Do you want ‘classic luxury’ or ‘lifestyle luxury’?

Travelers face a ‘confusing sea of sameness’ as new hotel brands keep popping up, with hotel executives insisting each of them has a different “brand essence”

Hilton, Marriott, IHG, Hyatt and Accor already offer lodging for every conceivable customer, but are thin-slicing the market into ever more pieces. There aren’t just economy hotels anymore - there are now premium economy hotels. Looking for luxury? There’s classic luxury, distinctive luxury, cutting-edge luxury, all-inclusive luxury and lifestyle luxury.

Key takeaways

• The pandemic changed travel-booking habits, as many travelers who previously booked via OTAs started reserving directly with hotels for easier cancellation policies, cleanliness pledges and other factors.
• Hotels seized on those new relationships and boosted the ranks of their loyalty programs. Now they want to keep travelers in the fold. One way to do that is to have options for business trips, vacations, family and friend visits and, yes, bleisure.
• The new brands are also designed to keep or lure hotel developers. The primary customer for a lot of these hotel companies is not the guest, it’s the owner.

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