Marriott International’s VP Luxury Asia Pacific Oriol Montal sat down with Karryon on his recent visit to Australia to talk about its wellness expansion plans, the multiple new luxury hotel brands it’s bringing to Vietnam, and how Gen Z is shaping the future of luxury travel.
When we sit down to talk, Marriott VP Luxury Oriol Montal is in Australia on a fleeting visit to connect with his team, and see the highly anticipated Emirates Wolgan Valley, the world’s first Ritz-Carlton Lodge, opening later this year in the Greater Blue Mountains region.
Wellness will play a key part in the multi-million-dollar renovation of the property, and it sets the scene for one of Marriott’s key focuses going forward.
“In the past, wellness was a very small part of the purpose of travel, but today, it is becoming the central part of travel,” says Montal.
He says that’s because of the demand by both the next generation of luxury traveller, the Gen Z, and more broadly too, among other generations, who are seeing more “active wellness” like gyms, personal trainers and running clubs.
Montal says while silent wellness and medical wellness are also growing, it’s this active fitness that is an area of “high importance”.
Earlier this year, Marriott launched its first brand dedicated exclusively to luxury wellness in a partnership with Lefay, which sees Lefay properties join Marriott’s luxury group, to “complement its existing luxury group portfolio while appealing to a rapidly expanding global audience seeking transformative travel experiences focused on health and longevity”.
Montal says as well as that important partnership, other brands will grow their wellness offering, and Marriott is enlarging wellness facilities.
“We are evolving The Ritz-Carlton of the future and enlarging our teams in hotels; and for future hotels, we are enlarging the wellness facility and bringing treatments that today are very relevant, like cryotherapy.”
Sights set on Vietnam
The rapid interest in markets that offer a strong wellness, nature and local culture proposition is why Marriott has its sights set on Vietnam.
“Vietnam has been growing rapidly, but a lot of that has been in select and premium. It’s a market we are opening a large number of luxury hotels over the next three to five years.
“For Marriott, we had beautiful JW Marriott, but now, with the growth of the country, we believe it’s the right time to bring other brands such as The Ritz-Carlton and St Regis over the next few years, and we are very confident of the success of the country.”
There are 10 new Marriott hotels and resorts slated for Phu Quoc and Vung Tau – including the debut of W Hotels in Vietnam in Phu Quoc, scheduled to open in 2027.
In an agreement with Masterise Group, it has also signed an agreement to open additional hotels, including The Ritz-Carlton, Saigon and a pioneering eco-resort complex in Can Gio, which will include JW Marriott. Hanoi will also get its first Marriott Hotel.
That confidence in growth is also because of the highly resilient Australian traveller, says Montal.
“Despite the noise you can hear about instability around the world, travellers are looking for one-of-a-kind experiences, and I would say that Australia is probably one of the most, if not the most, resilient markets, where they are looking forward to investing more in travel.
“There is a little bit of concern here and there, but if they have to choose, they prefer to let go of purchasing goods and focus on experiences and travel.”
The Gen Z effect
Montal’s visit coincides with the release of Marriott’s annual state of luxury report, which this year focused on Gen Z, and Montal says it has some surprising new findings.
Among those is that Gen Z travellers want to focus on health and nature, and importantly, they’re prepared to pay for it.
The research found more than 50 per cent of Gen Z are now paying for their own travel.
‘In other generations we would be thinking about putting a down payment on a house, but for Gen Z they value experiencing a new culture,” says Montal.
“It’s about less travel, but longer. This is something that is very unique to Gen Z. They really want to behave as locals. They see life differently, and it’s about enjoying the moment and having experiences.”
Other key findings among the Australian Gen Z luxury travel include:
- 77 per cent plan to increase spending on long leisure trips, the highest figure across the eight markets surveyed in this report
- 68 per cent are booking a trip within a week of departure, and 20 per cent within just three days, the highest level of ultra-spontaneous travel compared to other markets
- While Australians have traditionally revisited familiar destinations, 87 per cent now feel it’s important to visit somewhere they’ve never been before
- India, China and Japan are the destinations of the strongest interest
- 92 per cent are motivated to attend events, and 85 per cent are interested in music festivals
Montal says those insights into staying longer and visiting destinations with a strong culture are key for luxury travel advisors.
“This is a great opportunity for luxury advisors because these travellers are going to be looking for an advisor who has a deep understanding of culture and partners with hotels in locations that have access to unique experiences.”
For more information, visit Marriott.
