A Shift In Mindset: The New Psychology Of Luxury Travel

29.11.2023 - 23:07 / forbes.com

The psychology of luxury travel has shifted since the pandemic. There’s been a change not only in what luxury travelers are looking for, but even in something as basic as the way many are thinking about travel.

“With Covid, people stayed put for so long,” says luxury travel insider Joanna Kuflik, director of travel services for Marchay, a curated, membership-based luxury travel club that works with Passalacqua, Bulgari Roma, Faena, Deplar Farm and Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, to name a few. “This year was really the first year where Covid became a thing of the past, and people adopted a different mindset,” she says. “They weren’t scared and they appreciated traveling differently,” she continues. “People no longer want to wait for high-quality experiences with their loved ones.”

The elite New York-based service that counts Fortune 500 CEOS; creative young entrepreneurs; major sports figures; and finance czars as members, was launched over nine years ago by Jon Ein, an investor and financier who started as an M+A specialist at Credit Suisse, and then moved to UBS in New York. After business school he launched Founded Film partners, focusing on film, TV and music. Ein, the chairman of Marchay, initially started it as a high-end business travel club for friends and family, then built it out and watched it grow.

Recently, says Kuflik, the focus at Marchay has changed. “Clients started asking about services for their personal experiences,” says Kuflik. “Since the pandemic, business and leisure travel have entwined,” she says. And now, almost 80 percent of Marchay trips are built around personal travel, or a combination of the two.

Here are some of the most noteworthy shifts Kuflik has seen in the mindset of luxury travelers.

A penchant for long, slow travel People are booking and traveling for longer periods of time and slowing down while they do. “With the component of remote work, people are fine being in Europe for weeks with their computer,” she says. “And that’s really changed the game.” With slow travel, people are able to immerse themselves more deeply in the local culture and book more experiences that allow them to really explore and appreciate the destination, according to Kuflik. They are looking to go beyond the typical resort experiences and more willing to head off the beaten path.

A deeper desire for wellness travel and immersive retreats “There’s been a huge shift about taking care of your well being and ensuring that you’re making time to take care of yourself,” Kuflik says. According to the new Global Wellness Institute report, the wellness tourism market will more than double from 2022 to 2027, with spending jumps from 2022 ($651 billion) to 2023 ($868 billion) to 2024 ($1 trillion) to