Luxury travelling is growing worldwide; according to a report from International Luxury Travel Market, the current growth rate amounts to 10%.

Figures speak for themselves: 25 million tourists a year, 116 billion Euros spent -with an average expenditure of almost 13,000 Euros per trip-, representing 25% of the tourism industry. 

New luxury destinations have been introduced and new luxury tourists have appeared, combined with an increasing number of offers of luxury experiences, generating the need for distinctive luxury services.

Therefore, the following questions must be asked:

1- What is a luxury service?
In connection with this question, several parameters must be identified when faced with the need to generate services for guests looking for a luxury experience, namely:

• What does Luxury refer to with regards to service?
• At what point do guests start to feel that they are being provided a luxury service?
• Do guests perceive luxury services in the same way? Such perception may vary for a single guest?

Luxury in service is no more than refinement, the capacity to discern and differentiate a global service, i.e. to customize it.

By adapting a service to the specific expectations of a guest, it is not only provided as requested but with a bonus: exclusiveness.

Luxury services are perceived in different ways by different guests. Thus, it is important to determine their individual needs and expectations regarding specific services. Different factors must be taken into consideration: education, age, purpose of the trip, previous experiences in connection with the services, and so on. 

For example:

Younger luxury travelers probably expect access to state-of-the-art technology that allows them to check their e-mails and listen to the music on their Ipods in the room. Businessmen expect to find secretarial assistance and technical devices that make their job easier, such as the possibility to connect their laptops to LCD screens to show their presentations or high speed internet access.

In the case of women, luxury service may mean the assistance of personal shoppers who provide information on the best stores, quality and prices.

The individual needs of the guests, as well as their criteria regarding luxury, vary considerably. Increased competition within the industry regarding the quality of the services provided implies that the definition of luxury is constantly changing. Therefore, attention must be paid to the evolution of services in the global market.

A guest who has been provided luxury services at a hotel will incorporate them as a need to be satisfied at a future stay. Therefore, new ways of maintaining the feeling of luxury surrounding the services offered must be found at each stay. 

The best way to achieve the required degree of luxury in connection with the services provided is a firm commitment to surprising guests regarding all of their requirements.

The customized guest service is the best way to give the guest a  taylor made service : the benchmark of a real luxury service.

Osvaldo Torres.
Hotel Butler.
hotelps@gmail.com