What Defines a Luxury Hotel and How to Use It in Your Marketing

Luxury hotels often base their communications and campaigns on calls to action that have little or nothing to do with the concept of luxury their guests expect. What is more, in many cases it would be worth analysing whether, by trying to position our hotel within the luxury segment, we may be excluding a larger, more profitable and more attainable critical mass. The concept of a Luxury Hotel is sometimes used rather freely as a label, but at a very high cost if that concept is not embedded throughout the organisation, service and facilities. A lack of broader perspective regarding what the concept of luxury means to guests leads to fundamental mistakes, which then affect marketing, positioning and, of course, the level of service the guest ultimately receives, as opposed to what was perceived. It is difficult to provide a single universal definition of what a luxury hotel is, for the simple reason that it is even more difficult to explain exactly what the word luxury entails in the first place. Luxury experiences are largely interconnected with each person’s dreams and aspirations, which, as some studies describe, are linked to individuals striving to achieve self-actualisation and personal fulfilment through greater knowledge, an appreciation of beauty, spiritual sophistication, peace of mind, art, culture and aesthetics. This makes “luxury” a highly subjective notion, as people differ in terms of ethnic background, culture of origin, educational background and personal experience. What one person perceives as luxurious may simply be a necessity for another, and vice versa. However, ideals of luxury can be categorised into four dimensions for any individual:

1. Luxury as a brand
2. Luxury as a product attribute
3. Luxury as non-necessity, and
4. Luxury as the power to pursue passions

Obviously, luxury hotels fall within the category of “luxury as a brand”, which concerns individuals who consume luxury products and services because they are perceived as a symbol of luxury and the highest quality . The same dimension applies to the luxury industry in general, where we have seen products such as clothing, jewellery and automobiles, as well as luxury brands such as Gucci, BVLGARI and Rolls Royce. “Luxury as a product attribute” refers to the specific attributes of the product or service, which in our case means elements such as the interior and exterior design of the hotel building, or the quality and elegance of the hotel’s services. The third dimension, “luxury as non-necessity”, defines luxury as something beyond basic needs. For the hotel industry, accommodation and food are basic needs, while hotel services that go beyond meeting those needs are considered luxurious. The final dimension, “luxury as the power to pursue passions”, refers to purchasing luxury products to make life more comfortable or enjoyable, such as spa treatments. Ultimately, these four dimensions of luxury apply to luxury hotels and explain the foundations of people’s need for luxury and what guests essentially expect from a luxury hotel experience. A concept of Luxury based on Beauty may also emerge: art applied to functional items, emphasising that luxury products as an art form offer greater psychological satisfaction than functional utility. While the hotel and tourism industry emerged through the growth of capitalism, freedom and exploratory relationships with geographical areas, the luxury hotel industry has progressed as an outlet for travellers to dream and fantasise about other lifestyles. There are four key factors that contribute to a luxury hotel experience:

1. Style
2. Comfort
3. Service
4. Pampering.

In this way, any hotel, whether part of a chain or independent, can be considered luxurious, provided that what it offers across these four dimensions and four key factors is sufficient for the guest. However, most classification systems that award Luxury status to luxury hotels recognise only four- or five-star properties as such, taking into account only criteria such as design, service, elegance and uniqueness. This suggests that, in some cases, the Luxury Hotel category is more about a desire to please or meet certain needs than about the guest’s perception of the product.