Four Luxury Hotel Groups Just Started Selling Something They Never Sold Before

Four luxury hotel groups have started selling something they didn't two years ago: the entire trip. Four Seasons, Rosewood, Fairmont and Marriott's Luxury Collection are each packaging multi-property, multi-day itineraries with private transfers, local guides and access that used to belong to travel advisors and destination management companies. The priciest route on offer runs about $43,100 per room.

That one belongs to Four Seasons' Connected Experiences program, which launched late last year with routes in Bali, Spain and Mexico. The Mexico itinerary starts at Four Seasons Hotel Mexico City with a sunrise visit to the pyramids of Teotihuacan, moves to Four Seasons Resort Tamarindo and ends at Naviva on Punta Mita. The Spain route pairs Four Seasons Hotel Madrid with Four Seasons Resort Mallorca at Formentor and starts around $17,600 per room. In Bali, guests move between Jimbaran Bay and Sayan by private raft down the Ayung River.

Rosewood's version, Guided by Rosewood, opened with a six-day Austria and Bavaria route linking Rosewood Vienna, Schloss Fuschl near Salzburg and Rosewood Munich, with itineraries in Mexico and Southeast Asia following. Fairmont has taken a looser approach, letting guests book Fairmont Banff Springs, Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise and Jasper Park Lodge as a single connected Canadian Rockies trip. Marriott's Luxury Collection joined on August 18 with Expeditions, 10 itineraries across North America, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean.

Why it matters

Experiences are the fastest-growing slice of travel spending. A July report from Arival and Phocuswright projects that tours, activities and attractions will grow from $271 billion in bookings this year to $342 billion by 2029, outpacing travel overall. Hotel groups already hold the guest relationship and the brand trust; the itineraries let them capture the rest of the trip budget rather than just the room nights.

Not everyone in the trade is pleased. Luxury advisors have noted that this revenue currently flows to advisors, local operators and DMCs, and that quality can vary enough between sister properties that a prepackaged circuit is not automatically the better buy.