As travel demand soars, there's one luxury that the wealthy can no longer afford. It's spontaneity.
As record numbers of Americans prepare to travel for the 4th of July holiday, travel agents and companies are also offering deals all summer long that will surprise even the most affluent traveler. Obi reports unprecedented demand for luxury travel. According to data from luxury travel network Virtuoso, these travelers now book their trips three months in advance, whereas a year ago they booked their space three weeks in advance.
“Our customers are incredibly wealthy and used to getting what they want, but that's not the case this year,” said Stacey Fisher Rosenthal, president of Fisher Travel, a membership-based company. , talks about the jockey sport of booking “IT” properties. .
Case in point: One of Fischer Rosenthal's clients stays at the Tony Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, France every June, but this year that property is sold out, so he's staying at the Cheval Blanc in Saint-Tropez. selected.
“He only needs five nights, but he's paying for a minimum of six nights to stay,” she says.
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Travelers looking to book a luxury vacation this summer, fall, or even winter may have a hard time finding availability for their vacation. And even if you can book in the first place, you'll pay shockingly high prices, especially for trips to perennially popular destinations like St. Tropez and Italy's Lake Como, Amalfi Coast, and Saint Barts Island in July and August. It's going to happen. Paris and London in winter and any time of the year. And for travelers who want to visit trendy Japan, you can expect hotels to be fully booked.
These days, even bucket list destinations like Rwanda for gorilla trekking or Tahiti to cross French Polynesia off the list can be difficult to fulfill, says Fischer Rosenthal. That's what it means. Frenzy.
At Virtuoso, which averages $30 billion in annual travel revenue, 2023 bookings are up 91% over 2019 and 62% over last year. His average daily room rate for hotels has also gone up, with room rates averaging $1,700 per night, an increase of 69% since 2019. But price isn't deterring guests. The network reports that bookings at its partner hotels are up three times compared to 2019, and 77% higher compared to 2019. last year.
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“What we're seeing right now is not pent-up demand from the pandemic,” says Misty Belles, Virtuoso's vice president of global communications. “This is pure demand from people who want to travel, and they are booking multiple trips at once.”
Other elite travel advisors and luxury travel companies are also reporting a rush for luxury vacations.
Erika Jackowitz, co-founder of luxury lifestyle company Roman & Erika, says she books an average of 20 trips a month that cost at least $100,000. “Most of our customers go to Europe, but some go to Japan,” she says. “I've never seen a request like this before.”
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Privilege Italia, an Italian travel company specializing in holidays on the Amalfi Coast and Capri, has seen business grow by 30% over last year. Co-founder Francesco Staino says the dozens of trips he currently oversees cost at least $50,000, often reaching six figures. “Pricing is off the charts, with entry-level rooms in five-star hotels on the coast starting at $2,000,” he says.
According to him, the most popular properties are Santa Caterina and Borgo Sant'Andrea in Amalfi, and Villa Treville in Positano. “It’s a great place that everyone wants to stay in, but you can’t go inside,” Staino said.
Amy Kretnik Nejat, a New York lawyer and longtime client of Roman and Erica, said she wanted to avoid the “madness” of summer travel.
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“I don't want to go through the stress of finding a room in an overbooked hotel,” she says. “We are now planning a trip to Paris and the Loire Valley in November. When Romain and Erika booked us a last minute trip to Bora Bora, Turks and Caicos Islands and Hawaii, I would never have been able to do that in a disaster.”
In fact, according to Roman and Erica's Jackowitz, planning ahead is the smartest strategy for navigating today's travel environment.
“I have clients who are already booking their stay for next summer as soon as they check out of the hotel,” she says.
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Virtuoso's Belles added that Africa's top safari camps are small and already full for 2024. “If you want to go to Africa, book now,” she says.
She also recommends using a travel advisor when booking your trip. “Advisors do all the heavy lifting for you, like planning your trip and finding hotels,” Bells says. “It also helps you deal with headaches if something goes wrong while you’re out, like bad service or a canceled flight.”
Fischer Rosenthal advises that flexibility is key. This means travelers must be open to changing dates or choosing another destination with the same appeal.
“For example, if you're heading to the south of France and can't stay in Antibes as originally hoped, switch to Saint-Tropez,” says Fischer Rosenthal. “You still get the beach and the sun. And you can still walk away.”
