Luxury travel in 2021, How is it going to evolve?
“We have not got to the end, even to the beginning of the end, but we have got to the end of the beginning”
We are all now immersed in a complex scenario with the danger of becoming chaotic in the medium-term for luxury travel in 2021. In this scenario, innovation, tactical thinking, and adaptation to change take on greater importance.
The flu pandemic, which killed six times as many Americans and left survivors with an appetite to live the 1920s with a lot of positive vibes. We do hope that spirit will also animate the 2020s, and we are just at the beginning of a great new decade of Jazz Music!
We must be able to filter all the information and define the key metrics that speak for themselves in our company. Developing your critical thinking skills to help you decide what information to pay attention to, maintain business continuity, converse with your clients, and protect your team is key. We should identify and maintain critical operations and retain core staff in anticipation of an eventual rebound.
While the current situation has been a killer for low-cost companies in general, especially for the airline industry, it has benefited luxury vacation rental markets, private jets, and first-class concierge services. Even with the promise of COVID vaccines on the horizon, we predict that low-cost air travel and business travellers will not recover in 2021, but the increase in luxury villa rentals in 2021 with 5-star hotel-like services and the use of private jets will thrive instead.
Villa Palo Alto Villa White Villa Nature
Keys to increasing your revenue if you are in the luxury travel sector and you want to do well in 2021
Knowing your customer segments and when they are likely to return is critical. Please keep the conversation with your loyal guests and be ready to welcome them back with added value and special benefits. There is a considerable demand for ready-to-travel people as soon as possible. We’ve learned that even in a global pandemic, travel does not stop entirely—it just transforms the way it does. We must constantly adapt our business model to new consumers’ behaviours, rethink cancellation policies to be more flexible, and provide personalised services.
What we learned this year from the luxury travel hospitality sector so far
Fortunately, COVID-19 has brought about the need for change and pointed a new way forward to enjoy a quality and healthier life. More demanding clients are searching for private and exclusive destinations off-season with less crowded services.
We are receiving a new kind of guest from hotels who bring higher expectations of hospitality, full concierge service, and maintenance and request amenities like a 5-star Hotel. Each of our guests is appointed by a Villa Manager who will greet them upon arrival and be available 24/7 during their stay. In Marbella Mountain Resort, we help our families plan their trips from A to Z, organising all the in-house services and providing 24/7 concierge services outside the Villa, including our transportation services.
We are revolutionising the luxury travel industry by providing our guests with the ultimate experience in Luxury Villas for Rent in Costa del Sol with 5 star hotel-like services. We have direct contact with the owners, managing our properties as a small Hotel Boutique Chain not using any third party in between. Therefore our clients can rest easy knowing you’re enjoying the most competitive nightly rates, and provide an immediate response to any issue.
Our predictions for luxury travel in 2021
Definitely, we will see more interest in a return to exclusivity and excellence. Unbranded and small independent boutique hotels and villa resorts will arise again, in contrast to global chains and branded hotels.
Multi-generational and multi-family high-demanding clients searching for private and exclusive destinations with secondary, less crowded airports. They are looking for remote but accessible and exclusive destinations, even if they are in front of the beach—door-to-door service using private transportation, such as Private Jets, with little human interaction.
I predict single-family luxury vacation properties will achieve a higher proportion of the overall lodging market next year, while hotels’ market share continues to shrink. Families seek more secure environments than traditional hotels, so they choose private villa resorts with 5-star hotel-like services instead.
Many people will want to return to destinations that they know well, trust, and feel safe in. An increase in the hiring of vacation packages is estimated since some people find it more secure to have everything contracted with a single provider who can help them with unforeseen events that arise. The demand for travel insurance that covers unforeseen situations generated by pandemics or major natural disasters will increase.
However, others, primarily Millennials who take more risks and do not enjoy restrictions and rules, will want to take a trip like that once in a lifetime, in case the world ends soon. Another significant number of tourists in 2021 will decide to journey within their own country instead of flying to an international destination. It is what, in English, is called Staycations (stay + vacations).
Many tourists will change the way they travel. Instead of making three or four short trips throughout the year, they will take a single, longer, and more planned trip. We have received more long-term requests than before. We predict the length of stay will continue to climb.
How remote work and schooling are changing luxury travel bookings
With work and school becoming more remote, we have noticed an increase in CEOs and top executives looking for a safe and comfortable flexible office base for their families, where they can work and enjoy a quality of life at the same time. That is a workcation, a mix of work and vacation! Some of our available luxury properties are located within integrated luxury resorts, with golf, tennis, spa, and horse-riding facilities.
Digital nomads are people whose work allows them to live anywhere and spend seasons in different destinations around the world while they carry out their professional activity remotely. Adapting to these changing customer expectations and incorporating value-added technologies and services will be the difference for luxury villa rental companies that take advantage of that opportunity.
How the airline industry will evolve
In the past, the airline industry has always fully recovered from crises. But this time has been different. The forecast made in May 2020 by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that passenger numbers would return to pre-pandemic levels by 2023 now looks wildly optimistic. But the trade body’s prediction that only 30 of the world’s 700 or so airlines would survive the crisis without government help was spot on. Some Spanish airlines predict a 50-60% occupancy this summer, returning to 2019 levels in 2025.
COVID-19 has exposed the fragility of globalisation, particularly in the case of aviation. The industry can no longer rely on the steady growth of the past or any growth. Boeing cut future production by 50% and cancelled plans to develop two new airliners in the coming decade. Even Airbus, which has enough orders to keep its assembly lines busy for a decade, slowed production by 30%.
Private Jets saw a rise in demand during the pandemic, with many being first-time private fliers. Marbella Mountain Resorts organises all transportation services for the clients with a door-to-door service. This is not only because of the apparent benefits, but also because the number of commercial flights has been reduced as demand remains low for leisure and other non-essential travel. The flexibility and efficiency of private air travel may again prove decisive for companies as they have in the past.
Online & Smaller meetings
Even firms that are solvent enough to let their employees fly have not been keen to do so. “People are more comfortable with online meetings, which will never disappear. Many corporate events and conferences have gone online permanently. The millennials are more likely to regard business travel as a status symbol than older workers and consider themselves at less risk from COVID-19. Event Management companies are now searching for luxury properties to rent, such as Marbella Mountain Resort, to hold smaller and private meetings with fewer participants.
Sanitary passport and PCR Test
The idea of creating a health passport will likely spread to confirm that either the disease has passed, the traveller has been vaccinated, or that at least they have a negative PCR performed in the last 72 hours. This passport may be required to enter specific destinations, tourist attractions, and resources.
