Here’s Five to Trends to Watch
Overview: The convergence of art, fashion, music, sports, and wellness and longevity are reshaping luxury destinations and why professionals in design, development, and hospitality must pay attention in 2025 - and beyond.
Key Points:
Experiential Luxury: High-Net-Worth Consumers are prioritizing unique, high-touch experiences over the acquisition of material goods.
Health & Wellness: Healthy longevity is the new status symbol. Luxury hotels and resort spas are evolving into high-tech, hyper-personalized wellness destinations, offering longevity treatments, immersive sensory experiences, and holistic fitness.
Cultural Activation: Destinations with immersive cultural production opportunities are growing in appeal. Examples would be turbo-charged chef-led foraging for adventurous foodies and crafting your own spirits with a master distiller.
Retail Evolution: High-touch retail experiences in immersive non-mall environments, are providing access to one-of-a-kind collections of rarity and meaning. An example: J. Richard Hill & Co’s retail strategy for the Salons of Isla Moda Maison was created to redefine the shopping experience of Ultra High Networth guests.
Cross-Industry Convergence: Luxury design is merging with fashion, art, music, and food culture to redefine modern hospitality destinations.
5 Trends to Follow
Design for Online Conversations
The new goal is to inspire the sharing of real-world experiences online. Iconic retail spaces like the new Tiffany’s Fifth Avenue, Starbucks Reserve, and Gentle Monster have mastered this approach by integrating immersive storytelling and highly curated environments.
Experiential Luxury and Totally Unique Experiences
High net-worth and ultra-high net-worth individuals increasingly prioritize experiences over possessions. I see this reflected in trends like the Baccarat Hotel in New York, the now under construction Louis Vuitton Hotel opening in 2026 in Paris and Ritz Carlton’s resort club partnership with Missoni in Bali.
Health and Wellness as a New Status Symbol
The quest for longevity and healthy aging has emerged as a significant status symbol among high-net-worth individuals. Check out Longevity 8, by Canyon Ranch, that offers a four-day package for approximately $20,000 and the annual membership model of Wild Health.
At the store level, health & beauty shops like Dutch brand, House of Rituals has totally redefined the storytelling around cosmetics and personal care products.
Even high fashion is entering the wellness space, with examples like Hermès Yoga highlighting the convergence of luxury and health.
The Shift Away from Aspirational Shoppers
Luxury brands are expanding their limited editions, exclusives, and levels of rarity, complemented by enhanced craftsmanship. Adopting this new approach to luxury, high-end boutique hotels are now offering exceptional branded residences. Great examples include Aman Residences and the new Shore Club by Auberge opening in Miami in 2027.
Art, Architecture, and Storytelling
Art gallery-inspired spaces and architecture that tells a story and are becoming central to innovative luxury retail, 5-star hotels, and resorts. Examples include Dolce & Gabbana’s baroque sensibility expressed in a sixteenth-century palace with mosaics and frescoes on Rome’s Piazza di Spagna and Miami’s Faena Hotel which evokes the heydays of Miami lavish hotel club culture of the 1950s and 60s.
