Luxury Travelers Seek Authenticity Over Standardization

What has changed however, are the preferences of this high net worth audience which continues to be on the move, expand their range of global destinations, and yearn to experience ever new places, cultures, and activities than ever before. Today’s luxury traveler is nothing like the affluent traveler we have welcomed in years past. Of course they still have discerning tastes, yet what is important to them now — and resonates deeply within them — is quite different than 10 or even just five years ago.

And as hoteliers, we must recognize this and implement the necessary adaptations to our offerings to ensure they will come to our hotels and resorts, recommend our properties to their friends and family, and speak of us with high praise. In the past year alone, Fauchon L’Hôtel Paris has won top accolades in both Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards (#1 in Paris) and Condé Nast Traveler’s Reader’s Choice Awards (#5 in Paris) and if we want to continue to be voted amongst the top hotels, we need to be able to not just meet, but exceed their needs.

Of course when guests are at our hotel, myself — and our Artisans of Pleasure — are always welcoming them in person, finding ways to subtly connect whenever possible, and checking in to ensure we are not just responsive to their needs, but anticipate unexpected ways in which we can surprise and delight them. Yet we wanted to dig deeper and learn things perhaps they weren’t willing to tell us directly. So we decided to go to a valuable resource.

At the height of the 2025 summer vacation season, Fauchon L’Hôtel Paris undertook a survey of luxury travel advisors, primarily in the United States, to hear directly from them and learn how their clients are traveling. What do they seek? What do they report back on to their trusted travel advisors? What is most important to them? What things make a real impression during a hotel stay? What would they like to see more of? And what no longer matters? The ultimate quest for all of us is how can we, as five-star hoteliers, better welcome this luxury clientele? And we found the results of this survey to be quite enlightening.

Authenticity is Paramount

There was a time when global branded hotels created a sense of comfort and security for travelers because they could rely on the fact that their guest room would always look the same and the overall décor and design would be familiar. This is no longer the case. Astoundingly 100% of our survey recipients replied that it was important for a hotel to offer “an authentic sense of place” versus a “cookie-cutter brand design.” Today, luxury travelers want the true ambiance of the destination to be reflected in the hotel as told through design, cuisine, and essentially every aspect of the guest journey. We actually get the sense that perhaps it doesn’t matter how over-the-top a hotel is with crystal and marble and only the finest finishings, but rather, how does the property reflect its location and surroundings in an organic way while still providing a premium level of comfort?

How Luxury Travelers Select A Hotel

Today it is no longer all about a recognizable brand name. When choosing a hotel, location (selected by 97.5% of respondents) and staff and service (82.5%) were the most important factors to travelers. Yet upon return from their trip, travel advisors reported 6 in 10 of their clients commented about the “warm and welcoming service they received,” while only 21.3% mentioned the “great location.” The two items which their luxury clients mentioned when returning from a trip were “the views, welcome amenity, and staff” and “value for their dollar.”

Do Special Incentives Make A Difference?

This actually depends upon what is offered. Approximately 7 in 10 advisors reported a “complimentary night” was most important to their clients, with an “added complimentary VIP amenity” as a close second. Other deciding factors included “enhanced commission” for the travel agent, “percentage discount off the room rate,” and “added value in food and beverage.”

Does Social Media Play A Role?

We hear and read so much about the value of social media and many hotels globally are investing a lot of time and energy into ensuring their social media channels are telling a great story about their property, amenities, and guest experience. But is it having an impact?

Travel advisors in our survey reported that only 30% of clients definitively requested a specific hotel after seeing it on social media. Additionally, 11.2% said that they were increasingly experiencing requests by their clients regarding a hotel which they had seen on social media. So while we must maintain an active and robust social media presence because this is where the majority of society is spending its time, the ability for it to convert to bookings for the luxury traveler at least, remains to be seen.

Loyalty Programs Are Losing Impact

There was a time when loyalty programs held incredible power in driving bookings, but, once again, this seems to have changed. The results of our survey showed only 1.3% definitely request hotels with loyalty programs, less than 60% sometimes request hotels with loyalty programs, and 35% do not request hotels with loyalty programs at all.

Approximately 42.5% of respondents noted gaining points they can use at other properties was important to them, 28.7% wanted a loyalty program that would provide an immediate percentage discount on the hotel room rate, 22.5% preferred to be awarded additional food and beverage benefits on property, and 2.5% wanted additional spa benefits. Recognition as a VIP and not caring about points all ranked the lowest and therefore had minimal impact on the luxury traveler’s decision about which hotel to choose.

What Luxury Travelers Definitely Want

When travel advisors were asked what the top two “must haves” clients requested were, they noted Spa Services and a Fitness Center. This accurately reflects the current trend for wellness travel which we are all witnessing globally. Rounding out the top four “must haves” are 24-hour room service and a fine dining restaurant.

Hotel amenities and services which ranked quite low on the survey — and actually received a less than 2% response — included concierge service, a bar, included breakfast, king bed or two beds in the room, coffee service in the room, dual sinks, location near top sights, and more than one dining option.

And when deciding on a vacation destination, the survey found that 87.5% of respondents seek cultural experiences while 85% want unique destination-oriented experiences to truly understand the authenticity and distinctive sense of place. Family options, relaxation, and safe destinations rounded out the bottom three choices with 1.3% of respondents selecting each as a preference.

Do Luxury Travelers Dine On Property?

As hoteliers of five-star properties — and quite frankly, most full-service hotels — we all place extreme importance on our food and beverage offerings. It was interesting to learn that 73.8% of respondents sometimes dine at the hotel where they are staying 23.8% definitely dine at the hotel where they are staying and 2.4% definitely do not dine at the hotel at all. This is an interesting finding despite the fact that in a prior question room service and a fine dining restaurant were in the top four “must haves” for them when selecting a hotel. So clearly, it’s not quite time to dispose of the fine dining restaurant just yet and perhaps it is more of a case of the quality of the cuisine and service offered which impacts if a guest dines at the hotel or not.

How Travel Has Been Impacted By The Economy

We are definitely existing in an uncertain economy these days, and travelers are being impacted, but not so much in the luxury sector. Nine in 10 travel advisors noted their clients are still traveling and actually doing so more frequently to celebrate special occasions and events since the pandemic. To clarify further, 66.3% are booking about the same length of stay as in previous years, 32.5% are actually booking longer stays, and just 1.2% are booking shorter than usual stays. Therefore we can determine there is not much of a travel decline as it relates to the luxury travel audience.

As a result of this survey, Fauchon L’Hôtel Paris is using this valuable guidance from luxury travel advisors to inform how we move forward in many areas of the guest experience including with Festive 2025 seasonal offerings which will include two new stay packages which incorporate unique destination-oriented experiences as well as with our newly updated spa experience offerings. With more exciting developments to come in 2026 and beyond.

Reprinted from the Hotel Business Review with permission from www.HotelExecutive.com.