The creator explains why luxury experiences in hospitality feel worse despite costing more, defining this as the era of 'premium mediocre.' He breaks down the marketing concept of 'Masstige' (mass prestige), arguing that the hospitality industry has adopted luxury pricing with middle-class operations. He then contrasts this with 'true luxury,' which he defines as being emotionally, technically, and functionally superior, and concludes that the line between upscale and true luxury has blurred, leaving customers to question the value.
Post caption
Real luxury hospitality is becoming more rare. The middle is fading, but luxury is going through an identity crisis because they don’t even know what it means, or who they are and who they want to target.
At the core of any good experience, whether it’s a hotel, bar or restaurant is knowing what you are and who your core target avatar is.
Most luxury nowadays is mid tier or upper mid charging luxury prices.
True luxury still exists. It’s just harder to find.
#hospitality #bar #bars #hotels #brand
Transcript
Everything is more expensive nowadays. Hotels, bars, restaurants. But somehow the experience is getting worse. We are currently living through the era of premium mediocre, where high prices don't guarantee great service and a great experience. So what the heck happened? What happened is that brands figured out a concept called, Best. This term coined by Michael Silverstein in the nineties was supposed to mean best at scale. The concept used by luxury product brands to offer a more affordable option to the mid tier market. And of worse, luxury hospitality mutated that term to mean luxury pricing with middle class operations. You pay a premium for the feeling of luxury, but not the reality of it. The fact is that true, not marketable luxury is becoming more rare. In the book Trading Up, they describe what true luxury is in a product sense, but you rank apply it to hospitality too. True luxury is emotional, technical, and functional. It has to be high trust with no friction, human warmth, and a cohesive worse. It has to be functionally better. The drinks must taste better. The food should be fresher and organic. Then the service has to be quicker, more personalized, and far more consistent. I said before that in hospitality, the middle is dying, but luxury is going through a shift as well. Brands went mass scale too soon and the line between upscale and luxury is becoming blurred. True luxury is rare, but it's still tier. And for everybody else, their guests are wondering, is it even worth it?
