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The rich are ditching hotels. Here's why
Travelers are leaving behind five-star hotels in favor of luxurious homestays and authentic experiences
By Madeline Fitzgerald, Quartz Media
PublishedYesterday
In 2024, the luxuries industry has seen a noticeable decline from the post-pandemic boom: inflation, political instability, and economic disruption mean that consumers are tightening their metaphorical belts and not spending nearly as much on real life designer belts.
This year’s decline marks the industry’s third slowdown in 20 years, according to Bain & Company’s annual luxury report. There is one area, however, where luxury spending continues to increase: travel. Across the world, consumers are shifting their money away from luxury goods and towards luxurious experiences – and many new companies are capitalizing on that shift.
“We believe in creating a luxury experience that fosters mindful and meaningful human connections,” said Maxime Lallement, the managing director of Highstay, a French company which provides guests with the opportunity to stay in a selection of more than 40 Parisian apartments, with access to hotel-like concierge services, as an alternative to hotels.
“The aim of our company is to provide a real Parisian experience, and make our clients feel really Parisian during their time with us,” Lallement continued. “It’s really important for us to make the client feel that they’re staying in a palace, even in the intimacy of a private apartment.”
Highstay is one example of a growing trend in the world of European hospitality. Instead of staying in five star hotels, wealthy travelers are increasingly choosing houses and apartments for their trips abroad. While Highstay is a rental program – in some respects resembling an extremely high-end Airbnb – other companies are encouraging travelers to think about their future vacations in a more long term fashion.
The August Collections, for example, allows customers to buy equity in what are essentially micro-real estate companies. Each collection features four to five holiday homes that are meticulously selected based on both the property’s history, quality, and charm, as well as the surrounding community. Families can purchase shares in the collections, which allow them to book the associated properties for several weeks each year, facilitating travel across Europe, with a new house waiting for them in each destination.
August and Highstay are both small companies, by design, with their people behind each project emphasizing attention to detail and boutique services as major priorities in their development. At the same time, however, each has seen dramatic growth in recent years – as a desire for immersive European travel experiences continues to grow.
“Our [clients] can easily buy one or two homes on their own,” said Mélie Dunod, the co-founder of August. “But without us it would be so difficult to find these homes with character and charm.”
Both Dunod and Lallement emphasized that it’s not enough that their properties are luxurious on the same scale as the average high-end hotel. To really make the difference, guests should feel as though they are fully immersed in the cities and countries they’re visiting.
“If you’re traveling from Shanghai to New York, you will find the same hotel room,” said Lallement. “That’s not the aim of Highstay. We’re offering something different.”
“A hotel room is a hotel room, even in a very nice hotel,” he continued. “You have your mini bar, you have your bed, you have your AC, and every day you see people in the lobby, and it’s not personal.”
Highstay operates exclusively within Paris – with apartments available across the city’s most famed neighborhoods. The company is enmeshed in local culture and many of its employees have years of hospitality experience specifically within the City of Lights. This allows for employees to craft specifically Parisian experiences for guests – like exclusive cruises along the Seine or private tours of the Louvre Museum.
With August, each collection deliberately includes properties in different cities or towns, to give guests access to an array of European lifestyles and experiences.
“What is really important for us to start with, is that regardless of the collection, you feel that you are in the country where you are located,” said Dunod. “We don’t want you to have the same experience in Majorca as you have in the south of France. When you’re in Tuscany, we really want you to feel like you’re in Italy.”
Despite both Highstay and August operating in a manner which is deliberately distinct from the traditional hotel, both still retain the luxury amenities that the ultra-wealthy expect while traveling. Both offer concierge services that provide guests with recommendations and reservations on par with what you might expect at the Ritz or Four Seasons – but they also allow for guests to have more personal, low-key experiences.
“Guests are going with August because they don’t want to be in a hotel,” said Dunod. They want to feel like they can host their friends, linger for hours at breakfast, and eat home cooked meals, instead of dining exclusively in restaurants.
“They love this freedom,” said Dunod. “Often what they ask for is the help they need to host better. “They ask for a chef or for the shopping to be done. And they have our expertise of where to go, what to do, and what to see. In that way it’s effortless.”
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