What is Luxury?
Is it the most misused term in the travel industry?
I
am sitting on Crystal Cruise’s Crystal Symphony in Monaco harbour on a moonlit evening… and I am not complaining. But it has got me thinking. The ?rst thought is I need to get a life and start leaving my work at home when on holiday but I am passionate about my job and my business. I am surrounded by opulence and luxury... but what is luxury? The dictionary de?nes it as ‘something expensive or hard to attain.’ The travel industry seems to have enhanced a new level of luxury with the invention of the new term 6 Star. In pure terms I have stayed in many hotels, such as Aman, Four Seasons and St. Regis, that o?er better accommodation, better service and better cuisine but they are 5 Star deluxe and never call themselves 6 Star so why do the cruise lines think they deserve the newly invented classi?cation? I don’t believe they do. The level of inclusiveness on the cruise coupled with the levels of service and the current pricing o?ers, without doubt, the best value in the
hospitality industry. As an example, having enjoyed two superb meals on board at Nobu’s Silk Road I can assure you the signature dish of Blackened Cod, widely copied but rarely matched, tastes much nicer when you know the bill isn’t coming afterwards.
lished brands have changed the level of product delivery and now don’t portray their brand properly through their marketing. Crystal, Sea Dream Yacht Club and Celebrity, to name a few, have raised their game whilst others have reduced their costs and may o?er better value but not such a high standard of product to discerning clientele. 5 Star can’t be delivered at some of the current prices being o?ered such as £399 per person per week. Those who think it can are naïve and the most likely to be underwhelmed by their holiday experience. Value, not the lowest price are key, and the old adage that you get what you pay for can’t be truer then in today’s environment. Marketing tends to hype the brand but I am still a fan of the old Celebrity Cruises’ strap line of “Exceeding your Expectation” which is what it is all about.
Crystal symphony
Celebrity solstice
Cruise lines should be honest enough to drop the tag lines that are outdated and occasionally misleading especially when they reposition their products into di?erent markets. Cer ?????????()]????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????e???????q???????t???????????????????????????????}???()A??????????????????????????
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