Welcome to The Research Happy Hour where we chat with qualitative research professionals to learn about their career paths, passions and experiences.
In our latest edition, we speak with Philippa Wagner, the sole owner and founder of PeoplePlacesSpaces, a research consultancy specializing in hospitality and design. With a people-first approach and a forward-thinking methodology, Philippa has built a career on uncovering insights that shape the future of hospitality and beyond.
In our conversation, Philippa reflects on her non-linear career journey, sharing insights into her consultancy's origins, the powerful lessons she’s learned and her approach to tackling change and fostering innovation. With advice rooted in curiosity and instinct, her story serves as a rich source of inspiration for both seasoned professionals and young researchers.
A Career Built on Curiosity, Creativity and Change
Q: Why don't we get started with a snapshot of your career - How would you describe the journey that's brought you here with us today?
"My journey has been winding and very non-linear. Everything I have done along the way has helped me learn something new and then informed my approaches." – Philippa Wagner
Philippa: My background initially was in design and I fell indirectly into research back in the late 90s, early 2000s, I started working with Philips Electronics. I ended up working in a think tank team looking at the future of fashion, textiles and technology, which is where I started to understand research. We were literally based in research laboratories in the UK, and then from there, my life segued in and out various different ways through sort of journalism and trend forecasting. It then took me from trend forecasting into strategy and then strategic research.
Along the way, there have always been these points where of course we wanted to dive a bit deeper as a trend forecaster, identifying what is going to happen tomorrow and then backing that up with some live qualitative and quantitative data. Being now in hospitality is another segue that very much came in a few years ago which is a new area, so it has been an interesting journey.
The Classroom as a Catalyst for Innovation
Q: You’ve spent a lot of time lecturing on top of the work you do in research. Do you find that engaging with students sparks new ideas or perspectives for the work you do during your days?
Philippa: Absolutely, students are amazing. They spark many new ideas, and because they haven't got the constraints of corporate land, that bandwidth is much wider which is phenomenal. What is also amazing is that I have taken many of my students with me on the winding road with me over the years. Many have come on as interns, or worked as freelance consultants. I am on a project right now where two of the people on my team are ex-students from years ago. It’s been a phenomenal foundation. I am proud to see some of the things that they are doing even though some of them are working on projects that are outside of my arena where I am today, but I know that some of the things that we have worked together on have not only pivoted me, but pivoted them. It’s great.
The Story Behind PeoplePlacesSpaces: A Consultancy Built for the Future
Q: Can you share with us more about the consultancy you built, PeoplePlacesSpaces - what was its inception story? How did it come to be, and where is it heading?
Philippa: It was actually born out of COVID like many interesting businesses. I was headhunted by Ennismore, most famously known for the Hoxton Hotels. They were looking for somebody who didn't come from the hospitality background to set up and run what was to be their insights and innovation lab. Initially, I was like I don’t want to do that, and then I was told, “no, no, you really do,” and they were right. I went in, and we created what was to be known as 23 Lab. It was built to rethink hospitality - what will be coming tomorrow.
We had a great team of people, and it was going really well. COVID hit, and the hotels shut their doors. They got rid of a lot of people, and we were one of those teams. After a few months, I took a punt and set up a hospitality consultancy.
Over the last four years, it has evolved into being a future-focused, 360-degree consultancy supporting either existing hospitality brands who want to understand what tomorrow requires and unpack their brands to future-proof them and/or new brands and developers coming to us and saying, “we would like to develop a new brand or concept and need your help,” or, “we have a building and destination and this is what we think.”
We take a people-first approach, hence PeoplePlacesSpaces. We always start with people - who is the future guest, what are their expectations, what are the trends and cultural shifts. Then, what does that mean for a place, whether a physical place or place-finding. It’s about storytelling and the narrative that already exists in that place and space. Space is both physical and emotional—creating experiences that people feel, remember, and want to share, making them return.
The Consultant’s Edge
Q: With that consultancy approach, aside from the flexibility in your life and the lives of your teams, do you feel that this approach allows you to take more creative risks or implement approaches you might not have been capable of doing in-house?
“What’s the worst that could happen?” - Philippa Wagner
Philippa: Absolutely. It’s a funny thing—if you’re a consultant, you almost get cart blanche to make statements people will listen to. Often, I’ll say something in meetings, and afterward, someone will tell me they’ve been saying the same thing to the CEO for years but weren’t listened to. For some reason, as a consultant, they listen to you. There is a freedom to being a consultant that you don't have as an incumbent.
At Ennismore, the CEO told me, “I don’t want you to know what’s going on internally. I want you to just lift the lid, prod and poke, lift a stone, make people feel uncomfortable because if you don’t, they won’t.” That freedom in my first three months there was a massive learning curve. I take that with me.
At TFE Hotels, part of the MM:NT project, I said, “Let me not be pulled into your day-to-day. Let me have that freedom because that freedom is where we can make change and innovate.” It’s not about throwing everything out but coming with a fresh perspective and a lack of worry about upsetting the status quo. There is no political wrangling because no one’s your boss or your colleague; everyone sits differently.
For PeoplePlacesSpaces, collaboration and honesty are key. We don’t just stir things up and leave; we help create guardrails for businesses and brands to move forward and activate change for the better.
MM:NT: Redefining Hospitality for a Changing World
Q: You mentioned MM:NT - I would love to understand how that project began and what some of the unique challenges there have been and unique approaches you’ve brought to the table?
Philippa: It began in a Zoom room during lockdown. I was attending a virtual conference, and they put me in a room with a random group of strangers. I met someone from the TFE European team who already had an idea for a test lab for the future of hospitality. They knew the world was changing, and travel wouldn’t exist in the same way, but they didn’t know how or why yet. They asked me to develop a concept of who our future guests would be, what we’d be testing, and why.
What was supposed to be three months has evolved into nearly three years. I’ve become the brand lead or the “brand police,” as I’ve named myself, to ensure it lives and exists within the business. We started by asking who the future guests were and what value expectations they were looking for. We did a huge trend study to understand changes in hospitality and travel and identified a mindset—kindred travelers—aligned with specific values and brands.
We created a series of brand principles and then a brand itself, MM:NT. The idea wasn’t to create a brand but a lab where people could stay and provide feedback in real time—not through post-stay surveys or NPS scores but by capturing how they feel when they walk in. It’s about the moment—their expressions, their words, and their experience.
We developed 'Moment in Time' at the Berlin Lab. The learnings were so strong that MM:NT is now part of TFE’s brand stack under their global casual living goal, which is a fantastic outcome.
Milestones and Lessons: Philippa’s Most Pivotal Moments
Q: Looking back at your incredible winding journey, what’s a standout moment or achievement for you? What’s a standout challenge that you overcame?
Philippa: The standout moment has to be the Berlin Lab project, simply because it's like my portfolio of our approach with PeoplePlacesSpaces—from research to physical space to a brand new brand, and then back into research to validate what we started with. To have a brief like that land on anyone's lap, and for a company like TFE to say, “We want you to lead this,” was phenomenal.
There have been many small signal moments along the way that have led to that. My career being very non-linear has always been about going into something else, finding something, and working alongside somebody with a curiosity that makes you question something in a different way. At Ennismore, we first started to work in a way where we hacked a market research tool and put people into a physical space to create a feedback loop that gives the non-biased, faceless opportunity.
Ennismore gave me the love of hospitality as an industry. That was a breakout moment of going, “Wow, this is an industry that I love, and I feel very at home in.”
Looking Back, Moving Forward: Philippa’s Lessons for the Next Generation
Q: If you could return to the beginning of your career, is there something that you wish someone had told you? What advice would you pass on to future researchers?
Philippa: Don’t be afraid to ask. Don’t be afraid to be curious. Curiosity has been key to my career, and I always tell students to trust their instinct. My whole career has been based on instinct—feeling something and believing it.
Data is helpful, but it’s always historical because if you have data, it’s already happened. You should use gut instinct to innovate and push forward, using data to help put stakes in the ground, not to dictate what to do next. If you rely too heavily on data, you end up doing what everyone else is doing, and it clips your wings.
So, stay curious and open. Don’t let someone tell you, “No, because it’s always been done this way.” My company wouldn’t exist if I had taken that advice.
That One Question…
Q: What's the best question you've ever been asked?
Philippa: Maybe not the best question I've ever been asked, but the most important is, often from clients, “How can I embrace change?” The embrace is the key. Change isn’t the important part—it’s the output. As humans, we often don’t like change. It’s an incredible responsibility and privilege to work with CEOs and their teams to enable it, whether on a small or big scale, because small, incremental things can make a big change.
Philippa Wagner’s journey demonstrates the impact of curiosity and a willingness to question the norm. Her ability to connect people, places, and spaces highlights how innovation thrives at the intersection of insight and imagination. Whether shaping hospitality’s future or mentoring the next generation of researchers, Philippa proves that meaningful change begins with bold ideas and a focus on the human experience. We thank Philippa for sharing her insights and experiences with us.
Stay tuned for more inspiring stories and insightful conversations as part of The Research Happy Hour series.
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