🛎️  The B&B comeback

👋  Good morning. If this week is feeling like a total shipwreck, we’ve got some on-theme news. Researchers just used a remotely operated vehicle and the same submersible that rediscovered the Titanic to snap shots of explorer Ernest Shackleton’s final ship, Quest. The ship sits ~1.3k feet under the Labrador Sea, where it’s been waiting for its moment in the spotlight since being rediscovered in 2024. 

NEWS FLASH 

♻️ Your leggings’ next leg: Lululemon helped back a $30m fundraising round for Syntetica, a French startup using a novel method to recycle nylon. It's developed a way to recycle mixed nylon textiles — a notoriously difficult waste stream — into pellets that can be spun into new clothing. The company says its process works on both major types of nylon without needing to separate them first, a key hurdle that has long stymied textile recycling.

✌ The psychedelics business gets a big boost: You would be forgiven for not batting an eye at the average Eli Lilly acquisition — all just a matter of course for a $1.1T pharma giant — but its latest one marks a turning point. Lilly’s estimated $3.8B purchase of AtaiBeckley and its promising psychedelic-based nasal spray, being developed to address treatment-resistant depression, is an unmistakable signal: Big Pharma’s buying into the psychedelics race.

🚗 Inspection in a snap: Sheryl Sandberg led a $10m investment in Self Inspection, a startup that uses AI to turn your smartphone into an autobody shop. Instead of sending cars to inspectors, users can take guided photos that are analyzed by AI for damage, estimated repair costs, and detailed inspection reports. The company says it has already completed 1m+ inspections and saved customers $80m+ and 300k+ hours of work.

MORE NEWS TO KNOW

• Feeling down Down Under: A new Gallup poll found nearly 80% of employees across Australia and New Zealand feel unengaged at work. (Let’s just hit that again to let it really set in: Nearly 4 in 5 employees are adrift. Yikes.)
  
• More brutal polls: A new Washington Post-Ipsos survey saw 66% of Americans describe groceries as “unaffordable,” which is both correct (lookin’ at you, $6 clamshell of blueberries) and sharply up from February’s poll (only 45% were lamenting back then).
  
• Sorry… one more worrisome stat: Data centers are expected to add $6.3B to electricity costs for homes and businesses across 13 states and Washington, D.C., as AI’s strain on the nation’s power grid continues to surge.
  
• Mind over matter: China says startup Neuracle has completed the first implant of a commercially approved brain-computer interface, allowing a patient with a spinal cord injury to control a robotic glove using only their thoughts. 
  

MANAGE MILLENNIALS

On managing millennials at work

Those darn kids grew up pretty quick.

Can you believe the youngest millennials are almost turning 30…? The full squad (their word, not ours) comprises 36% of the US workforce, so it’s safe to say they hold a lot of weight.

They’re fueled by culture, high on tech, and low on trust. They want money, balance, freedom, feedback, and to top it off, leaders who actually care.

Here’s how to understand them, oversee them, stay away from “ick,” and stop the quiet quitting — red flags and green flags galore.

Gen Y wisdom

THE BIG IDEA

Are fed-up customers checking back into B&Bs?

Many consumers now see Airbnb rentals less as frugally fun lodging and more as destinations you have to both clean and pay $200… for the hosts to clean.

That "space over service" emphasis is tiring some vacationers out, and giving the traditional bed-and-breakfast model new life.

B&B owners are capitalizing on their establishments' unique aesthetics and involved support to reclaim some ground in the hospitality industry — supported by some creative rebranding.

Select Registry, a 50-year trade group for around 250 vetted inns, calls the B&B experience "craft lodging" — and several properties have reframed themselves as boutique hotels:

• Camp DeForest in Maine offers a reimagined sleepaway camp experience (minus the bug spray and bullying).
  
• Denver's Urban Cowboy pairs modern appeal with Western charm in a late-19th-century mansion.
  
• The horror-themed Painted Lady Bed and Brew in Albuquerque eschews the "breakfast" aspect of B&B in favor of beer.

How's it working out for them?

A combination of tax incentives, historic preservation legislation, and cultural interests grew the number of B&Bs in the US from ~1k in 1980 to 15k+ in 2000.

The industry has fallen off pretty hard since then — facing headwinds such as the emergence of short-term rental platforms and the pandemic — but it's showing signs of life.

• American B&B revenue is estimated to grow 1.9% YoY to $3.2B in 2026.
  
• The boutique hotel market is worth $30.4B and expected to grow to $50.5B in 2033, with larger hospitality groups opening their own.

Can we call it a comeback?

The B&B heyday of doilies, fresh-baked apple pie, and forced interactions with strangers in front of fireplaces is behind us. Still, many consumers see merit in the charm and human touch of these properties.

The model seems to have a place in modern lodging… One where you don't get charged $50 for forgetting to take out the trash.

Share this story

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Where should you invest this year? We might not know, but a former Goldman Sachs CEO seems like a good guy to listen to. 

NEWSWORTHY NUMBER

Days (or so) that talent agencies have after popular “Love Island” contestants leave the villa to set up meetings with them before they’re signed — or, in the show’s terms, “closed off” — according to one talent rep via The Ankler.

With its massive audience and social media ripple effect, "Love Island" (the most recent season of which ended on Sunday) has become an influencer assembly line, churning out contestants who can gain millions of followers almost overnight and attract the kind of attention brands and advertisers are eager to monetize. In other words, the final coupling ceremony only starts after the cameras stop rolling.

AROUND THE WEB

📅  On this day: In 1955, Walt Disney’s $17m theme park Disneyland opened on 160 acres in California.

🎵  Woah: Make music with your keyboard.

➤  Game: Point your cursor and get pointed at.

🗣️  That’s interesting: Visualizing how echo chambers form.

🐝  Aww: A sleepy bumblebee.

SHOWER THOUGHT

With all the actors undergoing anti-aging procedures, in time, there will be no experienced actors to play a character written to look old.   SOURCE

Today's email was brought to you by Singdhi Sokpo and Jay Fuchs.

Editing by: Sara "Do not disturb" Friedman.

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.
Working on something big?
We've got a whole library of business-building resources for you.

Subscribe to our other newsletters
Grow your business: Starter Story | Stay up-to-date on AI: Mindstream    

Expert insights: Marketing Against the Grain | Sell better: The Science of Scaling

Follow The Hustle on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.