Privacy: The Latest Trend in Luxury Travel

The novel coronavirus and the global pandemic it has unleashed has put the hospitality and travel industries into unique binds.

How do you maintain the prior levels of service while operating under new, and increasingly stringer, guidelines?

Of course, we’re talking about social distancing and the increased hygiene that has come along with COVID-19.

But for travelers already accustomed to an exclusive experience, how do you meet their needs in this new world?

Privacy or, in other words, social distancing while on vacation is the way forward according to many industry experts.

That’s going to be the biggest trend in travel moving forward, Luxury Daily argues, and it couldn’t come soon enough for some travelers.

Naturally, pessimistic naysayers might argue that the whole point of luxury travel or vacations is to have some degree of privacy. What is going to be different in this new world that hasn’t been around before?

The answer to that isn’t found so much in the new and novel experiences that travel and hospitality will offer, but rather in terms of the companies and services that will reap the benefits of this new trend.

We’re talking exclusive, members-only resort destinations and private jets. Even RVs are getting a mention in this new wave of travel isolation. The most salient point that many analysts are highlighting isn’t that things will be so radically different but rather that the way we approach them will be.

Then again, no one was arguing for a return to business as usual. Some are even pointing out that these services might rise in the initial aftermath of COVID-19, but will they have staying power?

To that end, the massive expenses that many companies are incurring whether because of the lockdown, dealing with it, or both means that firms will not be caught flat-footed if a new pandemic emerges in the future. The goals of embracing these changes and initiating these new services for luxury travelers isn’t to create a temporary accommodation of novel circumstances, but, instead, a building of resilience against future events. Hospitality and travel, in particular, cannot weather such drastic downturns in business and, if they can avoid it, they will. Those businesses that do not adapt will fall by the wayside, whether in the near future or at the outbreak of the next pandemic.

All in all, it would seem that luxury travel is building a new persona for the future that adds guarantees and new reassurances concerning guest safety. Hotels, restaurants, and other establishments want consumers to trust them now and in future eventualities.

In driving towards that goal, many companies are embracing the concept of “peace of mind” as the greatest luxury of them all and as the motivating factor moving forward.

James Henderson, CEO of Exclusive Resorts, said of this trend, “COVID-19 has brought family, friends and loved ones closer together. Once things go ‘back to normal’ people will have an emotional need to travel with people they know and trust.”