Theme: Changes | HIX EUROPE 2026

HIX 2026: Changes

This year, we’re embracing ‘Changes’.

As we move to our exciting new home at Excel London – a hyper-connected, purpose-built Docklands blank canvas ready for bold ideas and fresh perspectives – we’re also thrilled to share that the European AHEAD Awards will join us, adding even more energy and prestige to this year’s event.

With the theme writing itself, we’re reflecting on change through the lens of design, hospitality and travel. We’re exploring what it means to exchange one thing for another. To evolve. To rethink. To become different.

From the call of “All Change!” – pause, step off, reflect, and continue your journey – to Bowie’s timeless creative mantra, “Ch-Ch Changes. Turn and face the strange.”

For 2026, the tide moves in a new direction.

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What to expect at HIX Europe

Across two days of panels, presentations and interviews, HIX Talks explores the future of hotel design with the industry’s brightest minds.

Sharing actionable advice and the inside stories behind world-leading projects and practices, hear from our leading line-up of expert industry speakers as they address the challenges and opportunities set to define a new era of hospitality experience.

Guided by our HIX 2026 theme 'Changes', this year’s agenda explores the unique customs, values and histories of design cultures both global and local, and the power of authentic hospitality narratives in a quickly changing market.

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All Change

HIX Europe 2026 isn't just another event. It's a complete reimagining within an all-new curated, creative campus. This year, we're celebrating how change shapes hospitality design – through installations, talks, and activations that explore three fundamental pillars:

Shifting directions. Brands pivoting. Interiors evolving. Guest experiences reimagined.

Altered spaces. Refurbishments. Design modifications. The invisible progress powered by technology.

Transformative experiences. From design proposition to guest potential – because great hospitality doesn't just respond to change. It creates it.

At our new home Excel London we are keeping the HIX touchpoints that resonate with Europe’s hospitality design community while pushing everything forward.

We’re inviting our audience, with words that still echo across decades, to "turn and face the strange". This mantra will set the tone for the grand finale of HIX, AHEAD Europe, also moving to a new venue Magazine London and it’s theme of ‘Rebels Reinvented' similarly embracing the spirit of ‘ch-ch-changes.'

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Changes and Memphis

When deciding on an event theme we feel for direction as opposed to thinking about it. The perfect theme should capture a sense of zeitgeist as opposed to trends, and should be inclusive for speakers, exhibitors and guests alike. Your decision to attend, the way you experience and the inspiration you take from HIX, can all be driven by the right theme.

As we move to our new Docklands home we were naturally drawn to the word 'Changes' through a re-imagining of the guest experience and the creation of the HIX and AHEAD 'campus'. With changes as prompt, our collective inner mood board quickly pinned Memphis Style as the perfect visual cue.

Founded in 1982, the Memphis group was a collective of architects and designers tasked with challenging convention, pushing boundaries and offering vibrant alternatives in design. Like so many creative moments of re-direction Memphis was reacting to familiarity and comfort and this immediately resonated with us.

Tasked with creating a fresh design language, the resulting aesthetic was characterised by bright colours, geometric shapes and strong patterns and it quickly seeped into fashion, architecture, interiors, music and film.

Nearly 50 years one and this bold style still stirs today's creative spirit. Mayfair's irreverent restaurant, bar and gallery, Sketch have just announced their collaboration with Grey Goose and artist Camille Walala for their 2026 Autumn exhibition. Walala's work gives a firm nod to the Memphis Style and can be experienced public spaces globally, including the streets of HIX's new East London neighbourhood through large scale murals in Shoreditch, Canary Wharf and Leyton.

Memphis at HIX and AHEAD Europe

We are excited to be collaborating with leading art curator for hospitality, Double Decker, as they bring a bespoke piece of interactive art to HIX Europe. Inspired by changes and Memphis, this art work will very much define our pre-event campaign and be a visual touch point at the vent itself. The artwork will be part of HIX Originals, a collection of bespoke pieces that have been created exclusively for the event. Double Decker have curated art for the finest hotels across the globe and they'll be bringing the work of Peter Judson, an exciting multi-discipline artist to HIX. Judson has created work for Hermes, Mubi and Hyundai amongst other global brands. We can't wait to share more with you soon.