Experience Matters 2025

• Balancing competing demands in experience delivery - The top-ranked experience drivers are safety and convenience, together with uniqueness and fun, highlighting the growing challenges of delivering often competing demands.

• Personalization focuses on welcoming environments, human interaction and lifestyle factors - Growing demand for personalization in real estate requires developers and occupiers to integrate lifestyle factors, branding, technology and interactions for hospitality inspired spaces that are more personal and memorable.

• Wellness and ethical sourcing are leading sustainability preferences - Sustainability is of growing importance, but people value tangible sustainability factors the most, prioritizing health and wellness, green spaces and ethical sourcing.
  

• People seek AI and technology that enhances, rather than distracts, from experience - AI and technology integration are seen as enablers for improved urban living and day-to-day activity, but consumers still prioritize in-person interactions.
  
  

Expectations of ‘experience’ in the built environment continue to evolve as a central value driver for investments. Experience factors in real estate are interconnected and multifaceted, encompassing not just the quality and atmosphere of spaces, but how well interactions and events take place within them. JLL’s 2025 Experience Matters research draws from data collected from 12,000 respondents across 19 markets and 64 cities to provide insights into priorities and opportunities for the real estate sector.

Experience factors are a key component in development strategies focused on achieving premium rental values and enhanced returns on investments. For corporate occupiers, experience-led design can support talent attraction, increased footfall and spend, and consumer and employee satisfaction. As this becomes more commonplace, the expectations on existing assets are also rising, with experience emerging as a key factor in obsolescence risks.

Globally, expectations are high. Two-thirds of people globally expect the places and spaces where they live, work and play, to provide more enjoyment, diverse activities, and add value to the time they spend there. Consumer willingness to pay premiums for high-quality experiences has also grown, from 65% in 2024 to 69% in 2025, with income and generational factors indicating this will continue.

While many experience factors are now accepted baseline requirements, such as environmental performance or quality of design, others are shifting or evolving in response to wider economic or social factors. In 2025, eight priority areas have been identified that reflect underlying sentiment in experience expectations globally. These highlight opportunities for real estate developers, investors and occupiers to prioritize interventions or investment targeted at increased footfall, talent attraction or consumer spend. 

A nuanced understanding of technology is emerging from end-users, while eco-consciousness is a growing driver in emerging economies and younger generations. Personalization has become increasingly common in products and retail in recent years, and that is now translating into broader expectations on real estate as consumers prioritize places that are lifestyle focused (wellness, eco-brands, etc.), provide choice and flexibility and reflect local culture and identity.

As today’s real estate sector is primarily shifting towards experience-led strategies to create and enhance value, developments and buildings are increasingly under pressure to provide highly diverse and dynamic offerings. However, overly complex interactions or over-provision of novelty can have a negative impact on end-users’ enjoyment and satisfaction with spaces. 

The complexity in delivery experience can be seen in our research, as the top-ranked drivers are safety and convenience, and uniqueness and fun, highlighting the challenges of consistently delivering often competing demands and needs in buildings and developments.

Within the built environment, consumers want to be loyal and benefit from the convenience of mixed-use developments that offer a range of amenities and destinations. While 60% say they prefer to return to familiar places and 73% prefer to visit multi-purpose destinations, this commitment is not unconditional. The importance of consistency and ‘trust’ is therefore emerging as a key component of experience strategies for developments as it helps to build loyalty and meet long-term objectives for footfall, attendance or visitors.

Critical value drivers for building trust in mixed-use developments are personalization (74% prefer brands that remember them), ethical practices (66% value ethical sourcing), and contribution to local community and business ecosystems (72% expect businesses to contribute to local communities).

Family-friendly environments rank higher in 2025 than 2024, with greater focus on inclusive spaces and provision of spaces for all generations. Traditional differentiators like exclusivity, technology and social media appeal have declined in importance from 2024 to 2025, suggesting that consumers increasingly value practical convenience, event and activity-based experiences and holistic wellbeing over status-driven features .

Despite consumers’ preference for multi-activity and mixed-use developments, delivering high-quality and specific experiences across varied asset classes, or a combination of these, can be a challenge at any scale of development. 

The factors which drive return visits can vary significantly, as consumers prioritize relaxing atmospheres at restaurants while emphasizing the need for distinct design and excitement in cultural spaces. And while family-friendly environments and unique experiences are common across typologies, retail demands personalization whereas entertainment requires fun and excitement balanced with relaxation. 

In response to these increasingly complex requirements, the necessity for flexibility and variety in buildings and developments is becoming more and more important.

Taking into account flexibility requirements and constraints at both design and operational stages is vital (including flexible building systems and infrastructure), with innovative approaches to modular fit-outs and flexible leasing strategies being some potential strategies .

Consumers increasingly view spaces as extensions of their personal identity, values and aspirations, and this is driving personalization trends. Driven by shifting expectations across demographics, younger and mid-aged generations are curating lifestyles that reflect values around family, ethics and community contribution rather than simply buying products. 

As personalization has become increasingly common in products and retail in recent years, this is now seen in broader expectations in places and spaces. 69% choose places that align to their personal values over convenience or price and 74% like to visit brands that recognize them as a customer and personalize their products or experience. Technology is pivotal in enabling more personalized interactions with spaces, and AI solutions present opportunities for developers and occupiers as 63% of people report that AI in entertainment venues will enhance personalization and enjoyment in the future.

Premium positioning now requires clear lifestyle differentiation, as consumers prioritize ethical sourcing, local businesses and personalized events, and a clear trend is emerging for places that are locally connected and support social connection. 

This means real estate needs to consider how it can use a combination of technology, brand strategy and programming to create spaces that are more hospitality focused, with welcoming environments and human interaction for more personal and memorable experiences associated with real estate.

Our data reveals consistent patterns across global markets, with value-driven indicators showing remarkable stability across age groups, suggesting this trend will strengthen as younger generations mature into their peak spending years. 

Personalization preferences differ considerably by generation, and Millennial consumers are driving lifestyle affirmation trends in the places they visit, as they have both purchasing power and established identity preferences. 79% of those aged 35-44 years prefer to visit brands that personalize their experience, compared to the average of 74%. This group also expects more bespoke activities in the places they visit, as 72% expect retail spaces to provide events and in-store experiences.

Recent global research from JLL Design confirms this desire for personalization in the retail environment, specifically – and even hyper-localization based on community or culture. 

For corporate occupiers, employees expect their workspaces to meet their personal preferences for flexibility and greater choice of spaces, while also delivering welcoming and vibrant work environments. This applies to location also, as 74% of full-time workers in this research say they prefer to ‘shop and socialize after work around my workplace’, seeking choice and personalization in their workspace neighborhoods. Considering ‘street to seat’ experience for employees in location strategies will become increasingly important not only in head offices or CBDs but also in secondary locations.

Sustainable developments have primarily been driven by regulation and energy efficiency requirements; however, a growing concern for environmental and social sustainability across consumers, employees and residents now influences sustainable design choices in the built environment. 

Consumer-led sustainability priorities center on a ‘proximity effect’ as people value tangible sustainability initiatives such as green spaces and biophilic design, or local sourcing and community connection.

This proximity effect reveals sustainability factors which people directly interact with score higher than perceived abstract environmental commitments. Local sourcing (68%) outperforms eco-conscious brands (66%), suggesting that consumers value tangible community connection, while the importance of wellbeing and green spaces near workplaces is the most important factor overall, with 73% agreeing. 

Health and wellness are top priorities for people, increasingly driving consumer decisions on where to live and visit, with direct impact on requirements for ‘destination spaces’ in cities, neighborhoods and workplaces. With 71% of respondents agreeing it's important to live in a healthy city and 68% ranking health & wellness as an important factor that influences their choice of place for different activities, wellness trends continue to reshape real estate. 

Reflecting wider trends in the wellness consumer sector, younger generations are more health conscious are driving this, with 76% of those aged 25-34 years prioritizing healthy cities and 71% ranking health and wellness the top factors for the places they visit. 

Developers and occupiers should focused on integrating features that support physical health, mental wellbeing and social health in building design and placemaking. 68% agree that health and wellness is extremely or very important in choosing where they visit for leisure and entertainment, and 64% agree it is extremely or very important for retail amenities. In addition to the inclusion of health-focussed brands, developments should consider careful choices of material finishes and greenery, active design principles – encouraging movement through design features – and community spaces for enhancing social engagement.

In workplaces, health and wellbeing requires more holistic approaches that consider not just wellness amenities in offices but designing for lower stress environments and enhance social interaction. Recent JLL research shows that mental wellness and burnout risk are top concerns for employees worldwide in 2025; 77% of full-time workers surveyed in this research think green spaces near their workplace improves wellbeing. Considering the wider impacts of workplace design wellbeing alongside locational and amenity factors is required for occupiers to meet the expectations and needs of employees.

Technology is one of the most significant drivers of change for real estate and is increasingly an integral part of how people interact with places and spaces. The use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) in buildings is now also accelerating technology integration in buildings. Emerging AI solutions are seen as a growing opportunity for developers and occupiers to automate building systems and improve efficiency and energy performance. However, wider trends and solutions for AI and technology for accessing information, booking apps and AR (Augmented Reality) tools is changing the role of technology in retail, entertainment venues or workplaces, with a knock-on impact for people’s experience in these spaces. 

Global sentiment towards technology and its role in cities and buildings is broadly positive, with greater support for integrated urban solutions than technology within individual spaces. However, end-users prefer technology to be seamlessly integrated to support their day-to-day living and experiences and have more mixed views on the value of direct interfaces with technology such as automated or AI info kiosks, VR (Virtual Reality) or booking apps. As an emerging technology, sentiment towards AI is lower, with many end-users unsure of how AI will create value for the places and spaces where they live, work and visit. 

Technology sentiment varies significantly by generation. Older generations are less likely to see technology as important for buildings and places, or want to use innovative technology solutions, while those aged 25-44 years are most likely to embrace technology. 

The youngest generations (or the younger generation) surveyed, those aged 18-24 years, are also slightly less likely to value technology or AI. This reflects reports that younger generation are increasingly aware of the impact of technology on their daily lives, and more conscious of how they integrate it into their lives.

One area where the generational gap is most stark is in views on immersive technology. This technology has become more common in buildings, and many developments are integrating immersive technology as experience differentiators, including VR (Virtual Reality) entertainment and social spaces, immersive digital retail spaces and innovative immersive collaboration spaces in workplaces. However, the novelty aspect of this may act as a detractors for many people, and developers and occupiers should be careful of oversaturation of technology in buildings and places.

Despite a strong preference for technology that enhances experience and supports consumer convenience, there is also a growing interest in spaces without technology. Almost two-thirds of people are seeking spaces specifically for 'digital detox', an emerging typology in the built environment. Interestingly, this group is not generally anti-technology. In fact, people who agree they would like to visit digital detox spaces are those who are more likely to want to use technology across different spaces and activities - including VR and smart buildings - and embrace AI-enabled spaces for entertainment and retail. This reflects consumers' desire for intentional technology curation and smart-city integration that enhances rather than replaces human connection while balancing digital enablement with authentic experiences.

JLL Design’s global research echoes this desire for human connection in the physical retail or restaurant environment, where less than one-third (32%) of consumers say they’d prefer a highly efficient AI bot over a human associate.

A small but growing number of entertainment and social spaces are now implementing ‘no-phone’ policies, removing reliance on digital apps or QR codes for information and focusing on spaces for social interaction.

In workplaces, technology free spaces can be more difficult, but occupiers are considering low-tech collaboration spaces for innovation sessions and tech-free social spaces as contrasting options to enhanced AV and hybrid meeting rooms.

Contact JLL Consulting Services today.