ABTA Luxury Travel Seminar highlights 2026 

Luxury itself has never been particularly easy to define. For one person, it might mean flying first class and having an entire villa to themselves. For somebody else, it could be upgrading the hotel room, booking an all-inclusive stay or simply paying a bit extra for someone to take care of the usual holiday admin.

Even within the luxury market, expectations vary enormously. What connects them though is how the experience makes the customer feel.

Travellers remember when everything ran smoothly. They remember when somebody anticipated what they needed and when the intricate details made them feel genuinely looked after, even if they never saw the work happening behind the scenes.

This means that the human element matters more than ever. Technology can now provide hotel suggestions, comparisons and itineraries in seconds. But it can’t fully understand the person behind the enquiry or why the trip matters to them.

That tension between technology, human service and changing traveller expectations ran through many of the day’s biggest talking points, as explored below.

The definition of luxury has moved on

Research shared at the event found that luxury travellers were more likely to associate luxury with relaxation, exclusivity, uniqueness and new experiences than expense.

Travel marketing has traditionally leaned heavily on room size, balcony views, facilities and star ratings. Those things still matter of course, but they do less of the heavy lifting than they once did. A beautiful hotel can be matched by another beautiful hotel. Competitors can sell similar suites, use the same suppliers and include many of the same excursions.

What is harder to reproduce is the way a company understands its customers and pulls the whole experience together.

The contrast between noisy and quiet luxury came up several times. Noisy luxury is visible and heavily branded. Quiet luxury relies on privacy, familiarity and the sense that everything has been arranged around the traveller’s needs and wants.

The view shared during the seminar was that there is still an audience for both, but experienced luxury travellers today seem more drawn to the latter. That gives marketers a slightly awkward job. Some of the strongest parts of the product are deliberately subtle. ‘Personal service’, for example, tells the reader very little. However, remembering where a returning guest prefers to sit at dinner makes the idea much clearer.

‘Seamless travel’ has become one of those phrases people tend to skim past. Describing how a family is met at the airport, how their luggage is handled and how the arrival has been planned paints a clearer picture of what travellers can expect.

The thinking behind the experience needs to be visible, even when the work itself remains behind the scenes.

When information is everywhere, judgement matters

The topic of AI cropped up a lot throughout the day, although the most interesting conversations were about what happens when information becomes abundant.

A traveller can ask an AI tool for luxury hotel suggestions in Japan, a Sicily itinerary or a comparison of safari regions. The results may be imperfect (or occasionally downright inaccurate), but they provide a starting point in seconds.

Information is easy to access and speed is expected. A reasonable degree of personalisation can now be produced with little effort. This might suggest that the value of an experienced advisor has waned. But while AI can suggest where somebody might go, an advisor can get down to the nitty gritty of why they want to go there.

Perhaps the holiday is a family reunion or celebration. Maybe somebody is finally doing something they have postponed for years. Another traveller might be in search of a more daring adventure which takes them out of their comfort zone.

Even with significant nuance and detail added to the prompt, AI results can still be full of predictable suggestions. But this is where a good advisor or agent comes into their own. When every traveller is being shown a variation of the same places, the advisor’s role becomes one of editing, questioning and improving.

A recurring point throughout the AI discussions was that travel brands need opinions of their own. Generic destination copy, familiar hotel descriptions and interchangeable ‘top ten’ guides are easier to produce than ever…but they are also becoming less persuasive.

Customers want to understand:

• why the brand recommends somewhere
• who it is likely to suit
• when it might be better avoided
• what the company has learned from sending real people there

Personalisation needs better questions

At the luxury end of the market, personalisation involves understanding the customer well enough to make sensible decisions on their behalf. That depends heavily on the questions asked before any recommendation is made.

Many websites push people towards dates, destinations and prices before learning anything about the purpose of the trip. Lead forms often ask operational questions because those answers are easy to process.

Knowing that somebody wants seven nights in Greece is useful. Knowing they are travelling with teenagers, dislike large resorts, want some independence during the day and would rather not hire a car is far more useful.

Travel marketers should look closely at where customer knowledge is being gained and where it disappears.

• What does the website ask?
• Which details reach the sales team?
• What is recorded after a conversation?
• Does knowledge from one booking improve the next?
• Does the customer have to explain everything again?

This needs to continue throughout the holiday too.

Guests shouldn’t have to repeat their preferences. Details gathered during the enquiry should improve the arrival, the service in resort and later recommendations.

One cruise example involved remembering wine preferences, preferred table locations and the habits of returning guests. None of those gestures is dramatic. Together, they create a sense that the customer is known and valued.

Good personalisation relies on careful listening and making sure that knowledge travels with the customer.

Sustainability works better in the detail

The sustainability discussions suggested that luxury travellers are interested in travelling more responsibly, although they may not raise it when enquiring. For many, responsible practices are expected of a high-end, reputable company.

Brands still need to explain what they are doing without turning every holiday description into a lecture or relying on the same vague promises as everybody else.

The most useful suggestion from the seminar was to make sustainability tangible by showing:

• the people involved in delivering an experience
• where the customer’s money goes
• the guides, producers and communities benefiting
• why an activity operates in a particular way
• how the experience helps protect the place being visited

Stories help customers see the connection between their choices and the destination. They also make responsible travel feel like part of a richer holiday rather than a restriction attached to it.

Most travellers will not be excited by the idea of paying more and receiving less. However, they may be happy to pay more for better access, deeper local knowledge or confidence that their money is supporting something worthwhile.

Policies, targets and accreditations can provide evidence, but the customer usually cares more about what they mean for the holiday, the destination and the people who live there.

Narrower brands can be stronger brands

Several of the most interesting businesses discussed during the day had become stronger by narrowing their focus. They knew who they wanted to serve and the kind of trips they wanted to create.

Travel brands often worry about excluding potential customers. Product ranges expand and messages are diluted until the business offers plenty but diminishes its USP.

Powder Byrne has spent decades concentrating on high-end family ski holidays and targets a remarkably small proportion of the overall ski market. It limits the product to what the team knows it can deliver well.

The business reported a repeat-client rate of 76%, including customers who first travelled with the company as children and now return with families of their own.

Other brands described similar decisions, including:

• removing prices from websites and moving towards more inspirational content
• pursuing fewer lower-value bookings
• investing in specialist teams and concierge services
• limiting the product to trips the business could deliver with confidence

None of those decisions should be copied without thought. Removing prices, for example, could create unnecessary friction for a brand whose customers need to understand affordability early in the process.

The interesting part is the discipline behind each choice. These businesses had identified where they created the most value, then organised their marketing and customer experience around it.

Luxury travel is rarely sold through one channel. Inspiration may begin with content, social media or an event before the customer moves through reviews, recommendations, the website and conversations with an advisor.

Referrals and word of mouth remain particularly powerful. Digital still matters, but its role may be to build confidence and support a relationship.

The website, content and sales experience need to tell the same story. A beautifully presented brand can quickly lose credibility if the enquiry process feels generic or the person answering the phone knows less than the customer.

Fewer holidays can mean higher expectations

Economic pressure doesn’t always prompt luxury travellers to trade down. Research shared suggested that some would rather take fewer trips while protecting the quality of those they do take.

A longer stay, a carefully planned family trip or one major holiday may feel more worthwhile than several shorter breaks. It also raises the stakes.

When somebody is spending more time and money on fewer trips, each booking carries greater emotional weight. They are likely to expect fewer compromises and a better understanding of what will make the holiday worthwhile. They also have less tolerance for when things don’t go according to plan.

Geopolitical events and safety concerns add to the hesitation. Decisions are delayed, booking windows are shorter and some travellers keep several options open.

That is where expertise earns its keep. Useful reassurance should tell the customer:

• what protection is in place
• which alternatives are available
• what would happen if plans changed
• who would help if something went wrong
• whether the original destination is still the right choice

Package travel has an obvious advantage during unsettled periods because protection and accountability become more important when plans are disrupted. Specialist knowledge matters too. A company with real experience of a destination can offer a more useful view than one repeating whatever happens to be in the headlines that day.

Brands that know their products, communicate clearly and look after customers properly can earn trust that lasts well beyond the immediate booking.

That trust feeds into future growth. Referrals, repeat bookings and long-term relationships were recurring themes throughout the day. The value of one well-looked-after customer may continue for years and, in some cases, across generations.

What the rest of travel can learn from the luxury sector

Many of the themes discussed during the day were just as relevant to the wider travel industry.

Brands need a clearer view of who they are for and why their recommendations deserve attention. They need to show the care, thought and judgement behind the product rather than relying on familiar claims about service and expertise.

AI gives brands another reason to develop a distinctive point of view. Producing more generic content will add to the noise customers are already trying to filter.

Personalisation needs to begin long before somebody’s first name appears in an email subject line and continue long after the booking has been made.

Luxury travel sits at one end of the market, but it often gives an early indication of what customers elsewhere may begin to expect.

People have more information, more options and more ways to compare them than ever. A good travel brand gives them a reason to stop looking.