Hospitality Summit Operator Consolidates Branded Residences Unit Into New Investment Platf

The Bench Rebrands ‘Branded Residences Forum’ as ‘FHS Living’

The Bench, organiser of the Future Hospitality Summit series, has folded its Branded Residences Forum into a broader investment platform called FHS Living, effective immediately across multiple markets. The rebrand reflects a strategic shift in how the company structures its real estate offerings, bringing together eight distinct living asset classes under unified editions running through early 2027.

The expansion covers Branded Residences, Student Accommodation, Senior Living, Serviced Living, Co-Living, Club Concepts, Shared Ownership, and Mixed-Use Developments. According to The Bench, the original Branded Residences Forum had grown too narrow for the capital and developer base it served. Investors and developers backing branded residences projects have increasingly diversified into student housing, senior living and co-living spaces, creating demand for a single platform spanning all these categories.

FHS Living launches at FHS World in Dubai on 1 October 2026, followed by editions in Cairo on 11 November 2026, Paris on 23-24 February 2027, and Riyadh on 23 March 2027. The Paris edition marks the first standalone FHS Living event, extending the platform into Europe at a time when living assets have become the continent’s largest real estate investment sector.

The numbers behind that positioning are substantial. European living real estate attracted 46.9 billion euros in investment during 2025, according to JLL data cited in the announcement. Savills projects an additional 50 billion euros in investment over the next three years. The region faces a structural housing shortfall of 9.6 million homes, sustaining demand for diverse residential and mixed-use development. Meanwhile, capital from the Middle East has begun flowing into European hotel and residential real estate at pace: net acquisitions by Middle Eastern buyers in European hotel properties reached 540 million euros in 2025, a 254 percent increase from 2024.

The Bench frames FHS Living as a vehicle for connecting Middle Eastern capital with European investment opportunities in living assets. The company’s two decades of relationships across capital markets in both regions form the foundation for this cross-regional positioning.

Each FHS Living edition operates as a curated investment marketplace structured around pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings between capital providers, developers and operators. Events include a dedicated Deal Room, a Leadership Stage, investor site tours and structured roundtables designed to facilitate business connections and transactions.

The platform inherits a measurable operational track record from the broader Future Hospitality Summit series. During 2025, the forum brought together more than 3,000 C-level decision-makers, including 621 investors representing over 11 trillion dollars in assets under management. The events facilitated 3 billion dollars in business opportunities that year.

Accor One Living serves as a partner across all FHS Living editions. Additional partners include Global Branded Residences at the Dubai edition, and Maslow’s and Landsberg Residential Consulting at the Paris founding edition.

Whether the consolidated platform can replicate that deal flow across eight asset classes simultaneously, particularly as it enters a European market with its own established forums and investor networks, remains the open question heading into October.

For more information, visit futurehospitality.com/living.