Would the city care if there were no rooms upstairs? Reflections from The Boutique Assembly in Bangkok on building, aligning and protecting hotel restaurant concepts.

Three bars, a few blocks and one very good night in Bangkok. A field note from The NORM, Cherry Olive and Vesper on why the city’s cocktail scene is leading Asia right now.

Somewhere in the life of a hotel project, the restaurant often becomes a floor plan before it becomes a restaurant.

We can spend hours debating fabrics and finishes while still not being able to answer the most important question: why should someone choose to eat here instead of at the independent restaurant down the road?

You can forgive a slow check-in or a cramped gym, but a soggy buffet is harder to forget. A five-star stay can unravel over stale pastries and lukewarm eggs, while a thoughtful breakfast spread can become the highlight of the trip. That is the real power of the morning meal. It makes or breaks the memory of a hotel.

A personal reflection on FCSI Circle 2025, the largest gathering of foodservice and hospitality consultants ever held in our region.

With over 200 attendees from across the globe, this milestone event in Hoi An marked a new chapter for FCSI Asia Pacific and set the tone for where we’re headed next.

It’s rare to launch two new venues and speak to some of the top minds in F&B in the same place over three days. That’s exactly what happened earlier this month in Bandung. From the regional IHG conference to the official opening of KARBON and VINYL at Hotel Indigo, it was a week to remember.

We just launched our first hotel project and it’s a big one.

After more than two years of f&b strategy, design, and collaboration, LEVELS is proud to unveil Kimpton Aqeos in Clearwater Bay, Hainan—our first completed hotel and our first partnership with Kimpton Hotels.

This week, LEVELS turns five.

Which, if you’d told me back in 2020 when we kicked this thing off during the first lockdown, I might’ve laughed and then cried into my coffee. Because, let’s be honest, starting a hospitality consulting company in the middle of a global pandemic? That’s not the kind of plot twist you’d voluntarily sign up for.

Three years. Four F&B concepts. One seriously ambitious hotel opening on the southern shores of Hainan.

We’ve been quietly brewing something special behind the scenes at Kimpton Aqeos, the newest lifestyle resort set to open this May in Clearwater Bay. And now that we’re on the home stretch, it feels like the right time to let you in on the story—well, at least a taste of it.

We’re bringing in speakers from major hotel groups, celebrated chefs, leading foodservice and hospitality consultants, and key industry manufacturers to share insights at the FCSI Asia Pacific Conference: Circle 2025. Expect candid conversations—both about the exciting innovations transforming our sector and the hurdles we need to overcome together.

We uncover the latest issue of The Foodservice Consultant for insights on what is shaping the foodservice industry. We go over some of our favourite highlights from the latest issue, including words from our principal Ben Gregoire.

At the 2025 Thailand Tourism Forum, we saw Romain Dupuy speak on the importance of storytelling in hospitality and F&B design. This resonated with us at LEVELS Studio, where we integrate narratives into our design process to create immersive and meaningful guest experiences. For us, crafting narratives is at the core of our approach and it creates a cohesive element to any design.