Luxury Hotels Survive the Economic Downturn

While most people are being hurt by the financial climate, it's said that those lucky enough to have continuing disposable income are not being deterred from spending a bundle on luxury holidays.

(PRWEB) September 9, 2008 -- The market for boutique and luxury hotels (http://www.luxique.com) seems to be riding the world economic downturn, this despite the fact that the cost of air travel is on the rise as airlines try to absorb the impact of almost 100 billion dollars of additional fuel costs in 2008.

That's the verdict of Alex Brey, Chief Executive of Luxique.com, which specialises in providing accommodation at high-end boutique luxury hotels.

"We're all experiencing difficult trading conditions, but business seems to be holding up -- clearly those people with spare cash feel that a bit of pampering is the one thing they cannot be without at this gloomy time," said Brey.

He said demand was far outpacing supply for some of Luxique's top-rated boutique luxury hotels. "However, we've seen a noticeable shift away from the budget-busting suite to the more affordable room, while demand at the very high-end of the spectrum remains unchanged. What is truly remarkable is that the more exclusive properties have the ability to raise their room rates without seeing a material impact on demand."

Brey points to recent comments by Franka Holtmann, General Manager of Le Meurice, one of the luxury hotels in Paris (http://www.luxique.com/boutique-hotels/france/paris/) on Luxique's list. "He said there was about a 15 percent drop in American clientele, but that the hotel was much more prepared than in previous economic crises and it's been able to offset this loss in other ways, such as welcoming families."

A recent survey in the UK found that even in the credit crunch, only 12 percent of respondents considered holidays a luxury. They would forego nights out, new clothes and supermarket treats to guarantee their vacation.

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