Luxury means different things to different people: one person’s major extravagance is another person’s bare minimum. That’s why crafting an indulgent experience for a particular client requires a little more finesse than choosing from a menu of popular all-inclusive resorts. It involves knowing the client, veering off the beaten path and leaning into local expertise that travel advisors can count on.
While determining where specific clients fall on the indulgence spectrum is a must-do for travel advisors, it’s also critical to have a baseline understanding of who these travelers are and how they define luxury. Phocuswright details some important characteristics of luxury-seekers in its recent report, Quiet Luxury in Motion: The Indulgent Explorer Mindset.
The research predominantly defines “indulgent” travelers by their behavior rather than their wallets. For example, members of this “small, high-value traveler segment” tend to take longer trips and spend more in destination and on premium trip components. However, they are not necessarily affluent — "30% have a household income under $100,000 and 26% have net worth under $100,000.”
The report also finds that Gen Z and millennial “indulgent explorers” rely more heavily on social media recommendations than more senior luxury travelers who prefer travel advisors to weigh in on where and how to indulge. Luxury lovers also don’t lean entirely on experiences. About half say destination and experience matter equally.
For luxury travelers, Phocuswright says, service is paramount. Security, good food and privacy are must-haves, but what makes a trip feel “worth it” comes down to the level of service they receive. Also, indulgent explorers prefer a low-key approach. They want exclusive access, but they’re not interested in showing off what they spent — and they don’t want to give up privacy just to get more personalization.
The private villa experience
The “villa” concept dates to Ancient Rome, when wealthy citizens periodically decamped to their country or seaside homes to escape the chaos of city living. However, luxury travel companies began packaging private villa stays with premium services in the 1960s and 1970s. As the practice evolved, specialty providers emerged, riding the waves of demand for luxury travel experiences and positioning private villas as a strong alternative to hotels.
Private luxury villa rentals differ from hotel accommodations of equal caliber or from private rental homes, such as those offered directly to the public on platforms like VRBO or Airbnb. A private villa — one managed by a highly specialized villa rental agency — is a one-of-a-kind, exclusive-use property that meets a high standard of luxury in design, location and curated amenities (think private chefs and tour guides, housekeepers, concierge and wellness amenities).
Villas fall within an ever-growing trend in luxury travel toward exclusive, immersive experiences. According to a report on the Luxury Vacation Rental Market, “Travelers are increasingly prioritizing privacy, personalization and genuine local immersion. Luxury vacation rentals are meeting these expectations by offering expansive living spaces, private pools, home chefs and destination-specific architecture. Unique properties like mountaintop chalets, private island villas, and designer penthouses are particularly appealing to lifestyle-driven travelers seeking memorable stays,” experts said.
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Feronia, Italy, Photo Credit: Villas of Distinction
The value of private villas
Travel advisors are using private villas to deliver the luxury that discerning clients desire. Grace Cular Yee is the principal of Pineapple7, a Virginia-based “private travel office for the intentional explorer.” She specializes in the logistics of multi-faceted travel experiences and often integrates privately owned villas into the travel she designs.
Villas meet the needs of multi-generational groups. “In a lot of cases, my groups travel with parents, adult children and grandchildren,” which can include seniors, couples, teenagers and babies, she said. These travelers need different accommodation configurations and often want a staff to prepare meals, provide transportation and plan activities, exclusively for them, so they can enjoy one another on these rare occasions when they’re all together.
For one such group traveling through Europe, Yee arranged an enclave with a detached cottage for the seniors and a manor house with multiple bedrooms and a central gathering place for the families and meals. Guests had the independence (and staff assistance) to come and go, the privacy of accommodations that suited their individual lifestyles (no room-sharing or bunk beds for the teens) and togetherness as a family, Yee explained.
Villas are private and personal. Not having to share anything — cars, staff, tours, guides, space, scenery — with anyone else is not only a luxury but a baseline requirement, especially for over-worked, time-strapped and stressed-out individuals. Add to that the concept of a “concessions list,” a pre-ordered, pre-stocked selection of fresh fruits, cheeses, breads, desserts, wines, water or chocolate, for example, and it’s just what the detox doctor ordered. “You’ve just flown in. You’re exhausted and jet-lagged. It’s nice to be welcomed into a place with a pantry filled with all your favorite comfort foods,” Yee said.
Villas are inclusive. One of Yee’s clients travels with a child (and, on one occasion, a college-aged sibling) who has very specific and limited food and beverage requirements, as well as a need for a low-key environment with minimal noise and distractions. “With a villa, you have the flexibility” to address specific needs like these while also providing an elevated experience for other members of the group,” she explained.
Villas are immersive experiences. By their very nature, villas are manifestations of the history, people, geography and natural resources of their locations. “From the moment guests walk in, they are immersed in the setting,” Yee said. But if guests want to experience more — the customs, architecture, even the peccadillos of the locals, they can do that too. “It’s ‘villa living,’ right?” she added.
Villas are vetted. One of the most important attributes of private villas is the vetting they undergo. Villas of Distinction, for example, regularly assesses compliance with pre-set standards for luxury hospitality using personal inspections, service-level evaluations and guest reviews. Vetting to this extent is extremely important to travel advisors like Yee. “It gives me peace of mind because I’m protecting my clients, their payments and their experiences. I’m also protecting my business,” she explained.
Villas can be affordable. Private villa rentals tend to be higher-priced bookings because of the rarity of the properties and superior amenities they offer. However, savvy travel advisors can help clients navigate the cost barriers in several ways, including splitting costs among group members, offering more affordable villa rental options, trading square footage for experiences and traveling off-season.
Evaluating villa rental firms
Catapulted into high visibility by Covid-19, along with the rise in the number of high-net-worth individuals and the rapid growth of the luxury travel segment overall, companies offering private villas have increased in number. Stefany DiManno Ceccato, cofounder and dream travel designer at DMC Travel Tailor in Charleston, South Carolina, offers advice on what to look for when selecting a specialty agency:
Alignment. Specialty firms with portfolios that more closely match the needs and preferences of the prospective travelers—the bucket lists, beaches and obscura they crave—give advisors a leg up in the booking process. The number of properties available from a firm is less important than the right properties.
Preferred vendor status. As an affiliate of Largay Travel, a member of the Virtuoso global travel network, Ceccato has access to a select group of suppliers, including private villa rental firms. Preferred status highlights the agency’s competency, but it can also signal favorable commission structures and priority service levels for advisors.
Villa concierge. Having a contact person in the destination to help advisors coordinate on-site services, arrange off-site experiences and make recommendations based on their local expertise helps advisors sweeten their guests’ stays.
Customer service. As with any travel, “stuff” happens that is outside the control of the local staff. Having customer service representatives on call (preferably 24 hours a day/7 days a week) who can handle most issues helps advisors be more responsive to clients.
Single points of contact. Dedicated villa agency executives with the authority to escalate important matters can help resolve issues more quickly and keep advisors in the know about changes, updates and offers.
High standards. It’s crucial, Ceccato says, that the properties being offered to advisors are “everything and more” than the website shows. Thus, guarantees that every single property has been visited and consistently meets luxury-status criteria are essential to maintaining a relationship with the rental firm.
Digital portal. Being able to search, reserve and confirm private villas quickly and easily is important to travel advisors. White-labeled booking websites, branded with the advisor’s logo and contact information on the front end but operated by the villa rental agency on the backend, help advisors operate more efficiently and avoid being perceived only as intermediaries.
Travel advisors are regularly called upon not only to gather information from clients about what they want, but also to get a “vibe” for what they might like. Having options like private villa experiences in the mix can put them on the fast track to travel advisor stardom.