Luxury travel voices don’t come much more authoritative than Los Angeles-based strategist Colin Nagy. When someone who travels as often as Nagy speaks – he’s stayed at the Park Hyatt Tokyo “45 times or more”, for instance – you listen.
One of the clearest shifts Nagy is seeing in luxury travel is “value sensitivity”, which he believes has now reached the very top end of luxury hospitality.
“Over the past several years… prices are spiralling upward,” he says at a recent Luxury Escapes-hosted media lunch in Sydney.
But that’s not always mirrored in the service or product, according to Colin.
“There’s quite a big delta between that. So what I’ve been hearing from a lot of travellers, high net-worth individuals… they feel like, in some of these experiences, they’re being taken for the fool, right? They’re not getting value,” he remarks.
Nagy points out that for travellers with deep pockets, “value is actually very important”.
“Even at a property that’s $3,000 [USD] a night, you have to have that emotional connection, you have to have that texture in your stay.”
“There needs to be a new kind of rallying cry for hoteliers… hospitality as a creative act – and how do you make the next generation of these people that are making these great experiences excited by that.”
Over opulence?
While many ultra luxury travellers will still “want to go to Aspen and Portugal and light champagne on fire”, Nagy says there’s been a strong movement away from decadence for decadence’s sake.
“Some of this audience is coming out the other end of a long life of being very indulged,” he remarks.
“A lot of people have had their ego reflected back to them with French palaces and very overt symbols of luxury and power.
“And I think that there’s a cohort, many of whom have kind of done the work in their own mind, they’ve done the mindfulness, they just want… a sensory of the more subtle in terms of what they’re doing.
“So it’s not luxury as status, but luxury as relief or nuance, which I think is pretty powerful.”
Who’s delivering?
When it comes to who’s getting it right at the moment, the American points out California-based Montage Hotels & Resorts.
“Montage, as they expand around the world, have a service culture that like feels to me like Four Seasons did, maybe like 10 years ago,” he explains.
“I can spot a Montage person. I was staying at the The Maybourne in Beverly Hills, which used to be a Montage, and I could spot all of the previous Montage people [like] the bellman. So I would call them out as being a very strong service culture of consistency. And they also know who they’re serving.”
Another brand Colin highlights, and one Aussies would be more familiar with, is Four Seasons.
“For someone who has scaled quite a bit, I do believe that Four Seasons still has a consistency of service culture in terms of their GMs and their management core.”
Nagy also flags Capella Hotels and Resorts as one to watch.
“As Capella is growing, I think that they’re doing a really wonderful job, building a new type of brand that sits in that Echelon, but feels a little bit fresh, feels a little bit more of a cultural heartbeat.”
Elsewhere, Colin points out luxury brand Airelles for its “super high touch, super nuanced, very detail-oriented” French-rooted hospitality and Africa’s Singita Resorts.
“They’re doing a lot of good stuff in terms of orienting around culture, the sensory side of things. A lot of very nice partnerships with African artists, musicians… probably the highest level of guest experience that I’ve encountered,” he explains.
Network of the disconnected
Meanwhile, as luxury travellers look to get even further off the beaten path, Colin is seeing a strong move towards disconnection.
“Something that I’m noticing is in contrast to the hyper onlineness of the past several years… there’s a certain type of guest for whom disconnection, or not being really reachable all the time, is its own social signal,” he states.
“Obviously… with these desirable places with high-end hospitality, how are they structuring for that level of disconnection?”
This could relate to an increasing appetite for nature-based travel.
“There’s Awasi in South America and Singita in Africa, some of these great places where nature is no longer the backdrop. It’s kind of the product,” he notes.
“And the role of these brands is no longer just like, hey, this is the backdrop – it’s like facilitating and helping guests enter that in interesting ways.”
Worth the splurge
So, where is Nagy most excited about right now? The good news is his picks are close to home for Australians.
Top of the list is Palau, now far more accessible for Australians following the launch of weekly nonstop Qantas flights a year ago.
“I think Palau is just absolutely phenomenal. There’s not a lot of hospitality product online… Four Seasons moved their [luxury ship] Explorer from Maldives to Palau.”
“But in terms of their stewardship of the ocean, the conservation, the reefs, the fish life…it feels very pure and pristine.”
The next pick is a little further afield.
“The other one that’s on my radar… I’m paying a lot of attention to Dominica for similar reasons,” he says.
“[It’s] a little bit off the beaten path. Some of their conservation efforts with both ocean and land are good. And then there’s a property there called Secret Bay… everyone who kind of knows their shit has been telling me it’s spot on.”
Closer to home than Bali, Nagy turns to Indonesia’s island of Sumba.
“I feel like… we’re starting to see more investment and interest there. I love NIHI [Resort], but there’s starting to be smaller, [more] boutique, interesting things [popping up],” he adds.
Speaking at the event, Luxury Escapes CEO and Founder Adam Schwab says his business is witnessing “remarkable growth out of Indonesia”.
Singling out Bali, Schwab reveals the Indonesian province is “about 46% up year on year off an elevated base”.
Meanwhile, Thailand has had a “huge Renaissance” this year (“about 40% up through the year, year-on-year), while Vietnam is also seeing “a lot more great product” being added… “especially at the lifestyle-plus level”.
“Vietnam is now equal number one tour destination with Egypt, which has roared back,” he says.
KARRYON UNPACKS: Luxury hasn’t stopped selling; it’s just growing tired of empty promises. For Aussie travel advisors, value now means emotion, consistency and meaning, not just price, polish or prestige.
