Travel Is Solid Gold Expenditure
Luxury Products & Services Top Spending Receipts for 2005
The Signal - Business Section, December, 2004
Diamonds and BMW’s and Bose electronics, oh my! Luxury spending is making a comeback, and it’s including travel too.
Look at the receipts from holiday purchases, as well as future travel bookings, and it’s no secret that people want the best. They are also willing to pay top dollar for these deluxe goods and services of choice.
No longer a lavish item purchased just once a year, travel today is a frequent expenditure in most family budgets. It is an experience, and a must-do for just about everyone who decides there is more to life than simply working all the time. People want to see the world, but also to travel in style, comfort and the highest quality available. They want to be pampered.
This demand for name brands, diamond-rated resorts and platinum-service amenities is gaining momentum, and there will be no looking back. Once accustomed to the finer details of travel, vacationers expect the best and the likelihood of trading down just won’t cut the Grey Poupon. As a retail travel professional, I say we embrace this positive shift.
Luxury can’t come fast enough for some. High-end properties and spas everywhere fill up just as fast as buildings are completed. Luxury ski resorts are opening anywhere that snow falls. Upscale Las Vegas properties continue to develop the once gambling-driven, hard-drinking town into a chic desert destination complete with the best money can buy. Even underdeveloped countries are responding to the luxury demand by attracting fashionable hotel groups to break ground on new facilities.
Costa Rica is a perfect example of this. Thanks to Four Seasons and other multi-star properties that have gone south to the land of adventure to provide top-notch services, travelers can now experience opulence after a day spent climbing in treetops or rappelling rivers. Spa services, body pampering, fine dining and other amenities that assist the process of unwinding and relaxing are 18-karat gold attractions for visitors.
Then there are cruises. To many travelers, this is the ultimate indulgent vacation intended for high-end rest and relaxation, complete with the finest amenities available. When planning vacations, our clients often say that the whole point of working hard is to be able to enjoy time off by traveling in comfort and extravagance. Indulgent, maybe, but is it worth it, absolutely. People these days are putting greater emphasis on travel spending and on self.
Maybe it’s the result of additional income, a great outlook for the future, or job security that has travelers spending more on deluxe vacations. Or, it is the re-prioritization of expenditures that has people laying down big bucks for fancy suites, first-class seats and Godiva Chocolates for turn-down service. Whatever the cause, the greatest benefit comes to the traveler who now experiences the world from the best vantage point of luxury and services.
Sure people enjoy pampering themselves whenever possible. Why not, you’re worth it. And when it comes to luxury spending, travel is worth it too.
Commentary provided by Eric Maryanov, president and founder of All-Travel.com, the Los Angeles-based travel management company with an office in Valencia. He can be reached at 661.775.7511..
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