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The market for luxury products and services plays a significant role in the world economy. The luxury hotel market is a crucial segment within the global market for luxury products and services. Luxury hospitality recorded a 5% growth rate along with demand for luxury cruises recording the growth of 7%, the highest among all luxury segments. The remarkable performance of luxury products and services over a period is attributed to the laudable marketing communication strategies of luxury marketers. In this research, we aimed to analyse how a multi-brand hospitality firm differentiates its luxury brand with other luxury brands in the portfolio, using textual messages aimed to communicate the uniqueness of the brands in its official websites. The case study method and content analysis are adapted to achieve the research objective. The study results show that different luxury brands under the brand portfolio of Marriott International can communicate the differences through the textual contents. Most of the differentiation relies on brand-specific features, traditions, services, location of the hotel and metadata on the Internet, followed by branded differentiators. It may be concluded that Marriott has been successful to an extent in using text contents in the website to differentiate its luxury brands.

Delivering services that create memorable luxury accommodation experiences rely on frontline staff to engage guests on a sensory level rather than merely a functional one. This engagement includes cognitive, emotional, relational and behavioural. Hospitality and tourism industries are people-orientated – people are needed to serve people in order to create desired experiences – and it is very difficult to create satisfaction or to revisit intention in every interaction that takes place. It is this intangible characteristic of the industries, provisions and tangible cues that play an important part in enhancing the overall luxury accommodation experience. Guests are very clear as to what they expect from luxury accommodation experiences: they feel that they are paying for a service that should be personalised, and that staff should realise what they want and need. The human interaction component and the co-creation that occurs between staff and guests is an essential dimension of the industry. The influence of these interactions on guest experiences and the delivery of services will be explored in this chapter.

This chapter treats the luxury hotel concept and practice and its recent trends in the tourism industry. This niche market is expanding rapidly with changing global income structures and increasing complexity of the hospitality sector. Its clientele comprises quality-seeking, prestige-striving, and high-spending customers. The chapter first explores the concept of luxury in relation to hotels. It further groups various associated assets into tangibles and intangibles to discuss their recent trends across the world. It is suggested that companies and destinations active in the luxury hotel market or contemplating entry take these trends into account to gain and/or maintain competitiveness.

This chapter conceptualizes a framework that can be applied to examine the service experiences of business tourists at luxury hotels. A synthesized literature review results in the identification of three service constructs − surprise, recovery, and sweetness − that constitute the service experiences. In the development of five propositions and in views of emotional appreciation and reciprocity, the chapter posits that emotional value from these three constructs of service experiences can enhance business tourists’ attitude of gratitude and consequently their willingness to pay a price premium. The proposed conceptual framework extends the three service constructs to, and integrates them with, a value–attitude–behavior model.

This study aims to determine whether the branded luxury guestroom amenities provided in five-star hotels of Delhi influence the guest's hotel purchase decisions. It also identified the amenities which are found to be most and least influential in affecting the guest's hotel selection and purchase behaviour. The study was conducted in the three upscale five-star hotels of Delhi. The selection of amenities and brands to be considered as luxury was based upon three focus group interviews with the room's division manager of the hotels. A structured questionnaire was drafted to identify the most and least useful hotel amenities among the respondents, influencing their hotel selection and purchase behaviours. Wi-Fi in the guestroom was found to be the most valuable amenity, with stationery items regarded as least valuable. It was also found that the guest's hotel selection and purchase decisions were significantly influenced when luxury branded amenities were placed in the guestroom. Guests were even found to pay extra when the hotel provided access to luxury branded amenities in the guestrooms. This is a novel attempt to find how the guests' hotel selection and purchase intentions are influenced by the placement of branded luxury amenities in guestrooms.

New technologies represent an important challenge for all sectors across the world, becoming a relevant opportunity for the luxury hospitality industry as well. This study empirically investigates the effects of openness to change and status consumption orientation in influencing luxury hotel guests' perceived usefulness of voice assistants when integrated with their staying. Specifically, we shed light on the potential interplay between these two constructs in shaping guests' perceived usefulness of these devices. Finding suggests that openness to changes and status consumption represents two potentially alternative aspects that managers could leverage to encourage hotel guests' perceived usefulness and vocal assistant devices. This implies that openness to change on the part of luxury hotel guests may be a necessary but not sufficient condition for these devices to be accepted. Rather, luxury hotel managers should also consider the status consumption orientation of their guests.

Luxury fashion brands have started differentiating their investment strategies and enlarging their sectors of activity, for instance, entering tourism. The overlay between traditional behaviors and innovative strategies has left a mark on the cities and neighborhoods. This chapter explores the spatial distribution of luxury tourism infrastructure in Milan. This transition does not affect only preeminent locations, such as monumental squares and high streets, but also places traditionally excluded from the “luxury circuits.” The location of 5-star hotels and premium tourism facilities in Milan (Michelin restaurants and spas) differ from the general tourism infrastructure. The study identifies polarization in the touristic offer and a parallel influence in the real estate market.

To remain competitive in an ever-changing marketplace, many accommodation managers are constantly upgrading their portfolio of service offerings for guests. Luxury suites with butler service were created as an extra component of luxury to the accommodation model. This inclusion was a welcomed innovation for guests who were willing to pay top dollar for top-of-the-line services and the ultimate in exclusivity. Butlers act as the luxury service delivery mechanisms in accommodations, going above and beyond to meet and exceed guest expectations. This chapter makes a unique contribution to the compendium of knowledge on luxury hospitality and tourism by providing insights from the supply side of luxury accommodation brands in the Caribbean and Pacific regions. A comprehensive review of the literature on the topic coupled with semi-structured interviews were conducted in the Maldives, Jamaica, St. Barts, The Bahamas, St. Lucia, Antigua, Cayman Islands, Barbados and Mexico. With an expressed need to examine the operationalisation (Miller & Mills, 2012a, 2012b) and subjectivity constructs (Godey et al., 2012a, 2012b) on Luxury Management in Hospitality and Tourism, this chapter aims to provide an excellent addition to the discourse. It also aims to address a major gap in the literature as there is a lacuna of recent research on Luxury Management in Tourism in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) from two major tourism dependent regions of the world – the Caribbean and the Pacific.

Luxury and communism are perceived to be ideologically incompatible values. Prior to the end of the Cold War, luxury tourism and socialist economies had an accommodating relationship and were rationalised at the national level for foreign exchange revenues, showcasing national development in some instances and finally promoting leisure and political education. However, contemporary scholarship on political ideology and luxury tourism is limited given changes in the political and tourism domain over the last two decades. The start of luxury travel and increasing private promotion in Vietnam comes at a time where the communist regime is hurriedly developing the economy at a breakneck speed. Key cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have become the forefront of luxury travel for Vietnam. Luxury malls, fine dining and five-star hotel resorts have sprung over the years in tandem with Doi Moi (economic restructuring). Tourism literature has seldom ventured into regime politics and luxury tourism. Using a historical approach, the chapter traces the preamble of luxury tourism in the age of Vietnam's modernity. A critical assessment of contemporary luxury tourism in Vietnam reveals a favourable relationship with socialist principles.

This chapter intends to give insights into the use of technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) in tourism and hospitality. Thus, the objectives are to: (1) give an overview about the meaning of luxury the use of technologies in tourism and hospitality, (2) provide examples about the use of such technologies (e.g., VR, AR, AI in practice) and (3) point out suggestions about further research in the interface of luxury and technologies in tourism and hospitality. The chapter is of interest to both academics and practitioners since it presents luxury, VR, AR and AI concepts, gives examples of technologies applications and points out critical areas for future research.