9 hours ago
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Amanda Hyde
December 19, 2025 — 5:00am
In the luxury travel industry, it’s no longer enough to simply be a hotel. Places to stay are extending their brands in all sorts of weird, wonderful and woefully expensive ways – including private jet services and branded residences. Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa recently acquired one of the latter in Tokyo, owned by the hotel group Aman, for a rumoured 30 billion yen, or $289 million.
Then there are the less obvious additions – like that at The Biltmore in London’s Mayfair, which has announced plans to open a huge self-storage facility in its basement next year (the perfect home for that extra piece of art or a sports car collection); or at Eleven’s Deplar Farm, a remote Icelandic lodge popular with heli-skiers, where you can now record music at a private studio.
But why? Surely, in a world where the $1500-per-night hotel room is no longer an eyebrow-raising rarity, the stalwart five-star institutions don’t need to diversify.
In fact, they do. The rich are getting richer (in 2024, Australian billionaire wealth surged by $28 billion — spread across Australia’s 47 billionaires, that means an Australian billionaires on average made $67,000 per hour, according to research by Oxfam), and that means they can, quite literally, afford to be more demanding.
In an interview with Business Insider, Four Seasons’ chief executive Alejandro Reynal revealed that, while hotels and resorts accounted for about 80 per cent of the company’s revenue, extras such as private jet tours gave the brand a “halo effect” in the eyes of its loyal (read: richest) customers. Get it right, and each UHNW stay could be worth far more than just the room rate.
Jules Maury, who heads up the invitation-only travel concierge Scott Dunn Private, cites a couple of options that are popular with her clients. One is “advanced wellness programmes built around diagnostics, medical-grade practitioners and ongoing support, often beginning around £20,000 ($40,000) per person”.
Another is tours by private jet. “This particular request is underpinning long-format journeys averaging 19 nights, an increase in six-figure bookings and more complex itineraries that cover regions as far-flung as Alaska and Hawaii in a single trip,” she says.
And it’s more widespread than you might first think: it’s often not that your favourite five-star isn’t laying on these types of extras; just that they’re only visible to a select few. Here are some of the most voguish options currently on offer – and how they compare to the cost of the priciest room.
Four Seasons: Private jets
So many Four Seasons resorts, so little time… if only there was some way to flit between them in style. Step forward the Four Seasons private jet service. Guests can choose from several itineraries that hop between the brand’s hotels on its 48-seater, custom-designed Airbus A321. Onboard, they’ll have 10 members of staff to cater to their every whim.
Previous trips on the specially liveried jet (which comes with white leather seats and a dedicated executive chef who serves up dishes inspired by each stop) have included a 24-day hop from Oahu to London, with time in Sydney, Dubai and Florence among other places. Excursions are included too – from behind the scenes tours of the Sydney Opera House to a water purification ritual performed by a Balinese priest in a sacred pool.
Most expensive hotel room: $136,000 per night (Ty Warner Penthouse Suite at the Four Seasons New York)
Private Jet Experience: $470,000 per person (19-night Uncharted Discovery itinerary, including time at Machu Picchu and an Antarctic expedition)
Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons & Aman: Yachts
There was a time when a day trip aboard a boat was enough for high-end travellers. No longer: now they want to traverse the oceans on a hotel-branded yacht. In the next couple of years, two of the world’s biggest hotel hitters will take to the seas: Four Seasons and Aman. The former is bringing highly-anticipated yacht journeys akin to its private jet ones (with gigantic suites designed by posh publisher Prosper Assouline and a pool that’s seemingly hopped straight out of The White Lotus). The latter will launch Amangati, a tastefully beige megayacht complete with a full-scale Aman Spa.
These boats come hot on the heels of Ritz Carlton’s Yacht Collection which, when it launched in 2018, was the self-proclaimed “first foray into the cruise industry for a luxury hotel operator”. “Brand loyalty is a major driver,” says Maury. “Ritz-Carlton’s following is building with Luminara now in Asia.”
Most expensive hotel room: $6500 per night (Beach Pool Villa at the Ritz-Carlton Maldives)
A cruise aboard the Ritz-Carlton Luminara: From $46,000 per person (14-night cruise between Singapore and Hong Kong)
Soho House: Interior design schemes
It’s a natural progression for the 1 per cent: go to one of the world’s best hotels, clock the furnishings, demand them for your own home. The most exclusive items – such as those in Aman Resorts’ collaboration with renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma – aren’t widely available (would-be purchasers must apply with a form that asks whether they own an Aman Residence, among other things).
For other big hotel names, however, selling their particular brand of chic has become a lucrative sideline. Perhaps the most successful is Soho Home, sister brand to the Soho House hotels and private members clubs. The brand has quickly become a celebrity favourite: in the latest edition of Elle Decoration, the actress Isla Fisher reveals her new London home, designed by its inhouse team. And when the company released its latest results, it attributed strong non-membership or in-house revenues to its homewares line.
Most expensive hotel room: $7700 per night (Extra Large Ocean room at Soho Beach House Miami – for non-members)
Big ticket Soho Home item: $35,140 (Mini Miami Cocktail Cabinet by Rupert Bevan)
Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc: Branded merch
“Hotel merch is the new fashion status symbol,” proclaimed Marie Claire in the summer of 2025, attributing the trend to the uber rich’s penchant for quiet luxury (why wear a prominent designer label when you can hint at your immense wealth via a tasteful hotel logo on a swimming costume strap?).
Some of the most successful hotel merch vendors, such as the Hotel Pellicano in Tuscany’s Porto Ercole, even have their own dedicated online stores. Striped towels, t-shirts, espresso cups and ashtrays are the order of the day on its site, along with a specially branded version of Monopoly.
The wealthiest hotel guests know they can say a lot more about themselves with a resort bag or t-shirt than with their Louis Vuitton luggage. Wearing a tiger-emblazoned mini-tee from Mallorca’s Hotel Corazon? You’re in the midst of a mega-rich hot girl summer. Filled your pool with Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc rubber rings (at $326 a pop)? You’ve had a pricey jaunt to the Cote d’Azur – and still returned with change to spare.
Most expensive hotel room: $14,500 per night (Eden-Roc suite at Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc)
Most expensive item for sale: From $884,300 (Aquariva Super speedboat, custom-made for the hotel in 2019)
One&Only Resorts: Social clubs
What gives a hotel the most cachet? A rotating carousel of famous faces in the bar and pool. Or, if that’s off the menu, at least some faces in the bar and pool – food and beverage sales are often the second largest source of hotel profits. In a bid to make their outposts as buzzy as possible, hotels are increasingly inviting local residents to become members.
At Surrey’s Heckfield Place, “Friends” (who have paid the annual fee of $1910) can watch movies in the cosy cinema, try a cocktail class using ingredients foraged in the hotel’s 428 acres and gain access to the exclusive Bothy by Wildsmith Spa (at an extra cost of $800 per day). But at Los Cabos’s One&Only Palmilla Mexico, they’ve waived the fee entirely at a new Social Club which hosts weekend markets, book clubs and sunrise meditation sessions.
“We are seeing today’s travellers craving more than luxury accommodations with great views and great service; they’re looking for belonging, cultural immersion, and meaningful connection,” says One&Only’s regional director for the Americas, Sergio Pereira. “At One&Only Palmilla, we saw that guests wanted to be part of the lifestyle and rhythm of Los Cabos. A modern social club brings exactly this together: dining, design, experiences, and community engagement.”
Most expensive hotel room: $5600 per night (Oceanfront Grand Suites)
Access to the Social Club: Priceless (you’ll have to pay to participate in philanthropic efforts, such as the hotel’s recent golf tournament in aid of the Casa Hogar Children’s Foundation)
The Telegraph, London
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