From Thread Counts to Theatrics
With the growth of the luxury market in India, the customer profile has evolved and there is a new set of consumers—the Millennials and Gen-X. With novel expectations, this consumer has changed the landscape of luxury, evolving from old world and traditional to new-age and experiential. Luxury in hospitality was pretty much about thread-counts and shining mosaic reflecting sunlight off an island in Greece. Today, it is all about paying excruciating attention to the smallest of details. For instance, The St Regis Mumbai has a butler for every room and The Ritz-Carlton in Bangalore has Guardian Angels, taking care of every guest’s needs. Real-time content creation and sharing, personalisation, and expecting the un-expected are not just buzzwords, but carefully crafted and curated offerings that landscape the burgeoning trends in luxury hospitality.
VIRAL FEVER
With everything going viral in a matter of seconds, we are always on stage, with comparisons being drawn and choices being made real time. Social media has made luxury accessible and somewhat vulnerable to digital judgements and opinions. Every experience is visual, active and current, with a touch of the finger, thousands view and comment on this visual representation. It is no longer enough to be good; we have to be better at being smarter; curate and create visually appealing experiences around wellness, culture and cuisine, which are the pulse points of an #instalove consumer. From programming F&B to creating exclusive wine-paired dinners, or the much-talked-about Rock Pool party at W Goa, all the world’s a stage. This is one of the biggest trends propelling the luxury market today.
MADE TO ORDER
Bespoke personalisation and curation play a major role in the expectation of the luxury consumer. Our luxury brands have clear differentiators in terms of design, technology, style, fit, décor and specially crafted service rituals and enhancements, all of which intend to awe. It is these ritualised services, butler services and brand programmes that define the guest experience. Our brand programmes at the St Regis Mumbai, like The Aficionado Programme, are designed to provide guests access to once-in-a-lifetime experiences and extraordinary events around the city. These include customised spa treatments, guided tours to exclusive locations, special food and wine tastings with master chefs. At The Ritz Carlton, it’s ‘Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen’ exemplifying the anticipatory service provided. Even though our service rituals and differentiators may be presented differently, the underlying emotion is to surprise and delight by coming up with innovations and finely curated personalised offerings.
Every single experience has to be visual, personal and exclusive