Luxury hotel trends to watch in 2024

Good morning from Skift. It’s Tuesday, January 9. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Some pundits thought COVID was going to kill the cruise industry. They were wrong.

The Beverly Hilton may have hosted the Golden Globes on Sunday, but that's far from being the only luxurious happening taking place at a Hilton this year.

Embark on a literary journey at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel. On Jan 12, 2024, the hotel will host the second instalment of the Reese’s Book Club x Sheraton Lobby Library. It’s the Reese’s Book Club’s only stop in Canada. This collaboration is a cornerstone of the new Gatherings by Sheraton program, which features weekly experiences aimed to help guests and locals feel inspired by the stories and cultures of communities around the world, ultimately helping guests get the most out of their travels.

Five hotels under Dubai’s home-grown company Emaar Hospitality have been rebranded in one swoop this week. Properties in prestige locations such as The Dubai Mall (the world’s biggest mall) and Dubai Marina have been rebranded as Kempinski and Marriott respectively. Abu Dhabi National Hotels (ADNH) owns the properties and says the move to strip Emaar branding was a “strategic business decision.”

Ask a New York City regular where to stay in Manhattan and they’ll tell you NoMad is the coolest downtown neighborhood. The clue is in the name: NoMad, or Madison Square North, bounces right off the north end of Madison Square Park. A recent revival has brought a surge in luxury hotels, inventive bistros, and voguish bars to this historic 30-block nook. NoMad hotels are close (but not too close) to Times Square while Chelsea and the Flatiron District are on the doorstep. The “North of Madison Square Park” neighborhood is ripe with luxury hotels for sightseeing and nightlife in NYC, and the new INNSiDE by Meliá New York NoMad leads the pack.

Takes Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana’s dining concepts to new levels.

Filmmaker. Academy Award Winner. Knight. Sir Ridley Scott is not short on titles; and now, the Napoleon director can also add hotelier to the list with Mas des Infermières, a historic winery and vineyard with vacation residences in the heart of Provence, France. Owned and operated by Scott and his family, this charming Luberon address sits on the fringes of the medieval hilltop village of Oppède-le-Vieux and has been in the Scott family for over 30 years. The estate’s first independent vintage was recently released in 2020.

Merging hospitality with the world’s top Asian destinations, Remote Lands is at the forefront of the luxury travel planning industry. The operator offers itineraries to 38 different countries on the Asian continent, highlighting the cuisine, heritage, and standout features of each. The company has teamed up with hospitality brand Aman to add a personalized element to its trips by jet.

Since its launch in 2018 as a luxury lifestyle brand of individual hotels with distinct character, Radisson Hotel Group has seen rapid growth within its Radisson Collection brand.

In this series of articles, I talk to a wide range of travel experts, insiders and luxury brands to find out more about the future of travel for next year and beyond. In Part 1, I wrote about the search for authentic travel and how technology can elevate travel experiences. For Part 2, I spoke to Black Tomato about the rise in people wanting to capture special moments through travel experiences. In Part 3, I looked at the rise of sustainable architecture, the return of maximalist hotel design and the quest for the best of sleep science. In Part 4, Cazenove+Loyd x Globetrender revealed their seven key travel trends for 2024. For Part 5, I spoke to wellness experts about the growth in demand for immersive well-being experiences when travelling. Today, for Part 6, and the last article in this Trends series, I write about a return to age-old traditions in the burgeoning wellness industry.

Wellness used to be as one-dimensional as a spin class and a smoothie. Diet and exercise are of course still fundamental, but we’ve finally started to embrace a more holistic approach to achieving better health. This means focusing on long neglected areas like a solid sex life, socializing, rest and recovery, and emotional and mental wellbeing. Feeling good now trumps looking good and healthspan—the quality of our years—has become just as important as lifespan. Longevity, the concept of living a longer and healthier life, will be the biggest buzzword of 2024, with wellness clinics as well as sybaritic beach retreats offering the latest biohacks (cryotherapy, infrared light treatments, poolside vitamin IV drips) to optimize our performance. Tantra gurus and sex therapists will be the new must-have in-house expert and artificial-intelligence empowered smart beds are fast becoming an expected amenity.