LSN : Daily Signals : The Future Laboratory and Bacardi unveil 2026 cocktail trends report

The Future Laboratory and Together Group release latest New Codes of Luxury report

Global – The Future Laboratory and Together Group have joined forces to release the latest instalment in the companies’ New Codes of Luxury strategic foresight series, Elevating the Hospitality Guest Experience with AI. The report examines how artificial intelligence is poised to reshape the guest experience in luxury hospitality and beyond.

‘Exploring AI in hospitality felt like the natural next step in our New Codes of Luxury series. Hospitality has the potential to become a blueprint for luxury innovation, and as AI firmly enters the frame, we are moving towards a future when technology becomes a driver of guest experiences that are anticipatory and truly personalised,’ said Alex Hawkins, director of strategic foresight at The Future Laboratory.

The report maps the consumer shifts, innovation frontiers and practical paths forward for luxury brands in hospitality. Drawing on emerging applications of AI and digital twin technologies, the report charts shifting guest expectations, new innovation horizons and the operational models luxury brands must embrace to stay ahead. It identifies how technology will soon enhance every stage of the guest journey, offering intelligent, adaptive and deeply human forms of service that move with travellers across destinations.

The findings are grounded in quantitative research with 2,000 luxury travellers across the UK and the US, alongside insights from leading industry experts. Together, they reveal how AI can unlock new dimensions of seamlessness, personalisation and place-based discovery.

This report was created in partnership with Together Group, a curated collective of creative consultancies, technology and production studios crafting the future of luxury and lifestyle. The group blends creativity, culture and cutting-edge immersive technologies to create and elevate brands, experiences and destinations of the future.

Download the New Codes of Luxury: Elevating the Hospitality Guest Experience with AI report now.

The Future Laboratory and Bacardi unveil 2026 cocktail trends report

Global – Bacardi has released its latest annual Cocktail Trends Report, produced in partnership with The Future Laboratory. Drawing on bartender interviews, consumer surveys and The Future Laboratory’s foresight analysis, the report charts shifting behaviours among Legal Drinking Age (LDA) consumers and the cocktails set to dominate 2026.

Key themes include the rise of earlier, lighter ‘daycap’ drinking rituals, with more than half of young LDA consumers in France (51%) and a third in the US (34%) moving socialising into the afternoon. The report also highlights a growing appetite for analogue, intentional connection, with 84% of consumers saying technology has made interactions feel less personal. Local provenance is increasingly important too, with 77% of consumers now checking ingredient origin labels.

‘Consumers are moving from curating experiences to cultivating connections. The pendulum has swung from digital convenience to human creativity, and the drinks industry sits at the centre of that shift,’ said Martin Raymond, co-founder of The Future Laboratory.

Download the full report here.

The Facundo Rum Collection from Bacardi, London

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Stat: Green skills demand outpaces talent growth

AI imagery by The Future Laboratory, UK

Global – A new LinkedIn report reveals a widening global green skills gap, as demand for environmentally focused talent accelerates faster than the workforce can keep up. According to the LinkedIn Green Skills Report, demand for green skills is now growing twice as fast as the rate at which workers are developing them, signalling a critical imbalance that could derail climate goals and future economic value.

Once niche expertise, green skills – defined as those directly combatting the effects of climate change – have become core business competencies, underpinning innovation, efficiency and resilience across every sector.

Workers with green skills are already benefitting, experiencing a 46.6% higher hiring rate than the general workforce. Yet while green talent concentration continues to grow, its pace has weakened. Without accelerated upskilling and strategic investment, the gap between climate ambition and implementation risks widening further – posing both a workforce and a planetary challenge.

Sue Duke, LinkedIn’s vice-president of public policy and economic graph, says: ‘The path from climate ambition to action is paved with economic opportunity, but the gulf between demand and supply continues to put this at risk. We will only close the gap if decisive action is taken now.’

Explore more analysis in our Work States topic.

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