Price is not an object. Top suites, exclusive lodges and unique experiences having the super rich competing to secure uber-expensive vacation options against growing global competition.

Blue Parallel

The controversy between YouTube travel reviewer Ryan Walker and Amanvari highlighted one point everyone can agree on. Hotel rates are through the roof. The newest property for the uber-luxury Aman Resorts group was charging $6,000 per night during its opening week, a period when most hotels heavily discount rates as they work out the kinks and because not all facilities may yet be open.

Andrea Grisdale, the CEO of IC Bellagio, a firm that organizes private access experiences in Italy, says one wealthy client recently told her, "I want to stay in the hotel, not buy it."

Data from the Virtuoso travel network shows an average nightly rate of $1,983 for bookings in June. That's double pre-COVID levels.

Grisdale says that since the surge in "revenge travel" post-COVID, some seasonal properties in Italy now remain open through early January rather than closing in November to accommodate increased demand at the top end of the market.

However, if you are looking to save a few bucks by traveling in the shoulder season, look again. "Fall is the new summer," says Misty Belles, Virtuoso’s vice president of global communications, noting that sales for September through November are currently tracking 69% ahead of last year. Festive season bookings are up 65% year-over-year.

And don’t blink, or you may find yourself having to move to Plan B. Future bookings for trips one or more years in advance that cost more than $100,000 are up 49%. The rush to pay top dollar, rupiah, yuan, euro, etc., for vacations as far out as 2028 is Econ 101. David Kolner, an executive vice president with Virtuoso, whose member agencies sold over $35 billion in luxe trips in 2025, says demand for plush and posh accommodations is more global than in the past.

Super-rich clients in the U.S. are now competing with UHNW families from around the world for that presidential suite, exclusive residence, or safari lodge takeover. What’s more, many of the hot properties are small. Twenty-five percent of the group’s preferred properties have fewer than 50 rooms, so while the United States still rules in terms of super-rich population, wealthy families from the rest of the world have also caught the travel bug and are going both on and off the beaten path.

It’s not cheap, even for entry-level accommodations in popular destinations. On Lake Como, starting prices at Grand Hotel Tremezzo begin at around 1,800 euros plus VAT, while 24-room Passalacqua is 2,800 euros, plus VAT. For six-bedroom Villa Sola Cabiati you will pay 20,000 euros per night plus VAT. Families take the villa for three or four weeks, says Managing Director Silvio Vettorello, using it as a base and then hopping around Europe.

As with the villa being a one-of-a-kind, Vettorello says the hotels' signature suites are also unique, with many already booked for next summer. He says if you want a specific suite, or a suite with a connecting room, now is the time to book.

Virtuoso travel advisors say 70% of clients are willing to pay more for unique or exclusive accommodations. Millennials who are benefiting from inheriting $84 trillion, according to Cerulli Associates, are apparently anxious to transfer that wealth, with 67% of advisors saying the thirst for travel is being driven by "new luxury products and experiences." Across all age groups, advisors say clients are prioritizing bucket list and once-in-a-lifetime trips, again meaning that, despite some hemming and hawing, there is minimal resistance to paying at the top of the market.

Discover Puerto Rico CEO Jorge L. Perez says, "We haven’t seen any pushback," noting occupancy in the island’s luxury properties hovers just below 90% year-round. The same goes for Karen Whitt, a vice president at Hartling Group in Turks & Caicos, whose properties include Sands Grace Bay, Palms Grace Bay and Shore Club Grace Bay. In recent years, Providenciales International Airport has expanded its facilities for private jets. Visit Los Cabos Managing Director Rodrigo Esponda says occupancy and prices for signature suites and villas are as strong as ever.

Singapore Tourist Board Vice President Dawn Ng adds, "The wealthy are trading up to bigger suites. They don't see hotels anymore as just a place to sleep. They see them as an extension of their lifestyle." She points to AP House by Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet, which opened in the historic Raffles Hotel's Bar and Billiard Room. Many of its timepieces run into the six figures.

Others worry that the continued push to raise rates could backfire if consumers see it as a money grab. Grisdale says that while high flyers are sympathetic to cost increases for suppliers, including labor costs, they want to see tangible improvements in the places they stay. Vettorello says his group has a policy of refurbishing all rooms every three years, particularly updating technology such as the charger ports used for mobile devices.

Barbara Muckermann, Group CEO of Kempinski, which both owns and manages luxury hotels, says the industry has a "creativity problem" similar to fashion's. If it doesn't change, it risks a falloff. She says hotels are "no longer a refuge from the city, but the gateway into it."

It is launching E.R.A. at its hotels in Munich and Prague, short for experience real access. Each hotel will include a resident curator, and initial experiences include a morning run with Lothar Matthäus, who guided Germany to a World Cup title in 1990, and a helicopter ride over five royal castles with the private historian of the Wittelsbachs, the house that ruled Bavaria for 738 years.

Blue Parallel President Emmanuel Burgio agrees that travel providers need to do more than increase rates to maintain momentum. A specialist in custom luxury travel in Latin America, Burgio says the average spend per trip is $100,000, and that it's not price but time that is the biggest constraint.

Following the trend of luxury private jet experiences that use VIP airliners for 50 travelers, Blue Parallel is launching custom private jet experiences, where clients can bring their own jets or the company can arrange charter flights.

He says UHNWs have "all the tangible items and they are looking to splurge on experiences. Our job is to offer value, which means taking them to places they have never heard of." He points to Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site in northern Brazil that recently opened to tourism, where you can ride ATVs across its dunes and lagoons.

Explora Chief Marketing Officer Jacqueline Barney says rates at its lodges in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru run over $3,000 per night, but are inclusive. "We’re not charging $12 for a bottle of water." There are dozens of experiences available at each lodge that don’t need to be pre-booked, and they are included along with fees for national parks. Nothing is outsourced, she says, so that Explora can control the quality. All guides are employees. Gourmet meals, included as well, feature collaborations with chefs from Michelin-star restaurants.

French Side Travel CEO Mark Bonte says even with creativity and product investment, "It's getting to a point where you can't keep doing a 10% price increase every year." He says France is losing high-end clients to Spain, Portugal and Croatia. Bonte says wealthy Americans are either skipping places like Champagne and cutting back their stays in Paris, deciding instead to go a bit off the beaten track to Corsica and France's Basque Country.

Southern Crossings Director Paul Groves-Berry says this summer, the winter season in Australia and New Zealand, has seen an influx of Americans and others who were attracted not only by the off-season pricing down under but also by a desire to avoid the record heat and crowding that made headlines in Europe.

In a world where there is more competition to grab the best suite or have that lodge reserved exclusively for your group, sometimes more is more. Blue Parallel's Burgio says if the product is intriguing, "People question if it doesn't feel expensive enough."

Nubia Tours' Haytham Atwan, whose company specializes in Egypt, says that after years of having its luxury hotels priced "at less than what you would pay for a 3-star hotel in London or New York," that pricing has finally risen to a level where hotel owners can invest back into the properties. "Reducing prices is easy," he says. "Getting them back up takes years and years."