The Leisure Roundup: Community, Strength and Design
Insights on the longevity of lifting, the financial footprint of community tourism, and the social cost of convenience.
Dear friends and subscribers,
“Host, badly,” is a suggestion from bestselling author and Duke University professor, Kate Bowler, in one of the featured articles this week. (Is everyone hanging out with you?)
Kate argues that one of the reasons we are socializing less is due to feelings of inadequacy that our homes are not clean enough, luxurious enough, or catered enough to meet our guests’ expectations.
This was particularly relevant to me, as we just moved into a new home in Long Island, where we have already hosted (albeit, somewhat tentatively) a couple of dinner parties, despite peeling paint, cracked plaster and a complete lack of furniture or basic household goods. For the World Cup, we had a group of friends sitting on beach chairs in our unfurnished living room watching the game.
As Kate suggested, the spirit of hospitality and the warmth of friendship was enough to make these gatherings a huge success, despite the shortcomings in the venue.
Hosting badly is my new hospitality mantra.
Jeremy
🦉 Philosophy & Culture
Is everyone hanging out with you?
In an era where convenience has quietly engineered the friction out of our daily lives, we have traded the “middle layer” of communal ties for nearly two extra hours at home every day. This essay argues that true leisure and joy require us to intentionally reclaim third places, host imperfectly, and return to the room. (Everything Happens with Kate Bowler)
"Joy is highly socially contagious—and it is contagious mostly at close range. You can prepare yourself for joy all you like, but a great deal of it simply cannot reach you if there is no one else with you."
🔬 Science & Psychology
90–120 minutes of strength training a week has longevity benefits
A sweeping three-decade study of more than 147,000 adults reveals that just 90 to 120 minutes of weekly strength training correlates with a 19 percent lower risk of cardiovascular mortality. While combining resistance work with aerobic exercise yields the strongest health rewards, the data suggests there is no additional longevity advantage to lifting beyond the two-hour mark. (Leisure Opportunities)
📈 Business & Strategy
DiNapoli: NYC Hotel Industry Among Nation's Largest, Strongest
New York City welcomed 65 million visitors in 2025, driving the highest hotel occupancy rate in the nation despite a persistent lag in international and business travel. While domestic leisure demand has fueled an aggressive supply pipeline of 4,852 new rooms expected this year, industry employment and foreign visitation remain vulnerable to geopolitical headwinds. (Office of the New York State Comptroller)
“The city’s hotel industry has largely recovered from the pandemic. It is doing well, but it could be doing even better if international visitors returned more quickly.”
Navan Business Travel Benchmark Sets New Record as Business Travel Outpaces Leisure
Corporate travel surged 13.5 percent year-over-year in the first half of 2026, dramatically outpacing a nearly flat broader leisure market. As businesses absorb higher costs to prioritize face-to-face growth, the widening gap signals a distinct decoupling between the commercial and consumer travel economies. (Business Wire)
✨ Innovation & Design
Places Leisure is working with Roberts Limbrick to build £60m wellness flagship in Basingstoke
A landmark £60 million energy-efficient leisure destination is advancing to the planning stage, promising to redefine public wellness infrastructure in North Hampshire. The expansive facility will integrate traditional aquatics with padel courts, a reformer Pilates studio, and dynamic indoor play spaces to serve a broader community demographic. (CLADglobal)
Places Leisure is creating a landmark facility in Basingstoke / Roberts Limbrick Architects
Designs revealed for the new Macon Arena in Georgia
Inspired by the flowing lines of the Ocmulgee River and the region's rich musical heritage, the design for the new 10,000-capacity Macon Arena emphasizes deep civic integration. Scheduled to open in late 2028, the venue prioritizes flexible programming, premium sightlines, and activated outdoor plazas to anchor the city’s entertainment district. (Coliseum)
🌍 Destinations & Communities
Planeterra: Community tourism generated $3.3M while giving back
Community tourism is proving it can scale beyond niche itineraries, generating CAD $3.32 million in direct revenue for local enterprises connected to global travel partners last year. By prioritizing market access over traditional philanthropy, the model empowered 276 community-owned businesses to translate visitor demand into meaningful local livelihoods. (PAX News)
“Community Tourism is not a side story to travel. It is one of the ways communities are creating livelihoods, protecting culture and biodiversity, and shaping tourism in ways that reflect what matters most to them.”
Featuring exciting updates from Leisure Alchemy clients and partners.
The Psychology Behind Extraordinary Spa Experiences
Interview: Jeremy McCarthy sits down with Spa Insider’s John Cowan to discuss the small details that make the difference in extraordinary spa experiences. A large part of what has made Jeremy’s career unique is his academic background in Applied Positive Psychology which he applies to everything he does. To Jeremy, the impact of a spa experience is mostly psychological. Successful spa experiences inspire the mind as much as they relax the body. (The Psychology of Spas & Wellbeing)
Who will you “host, badly” this week?
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