Ranchers Capitalize on Lux Travelers Craving Great Outdoors

Luxury Travel News

The Skift New Luxury column is our weekly column focused on the business of selling luxury travel, the people and companies creating and selling experiences, emerging trends, and the changing consumer habits around the sector.

As the new and different becomes a much bigger factor in luxury travel, destinations, hotels, and other players are going to have to work harder to make sure that what they deliver hits the spot.

Tents and pop-up shipping containers have made their mark, and now working ranches are increasingly appealing to city slickers who want to reconnect with the land. As our story makes clear, it's not easy or straightforward, and although the expectation levels may be different than for, say, a five-star hotel, the product on offer still needs to hit certain beats.

Private landowners looking to offer high-end travelers firsthand experiences in the great outdoors also need to consider a level of refinement when it comes to guest expectations of service and hospitality.

For feedback or news tips, reach out via email at pw@skift.com or tweet me @paddywhyte.

— Patrick Whyte, Europe Editor

5 Looks at Luxury

Ranchers Wrangle Luxury Travelers to Wide-Open Spaces: As we frequently report in Skift New Luxury, five-star accommodation is no longer confined to the hotel sector. Shipping containers, tiny homes, and tents are all being tricked out to satisfy the high-end traveler's need for novelty. And now, cowboy wannabes can even go posh by renting out a ranch.

Marriott Resort Fee Lawsuit Puts New Target on Long-Held Hotel Industry Practice: Do not think that this lawsuit only matters to Marriott. Competitors are keeping a close eye on the case, knowing they could be next. The industry has a big decision to make about how it charges amenity fees, if at all.

UNESCO Could Have Helped Save Venice From Overtourism: Why Didn’t It? UNESCO had, by many accounts, plenty of reason to add Venice to its list of sites "in danger" at its most recent meeting. Its decision not to reveals the complexities of naming World Heritage sites in the age of mass tourism.

Regent Wants to Reclaim Its Crown Under IHG: With new hotel brands popping up every day, it can be a challenge to establish name recognition among consumers. That’s one challenge InterContinental Hotels Group doesn’t have to deal with as it works to revive the Regent brand.

Is a Peloton Hotel Next? Whether it’s travel companies looking to partner with fitness brands, private equity firms buying up exercise businesses, or new investors looking to pour money into fitness-tech startups, the outlook is rosy for the exercise industry.

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Skift Europe Editor Patrick Whyte [pw@skift.com] curates the New Luxury newsletter. Skift emails the newsletter every Tuesday.

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