Luxury Travel

Collecting eye-catching pieces of artwork is one way to set yourself apart from the competition.

In this Instagram era, a hotel art collection can be framed as an insta-marketing tool. We talked with several art curators about how luxury hotels can use art as a platform for branding and creating local buzz.

Luxury travelers today want experiences that are high-touch, authentic, and meaningful. Windstar Cruises, which offers guests the chance to immerse themselves in the Alaskan wilderness, is making experiences such as these a priority.

The Oberoi Group is a good example of a hospitality company that has eschewed aggressive expansion in favor of thoughtful growth.

Online player On the Beach is making a play to attract the business of offline travel agents by creating a new online dynamic-packaging portal. Got it? In online travel, as in life, it sometimes pays to be flexible, and to buy stuff.

Belmond hasn't had the easiest time over the past few years, but its collection of iconic hotels and trains make it an intriguing target.

What better way to discover how luxury travel has evolved than to chat with veterans of the five-star hospitality space?

Shareholders are no doubt elated, but luxury travelers are concerned. They don't want Belmond to become another Ritz-Carlton, and get folded into another mega-hospitality giant.

In certain sub-sectors — luxury and cruise spring to mind — travel agents still play a big part in driving sales. Hoteliers and tour operators know this and are happy to splash the cash in order to get some of their business.

What appear to be simple marketing schemes are in fact thoughtful curations that have the double effect of attracting new customers and, if executed correctly, their return. Happy children mean happy parents and there's no better way to secure another booking.