The luxury industry is changing, and changing quickly: A segment that is worth a trillion dollars annually is undergoing a sea change as huge numbers of wealthy new families disrupt traditional expectations from the space.

The luxury market and its customer base is growing, with the outlook for the next three years looking positive. There are however, significant challenges for luxury hoteliers, with the fast pace of change in the luxury space, specifically with the hopes and expectations of the luxury traveller.

In this report, Horwath HTL and Soul Luxury have joined forces, pooling their experience and expertise, to provide insights into the triggers of change in luxury. How the shifting consumer mind-set is forcing a rethink of ‘Luxury in Hospitality’ and how to deliver the new luxury using our Horwath HTL 360◦ New Luxury Framework.

Revolution in luxury hospitality is happening. Whether a global brand, a niche player or an individual luxury property, no one will be able to avoid the reality of the new paradigm. Those who are rethinking, planning, implementing and fundamentally changing, will be the winners. Everyone else should better start working on their excuses.

When the very best is no longer enough, how do hospitality companies address and anticipate the need of the modern super wealthy? What is the mindset of the new luxury traveler, what are they looking for and how can hospitality companies deliver?

Emanuel Tutek, head of Strategic Advice for Horwath HTL, and one of the authors said “The luxury segment has always been at the cutting edge of hospitality trends, but a huge influx of new, younger high net worth individuals has accelerated the process. The very best is now just an entry level for this group and the added value has moved from experiences seen as unique, to those that are transformational. This poses a huge question to traditional hospitably products and represents as big a challenge as we have seen in the industry for decades.”

Claudia Roth, founder and MD of Soul Luxury and co-author of the report said “Luxury hospitality is traditionally known as a humancentric, and we believe it will always stay human-centric. However today we need to be aware of one significant difference: it must have a transformational impact on the individual. This is why we define it through five perspectives needed for the transformational impact.”

Andrej Šimatić, Senior Project Manager from Horwath HTL, Croatia and co-author of the report concluded “Technology features prominently in the report, and shows it is not the range of technology you have in hotel but the purpose it has. Technology enables and will further enable hotels to deliver a better and more holistic health, healing and wellness experience. Balanced disconnection, which Is confronting these two contrasts, actually gives hotels 3 starting options: Hi-tech, No-tech, and Balanced-tech. The level of focus on each can vary but focus strategy might prove to be a very successful one again and again”

Download the report here.