Luxury Market

Looking at the complexity of modern luxury hospitality through an emotional lens, this piece reveals a paradox: the most memorable experiences aren’t built from expensive materials, but from moments of genuine human connection that create lasting emotional imprints.

Whether its a sign of the financial times or people are just after a bargain, the Boxing Day sales seem to be going mad today even for the luxury brands. QVB – Sydney Gucci – Melbourne Queues outside David Jones before opening Myer Louis Vuitton Apple Harvey Norman   Others

Versace are withdrawing from the Japanese market with the closure of its last three stores in Tokyo, Osaka & Chiba and liquidation of the Japanese business by the end of the year.  This isn’t a permanent move however, its more because the Versace boutiques no longer represent the brand image and they feel its better […]

Exports of Swiss watches have continued to fall, with July recording a 25.9% decline over the previous year. Overall since January, Swiss watch exports have fallen 26.3% or US6.8 billion. Sales of Swiss watches have been in significant decline since the end of 2008 with exports now below 2006 levels. Those surviving best are watches […]

Alright, “pop-up” is probably not the best term  to use when describing this new Prada store, but it is only open for 5 months. The store is at Place Beauvau in Paris and the design by Roberto Baciocchi is inspired by the French poet, Apollinaire’s ‘Le Pont Mirabeau’ – which amongst other things immortalised Mirabeau […]

Miu Miu are certainly expanding. This month they opened their first boutiques in China & Turkey to add to their growing range of directly operated stores. Currently the Miu Miu brand has around 20% of the turnover of Prada but it is growing considerably faster and is now far from a little sister experimental brand. […]

Going on Sale is generally not an option with Travel Retail. Specials sure but not having a sale. Landlords will rarely let you do it because it downgrades the entire look of the airport or precinct. That however doesn’t mean the principle of Sales can’t be applied or don’t apply. See previous post on the […]

Missoni joins the list of designers opening hotels.  Today they officially opened in Edinburgh, Scotland and will be opening later this year in Kuwait then South Africa. The Missoni hotels are actually run by Belgium based Rezidor Hotel Group who set up a licensing agreement back in 2006 with Missoni to open around 30 hotels […]

People are eagerly awaiting the new Barcelona Airport T1 in another week or two and the retailers are busily getting ready. The commercial space at T1 is 28,612m2 of which 9,812m2 is to be occupied by a Business centre, VIP lounges and other customer services. This leaves 18,796m2 in retail & F&B, with almost 2/3rds […]

A recent study done by Sam K Hui (NYU), Eric T Bradlow & Peter S Fader (UPenn) indicated that whilst consumers are attracted to crowded stores and areas of stores, they are less likely to make a purchase once they arrive. They also found that the more time people spend in a store the more […]

Only in China would Barbie become a mixture of high end luxury fashion & a lifestyle concept. For most of us, Barbie is something we believe we leave behind in childhood however the reality is that those Barbie Doll fantasies continue with us. Anyone who has been around a bride, particularly those from less affluent […]

Chocolate and hot stone massages and now officially passe, diamond massages are the hottest luxury spa treatment. These treatments involve massaging the skin with 1.5 carats of diamond powder mixed with irons which is left on for a few minutes to react then removed via magnets. Allegedly it has anti-aging as well as detoxifying effects. […]

Still more luxury vending machines! U*tiques have come to Segal’s Studio. The U*tique offers an selection of luxury and personal care items – gadgets, makeup, skincare and hair-care items by high-end and niche labels. The creator of the Ut*tique was 29 year old Mara Segal who said “I wanted to bring luxury personal-care products to […]

The Modrian South Beach hotel in Miami now features an automated gift machine aimed at replacing hotel boutiques. Designed by Mari Balestrazzi, this semi-automatic machine carries luxury items such as 24k gold handcuffs from Kiki de Montparnasse (now that’s an interesting gift!), Fred Flare heart sunglasses and a 14k gold necklace by Kiel Mead – […]

Still more luxury vending machines! U*tiques have come to Segal’s Studio. The U*tique offers an selection of luxury and personal care items – gadgets, makeup, skincare and hair-care items by high-end and niche labels. The creator of the Ut*tique was 29 year old Mara Segal who said “I wanted to bring luxury personal-care products to […]

Versace CEO Giancarlo Di Risio was emphatic when he stated that Versace would not drop its prices due to the economic climate. However, the fashion house seems to have come up with another way of dealing with the less well heeled who aspire to the Versace label. they are relaunching the Versus line as a […]

More than just your standard licensed branded product, the Johnnie Walker Blue Diary is not only a place to note your appointments but its your pass into exclusive events such as the Monaco Grand Prix 2009, the Johnnie Walker Gold Championships, a bespoke blending experience with a Johnnie Walker Master blender to create your own […]

Dubai’s much awaited Terminal 3 opened on October 14 setting another record in terms of size and build cost ($4.5 billion US). Departures level alone is 515,000 m2.

Moet & Chandon have created a new limited edition bottle designed by the French designer Camille Toupet.  The Midnight Gold case is specifically designed to chill bottles of Moet & Chandon and is made of lambskin covered with gold and decorated with hand-sewn swarovski crystals and gilded pearls. It has a matching gold bubble stopper […]

Mercedes Benz have released a preview of their new Lifestyle Collection which has an inherant tone of practical luxury. The collection is for men and women and ranges from handbags, gloves, belts, watches, ties, sweaters, pen sets and key rings. It is not a huge range but its evidently high quality.

Sydney’s first new five-star hotel since 2000 opened in July this year – the Pullman on Olympic Boulevard.  It was built to be environmentally friendly, featuring solar panels on the roof and has all the latest tech. They also feature a pillow menu, not unusual these days but the Pullman offers no less than 8 […]

The May Fair Hotel in London has launched its own channel on Youtube as part of its marketing effort to show its classy, prestigious but unpretentious. I’m not sure that the best example of this is to showcase an interview with Paris Hilton as a “typical guest”. It suggests that a subtext of their strategy […]

The Luxury Institute in New York recently interviewed 500 wealthy luxury consumers and asked them to rate 20 of the world’s top jewelers. They rated a list of 20 brands on the basis of superior quality, uniqueness & exclusivity, social status and customer service, which were then converted into an index. They recently published the […]

Nannies and au pairs are now commonplace amongst elite family travellers to New York and also they are so valued that families routinely go out of their way to indulge them to ensure they’re not poached by the next rich family in the block. Or at least that’s what the Sherry-Netherland believe. This boutique hotel […]

Moet Hennessy have introduced a concept for its luxury brands at T2 Taipei International on the departures concourse. Its a promotion running till 29 Feb. With Hennessy for example, a teaser video is played after which consumers can select from three cocktails by pressing a button. When clicked, it launches an educational cocktail video while […]

It never ceases to surprise me how difficult hotels find it to create innovative packages for the luxury market.  The Mandarin Orient have launched their Christmas package for $US130,000 which includes a limo service, diamond jewelry worth around US100,000, a diamond studded Christmas tree in the room, a gourmet dinner and the presidential suite.Predictably, whilst […]

Pure Room, a company specialising in “allergy friendly rooms” claims that 59% of travellers would choose a hotel that offers super clean rooms over a comparable hotel without them, and that most of them would be willing to pay a premium.  Choosing a hotel because of allergy friendly rooms was slightly lower in the luxury […]

We not only have Crescent Hydropolis Resorts building whole resorts underwater (the first one due to open in Dubai and the second in Quingdoa China) but it seems that things underwater are becoming the latest buzz in the luxury resort’s effort to distinguish itself. The Jules Undersea Lodge in Key Largo is a former marine […]

In a dog fashion parade recently held at Harrods, millions of dollars worth of jewellery was paraded for ….. you guessed it ….. dogs!.  A dog by the name of Ritchie modeled a diamond-studded collar worth US 1.03 million designed by jeweler Stephen Webster, who also created Madonna’s wedding ring.  The collar was set with […]

Innovative hotel packages are always a challenge, luxury end ones even more so.  The Buckingham Hotel have developed a “Christmas Key to the City” package which pretty much takes the cake in terms of a luxury Christmas package – and all for a price tag of $US150,000. The package includes: A gold and diamond Christmas […]