Cover The Leading Hotels of the World’s Shannon Knapp on the future of luxury travel
The Leading Hotels of the World’s Shannon Knapp on the future of luxury travel
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The president and chief executive officer of The Leading Hotels of the World shares insight on how the travel scene is changing
The world of travel is constantly evolving—gone are the days when we had to explore the world with just a guidebook and a map. Today, travellers increasingly crave experiences that go beyond the postcard-perfect.
President and chief executive officer of luxury hotel collection The Leading Hotels of the World Shannon Knapp shares how modern travellers are looking for unique experiences, sustainable destinations, and activities that are good for the mind, body and soul. Wellness tourism and sustainable tourism have begun taking centre stage while luxury has been redefined by authenticity, with travellers having a thirst not just for seeing the world, but also feeling it.
Below, Knapp shares more insights on luxury travel trends and how it’s about to change.
In case you missed it: The importance of travelling sustainably: How and why
Above Wellness travel and sustainable travel have been growing since the pandemic
Wellness travel and sustainable travel have been growing since the pandemic
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What are some key travel trends that you have observed amongst travellers for the Asia Pacific (APAC) market?
We are seeing a strong demand for truly extraordinary experiences. We did a survey and 39 per cent of our guests say they are looking for extraordinary experiences when they travel.
I think wellness is a big global trend right now, certainly amongst our travellers and APAC. It’s no longer good enough to have a spa or general wellness facilities—it’s now getting much more specific. It’s looking at emotional wellness, mental wellness, spiritual wellness and physical wellness—it’s a very broad pursuit. We do have some hotels that do these extraordinary experiences. For example, The Dolder Grand launched a Coaching for Future program offering support and counselling in life crises and stressful situations while The Anandi Hotel and Spa is taking wellness to the next level with rooms featuring spatial re-energising design with negative ion earth beds, crystal energy flooring and more.
Another trend is sustainability and I think that’s very much a global trend but certainly something we’re seeing with our APAC travellers as well who are very interested in making sure that they’re being responsible, global citizens and searching for hotels who are following sustainable practices. We have a platform called Sustainability Leaders that features over 80 of our hotels who are doing really special and important things in terms of preserving the culture, and the values and focusing on being as green as possible.
How have these trends changed over the years?
I think post-Covid, the wellness and sustainability trends took on a greater importance. People have begun focusing on wellness that’s not just physical but also emotional. While wellness was here before, I think the brand relevance of it now is bigger. I think sustainability again has been around for a long time but people have begun feeling the impact of climate change. People are starting to realise that it’s important that we all individually play a role in making sure that we’re doing what we can to ensure the future of our world.
How are hotels catering to wellness tourism?
We are seeing a couple of different responses [from hotels]. For one, we’re seeing changes to the utility rooms. In the past, you had separate areas of the rooms but now we see a kind of blending between leisure travel and work. I think this is part of the wellness response—how do you make sure that the rooms are conducive to both leisure and work because that’s happening at the same time? So we’re seeing product changes within the room to accommodate both leisure and travel. We’re also seeing an increase in wellness programmes.
Above The Dolder Grand offers programmes that support guests in stressful situations
The Dolder Grand offers programmes that support guests in stressful situations
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What challenges have you faced trying to cater to these wellness and sustainability tourists?
On the wellness side, I wouldn’t say that there are many challenges as long as you’re getting the right guests to the right experience. But the sustainability side is hard. It’s somewhat complex for a hotel to become certified and there are a lot of steps that are required. So, they really need to be committed to it because the worst thing that can happen is that they take a shortcut or they don’t do it right. Then they’re promising certain results and they’re not delivering against that.
Can you share more about Sustainability Leaders?
It’s a relatively new programme that we started last year and has grown to over 80 hotels since. The idea is that we’re trying to amplify the word about what our hotels are doing [in terms of] sustainability. We partner with the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) to help our hotels get accredited, and if they want to understand what steps are needed to become a sustainability leader.
Above The Leading Hotels of the World’s Sustainability Leaders programme recognises hotels making a difference when it comes to sustainable travel
The Leading Hotels of the World’s Sustainability Leaders programme recognises hotels making a difference when it comes to sustainable travel
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What can we expect next?
Our goal is to continue the Sustainability Leaders programme to continue to work with our members to identify ways that they can increase or improve their sustainability. It could be getting fully certified or taking small steps like removing one-time-use plastics. We are trying to counsel our members to take those first few steps and then support them if they want to go even further. We’re hoping to continue to grow this Sustainability Leaders programme and continue to tell the stories of our hotels who are making that commitment.
What kind of trends do you hope to see in the future?
I think from a guest perspective, continuing to seek truly authentic and experiential experiences. For Leading Hotels of the World, because we are a 96-year-old company and about 80 per cent of hotels are family-led, a lot of our hotels have grown up or were in destinations that grew up around them. As a result of this multi-generational ownership, these hotels have relationships with vendors in the market. So what they’ve been able to do and have been doing for years is creating a truly authentic experience when you stay at one of our hotels. You’re not just visiting the destination as a tourist, you’re really getting into an immersive experience that is authentic to that hotel and the destination that you’re in. I expect that based on what the luxury traveller is telling us, they want more of that. I think that it’s a trend that will continue to grow.
Amanda Goh was the former senior writer for Tatler Singapore.
