Yeh dil maange luxury! Indians holiday in style

The number of Indians investing in a ‘comprehensive wellness’ programme at Ananda in the Himalayas has doubled since the pandemic, undeterred by the hefty price tag. Villas with a private pool cost Rs 1.35 lakh a night (excluding taxes) for this wellness programme that includes treatments, personal wellness sessions and wellness meals. Rooms for double occupancy are available at Rs 80,000 per night (excluding taxes).

This reflects a growing trend for luxury and more premium experiences with companies exerting to meet the needs of affluent travellers.

Mahesh Natarajan, chief operating officer of Ananda in the Himalayas attributed the developments to luxury travel undergoing “significant’ growth”. “Not only traditional luxury customers but new wealth and aspirational luxury users are also fuelling this trend,” he said.


Across the travel spectrum, companies and service operators see a surge in demand for upscale travel experiences. Thomas Cook relaunched this month its premium ‘European Extravaganza’ packages for Europe after a pandemic-induced break of four years, while online travel company Cleartrip said sales of premium economy and business class air tickets have doubled over the past year.

"From a hotel's perspective too, you see prices for five stars are at an all-time high. And still average occupancies have been good over the past year, upwards of 70%,” said Prahlad Krishnamurthi, chief business officer at Cleartrip. “Never before have hotels in India managed to maintain such high occupancies considering the rates. We don't see rates softening this year as well,” he added.

Rajeev Kale, president and country head for holidays, MICE and visa at Thomas Cook (India) said the company expects demand for its Extravaganza packages, which are more experiential and premium in nature, breaking away from the traditional group tours concept of starting early with sacrosanct timings. “Our premium flagship product in Europe, the European Extravaganza, is designed to offer our guests the true experience of Europe, while taking care of their comfort. All our hotels are handpicked and carefully selected: top four star accomodation, conveniently located from the city centre. In Switzerland we offer a 3 night stay amidst the Swiss Alps in the picture perfect town of Engelberg, which is a true Swiss experience," said Kale.

“While we ensure that all major sightseeing is covered in Europe, we offer exclusives, such as a glass of champagne on the Top of Europe – the mighty Jungfraujoch or an exceptional illumination tour with spectacular views of Paris from the third level of Eiffel Tower,” he added.

Rajesh Magow, co-founder and group CEO of online travel firm MakeMyTrip said many datasets point to customers looking for ‘better’ and ‘curated’ experiences and upgrades.

“India will add 140 million middle income ($5,000-$ 10,000) and 50 million high income (greater than $10,000) households by 2030. We have been working on improving the overall travel experience and making it more premium and personal from a supply, product, and presentation perspective,” he added.

Amit Damani, co-founder of villa and bungalow rental company StayVista said the company is seeing the need for offering more curated experiences at its properties and is working on how it can better manage expectations of its guests. “We keep adding more experiences, but we are also thinking of how the entire travel experience could be elevated for guests. This could mean offering a private butler or self-care morning ritual treatments, or even offering luxury cars for pick-ups,” he added.

Krishnamurthi from Cleartrip said the company considers approximately 30 million customers as ‘premium’ from the Flipkart and Myntra platforms.

"These comprise various cohorts. They receive exclusive offers on Cleartrip, including flexibility products under ‘Clear Choice’. Our focus extends beyond mere discounts; it includes value-added services at competitive rates. While our current focus is domestic, we aim to extend these offerings to international flights and hotels," he added.