Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons and Aman are brands associated with land-based hospitality. But the triad of luxury hotel operators, along with Accor’s Orient Express brand, are bringing their motifs of opulent style and obsequious service to the high seas. But don’t say they are getting into the cruise business, per se. To a tee, these companies are branding their new sea-worthy brand extensions not as cruise ships, but as yachts.
Ritz-Carlton introduced its yacht collection in 2017, although, thanks to shipyard delays and COVID, its first ship didn’t set sail until October of 2022. Four Seasons announced its yacht product last year, with first sailings scheduled for 2025. Aman and Orient Express sent out press releases introducing their entries into the yachting world earlier this year.
Why is this all happening right now? The luxury travel industry is thriving, with a projected compound annual growth rate of 7.6 percent through 2030, according to Grand View Research. International consultancy Deloitte says that means “luxury travel providers are striving to offer the most extravagant experiences money can buy, using descriptors such as "ultra-premium," "rare," and "exotic" to entice travelers.”
That’s why, according to the JLL 2024 Global Hotel Investment Outlook, hotel brands “are expanding into non-traditional areas such as residences, private member clubs, and yachts.” These moves, according to Zacariah Demuth, global head of hotels research for JLL, have been on the upswing since the pandemic, due to the meteoric rise in wealth among millionaires. “Sourced from our own JLL research in partnership with Capgemini’s World Wealth Report,” says Demuth, “the high-net-worth population—defined as those with a net-worth of $1M+-- comprises only 0.3 percent of the world’s population but contributes 70 percent of the world’s spend on luxury travel.”
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