What’s Ruining Luxury Travel? You Could Be Part Of The Problem!

Higher prices and understaffed travel providers aren’t the only elements ruining the luxury travel experience. Overuse of technology, hotel managers seeking to monetize every inch of their properties, staff outfitted to look like runway models, airline accountants, too much truffle oil, and even fellow guests are making luxury travel less enjoyable.

Speaking to over 2,250 travel buyers and executives from more than 2,000 luxury travel brands during the opening ceremony of the International Luxury Travel Market being held this week in Cannes, Canadian magazine publisher, brand agency executive and style guru Tyler Brûlé reeled off a litany of places that he says the industry is letting down guests. However, guests weren’t shielded from his sharp criticisms.

Using tablets at check-in instead of just jotting down your address and signing means navigating different keyboards, which can be confusing and frustrating for jet-lagged visitors. This is not the best way to start your stay.

Sins of Silicon Valley continue into your room, where he says glass-plated touchscreen control panels make turning the lights on or off another test of patience.

However, QR codes top the list of tech misdeeds, which he says have often replaced printed leather-bound folders with high-quality paper that was easy to peruse. In some cases, he has found multiple codes, “so you don’t know if you are getting room service or housekeeping.”

Oh, and what about just standard power outlets conveniently located next to both sides of the bed instead of a host of different plugs, usually none of which work for your device?

It wasn’t just the IT department that Brûlé took to task.

He criticized hotels that no longer have comfortable seating in the lobby to wait for a friend or just people-watch without being hounded to order a drink, as well as big city hotels that close their bars before 10 pm.

And then there is the staff, which Brûlé says are often outfitted so they are mistaken for guests and, in some cases, don’t even have name tags. While he says uniforms “don’t have to look like you’re from a circus,” they are “part of the brand,” like a “fantastic logo.”

Training should also remind staff about the old three-ring rule, which dictated picking up the phone on the first ring. “There is a paying guest on the other end of the line,” he told the audience of hotel executives.

Oh, and stop it with the truffle oil (on everything from potato chips to cashews) and put a hold on those brand scents “that follow you home in your luggage.”

This brings us to airline procurement executives, who Brûlé says need a lesson in ordering comfortable pillows. The current offerings at the front of the airplane are either too flimsy or resemble “a stuffed rugby ball.”

And you could be part of the problem.

Brûlé says he is tired of people holding Zoom meetings in the lobby as if they were at WeWork and playing YouTube videos on full blast in the fine dining restaurant.

He says hotels should send out guidelines outlining proper attire and etiquette.

He also suggests hotels bring back soundproof phone booths around the hotel so guests can rant without letting everyone at the pool know about their problems.

And by the way, add windows that open to what makes a luxury hotel luxury.