High-net-worth individuals are looking to slow down when it comes to travel, according to Belmond SVP global brand and marketing Arnaud Champenois.
Champenois, who has experience working in both the retail and hospitality sectors with Cartier and Starwood, told an audience at UK luxury retail body Walpole’s annual conference in London recently that not only are customers moving from buying luxury products to indulging in experiences, but they have become very particular about how they experience things.
“Last year was about quiet luxury, now we talk about slow luxury and slow travel,” he said, reflecting on the growing popularity of upscale heritage train travel and the luxury hotels at the destinations that complete the package. He is, of course, well placed to comment on such trends. Belmond – best known as the operator of luxury train travel and the Queen of them all, the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express – has been expanding rapidly into more rail routes and luxury hotels since its high-profile acquisition by luxury goods giant LVMH in 2018.
“What is really important for us, and which is one of the biggest trends, is for people reconnecting with the golden age of travel and the past,” he said. “Slow luxury is also often about travellers travelling slightly less frequently but for a longer period of time. This means that they can really experience something that is authentic and genuine. Travellers don’t want to be tourists, they want to connect locally and have open doors to the places they visit.”
Rail travel also plays to trends around the growing desire for sustainability among clients compared with air travel, plus the gastronomic experience on a luxury train, he pointed out, while he added that more and more travellers want to learn something when they visit a new location and they want to connect with that destination.
This, he added, meant that the company was approaching its hotel estate differently, because guests that stayed for longer may want a more domestic feeling to where they are staying, rather than five-star formality.
“With this sort of travel, the hotel is becoming a home, a residential home, with regular guests coming back year after year because they feel at home,” he reflected. “We don't really train the hotel staff [many of whom a client may see over multiple repeat visits], we want them to find their way of connecting with people.”
The Belmond brand was revamped upon LVMH’s acquisition and Champenois stressed that “our brands are the properties, all these hotels are brands” as he described the company as a “creator, curating the experience online, offline.”
Stressing that the strategy around its trains is “super strategic”, he added that the company is keen to add to the seven existing routes and is focused on building new experiences around trains, “because also it's an adventure. It's about the journey, not the destination,” he said. “It's like being in a time capsule and you capture the luxury of time.”
It was an approach echoed by Chaloub Chief Strategy Officer Jasmine Banda, who noted that wealthy travellers around the world are behaving differently depending on where they are based, with many in Asia more focused on domestic and regional travel post-pandemic.
“The outlook on luxury goods is cautious, spend on product is down but on experiences it is still comparable with last year,” said Banda, although she noted sharp differences in consumer behaviour depending on markets. “In terms of high net worth individuals, many in the international community are travelling between their homes and they are looking for memorable brand experiences.”
To that, Belmond has been revamping its offer across travel and hotels, having first launched the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express in 1982.
It is introducing new routes, new suites and new experiences across its six trains and seven barges. Eastern & Oriental Express returned in February 2024 with two seasonal routes out of Singapore and for the first time the legendary Venice Simplon-Orient-Express will embark on a new journey connecting Paris and Portofino. Belmond is also adding a second Paris to Istanbul return journey, in addition to its regular August itinerary. Its first alpine journey headed to the French Alps last December and this will be repeated in December 2024.Following the success of the introduction of grand suites and suites on board the train, eight new suites will be added, bringing a total of 16 suites and six grand suites to the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express.
There are more initiatives for UK routes followed by The Royal Scotsman and British Pullman, plus across the world in Peru with the two Belmond trains, Hiram Bingham and Andean Explorer, while in April Belmond launched Coquelicot, A Belmond Boat, in Champagne.
In terms of its real estate, much of the focus has been on Central America. At the end of last year Belmond acquired Hacienda Katanchel, near Merida, Yucátan, in Mexico, which it plans to open in 2027 with 35 independent suites. This will join three other Belmond properties on the Caribbean coast, Maroma, Rivera Maya - which re-opened in August 2023 - and Casa de Sierra Nevada; and on the Pacific Coast, Milaroca and Riviera Nayarit, the latter of which will open in 2025.
Belmond has also continued to strengthen its presence in its main base Italy, where it operates ten properties. This year, Belmond will expand to Sardinia with Romazzino, Costa Smeralda with 100 guest rooms including suites and villas. Additionally, the multi-year renovation of Splendido, Portofino will complete its second phase and re-open for the 2024 season.
“Most of the LVMH brands are rooted in heritage. But it’s about how we embrace the world as it is today,” Champenois added of Belmond’s approach. “Many of our customers are from the UK, but we are diversifying and developing in the French, Scandinavian and German markets. The customer was quite senior, but we are seeing a shift in our age pyramid towards 20-30-year-olds and we want to accelerate that.”
As part of that the company wants to add more trains, more hotels, continue to expand its geographies, with Brazil also in its sightlines, while Belmond would “love to go to Japan”, he added.