What's in a name? A luxury hotel by any other name is still luxurious, right? No longer, it seems, in today's hospitality industry. When hotel discount brokers offer "luxury" accommodations at $49 a night, as occurred during the recent Independence Day holiday, does the word "luxury" have any useful meaning? Those in the industry who want to appeal to the wealthy and sophisticated traveler are upping their game and moving beyond traditional standards of luxury. According to a recent article on the lifestyle portal Star2, worldwide many in the upper echelons of the hospitality industry are now shunning the word "luxury" altogether. One reason is that, as in retail, the word has become "inflationary," and thus rather meaningless as a marketing or branding label. Another is that today's travelers have different views about what constitutes "luxury," so the word conjures up different perceptions for different kinds of guests.

Read the full article at multibriefs.com