Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons lead luxury hotel sector
The inaugural ?World Luxury Index? for hotels, which gathered information from more than 133 million online searches, found that Four Seasons was the most sought-after standalone luxury hotel brand, and Ritz-Carlton was the preferred luxury brand which formed part of a larger hotel group. Loews and Shangri-La completed the top three of standalone brands, while InterContinental and Fairmont were identified as the second and third most searched-for integrated brands.
In addition, the study found that Hilton is the most popular hotel brand in the upper-upscale segment, ahead of Sheraton and Westin.
Monitoring the number of luxury hotel searches undertaken in 2012, the World Luxury Index found that interest in high-end hotels increased slightly, up 1.5% on a global level. Interest from consumers in Russia (+12.8%) and the UK (+8.5%), saw strong growth, while a 3.3% rise in Chinese searches also exceeded the global average.
Despite this growth, the US remains by far the largest market for luxury hotels, with the country accounting for 66.3% of global online searches. New York remains top destination for luxury hospitality destinations worldwide, ahead of Chicago and London, while the UK capital, Washington DC and Dubai were the fastest growing destinations.
?The luxury hotel market is very heterogeneous from one market to the other,? commented Samad Laaroussi, chair of luxury hospitality of Ecole H?teli?re de Lausanne, who presented the results at the Luxury Hospitality Summit 2013 in Switzerland. ?In the three categories, emerging markets are showing increasing interest for luxury hotel brands and the US market is by far the dominant market with the most connected and savviest consumers.?
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