to the grid.

The Svart hotel is a Powerhouse project, meaning it is a collaboration between Snøhetta and companies such as real estate firm Entra Eiendom, construction company Skanska, environmental NGO ZERO, aluminium extrusion company Sapa and consulting firm Asplan Viak, which work together to create zero-emission or energy-plus buildings.

‘By pooling all of these various professionals in one unit, we were able to have a hands-on process from the beginning,’ says Khan.

Read the full Q&A here.