What is luxury?

In the travel industry the term ‘luxury’ seems to be attached to every property and package available. Luxury Travel News asks the industry to explain the true definition of luxury.

What do we mean when we refer to a ‘luxury' travel experience?

At first glance the answer seems self-explanatory, but in today's market where confusion over hotel categorisation is rife and with properties ranging from the major chains to the smaller boutiques all claiming to be ‘luxurious', it's difficult to get a handle on what ‘luxury' should represent to clients and how agents should represent it to them when taking their bookings.

"It really is becoming such an overused term," said Four Seasons sales and marketing director EMEA David Crowl.

"We try to avoid the phrase luxury in our releases now because we feel that the phrase has become de-valued."

In fact, some of the world's leading hotel chains have been shunned as luxury brands and categorised instead as ‘Mass Affluent'.

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts were two ‘luxury' hotel groups lumped into this new category by MPS Puri, head of the Americas, General Hotel Management (GHM) during his visit to two high-profile hospitality events - the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC) and Arabian Travel Market (ATM).

"I think ‘luxury' is the most oversubscribed word in our vocabulary," Puri told Luxury Travel News. "There is a clear distinction between mass affluent and luxury."

He continued: "Luxury is something that is very bespoke and highly individualised. True luxury is about imperfections; a touch of hand. It's exclusive. It's an obsession and a passion, without reference to cost."

Puri said hotel chains such as Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental and Raffles, now it had been acquired by Fairmont, were ‘Mass Affluent' brands, whereas GHM properties were true luxury brands because "they are not abundant".

"We are not consistent. We are bespoke, quirky and eccentric and there is a touch of hand," he said.

"Anything that is perfect, consistent and abundant can't be luxury."

Conversely, Crowl at Four Seasons, seems to agree, at least to an extent, despite being lumped into the Mass Affluent category by Puri's definition.

"What you need is an experience delivered by intuitive staff in a classy location," he enthused. "Luxury isn't about having gold faucets, it's about being somewhere beautiful where you can feel like you've arrived and can wallow in deserved indulgence where the staff and the property are geared to be attentive to your needs without actually being overbearing; that way luxury can come from the attitude of the property as well as the quality of the actual product. We have consistent service standards but on top of this we have tremendous diversity; no two hotels look and feel the same."

But Crowl did disagree with the implication that a brand or chain couldn't be defined as luxury, claiming that a luxury top-end chain could provide a luxury experience as long as the "attitude" of the property was right.

Welf J Ebeling, executive vice president & chief operating officer, The Leading Hotels of the World group concurred with many of Puri's comments.

Eberling maintained that "luxury is defined by something rare in numbers whereas Mass Affluent is something of a high standard that can be mass produced".

"A lot of the hotel chains cater to Mass Affluence. They are cookie-cutter hotels; sometimes it is indistinguishable whether you wake up in Mumbai, Rome, or Chicago," he added. Ebeling said true luxury defined itself "through an authentic experience that reflects the culture and the environment in which the hotel is located".

He also remarked that everyone one of Leading's 435 member hotels possessed its own specific individuality.

"Leading has been the cradle of every major luxury hotel brand in the world today, including Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons, but they grew to maturity and reached a critical mass. When the kids grow up, they flee the nest," he added.

As a rebuttal, Crowl referred to Four Seasons' recently-developed property in Florence, which has taken 10 years to build and comprises a 16th Century palazzo, five-acre garden and 17th Century convent.

"This is not Mass Affluence," he said.

Crowl noted that luxury meant "different things to different people".

"It's about providing extraordinary experiences that exceed expectations and create life-long memories," he added. So, when it comes down to it, a luxurious experience is subjective, but the individuality of properties and the service levels provided by staff are essential to the impression hotels will make on their clients.

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