A perceived boom in the luxury travel, marked by increasing demand for personalised itineraries and premium aircraft seating, is making itself felt in the United States hotel sector, where the price differential between premium and standard options is growing, according to new data from hospitality analysts at CoStar, yet high-end bookings are also outstripping lower-tier reservations.
Bookings for luxury accommodation saw 2.5% growth year-on-year to September 2025, while lower and mid-tier rooms saw a decline, CoStar say. The demand for higher-end travel is playing out across companies like Montage International, a luxury hotel chain which is expanding overseas and whose Chief Executive, Alan Fuerstman, says revenue is up eight percent and 2026 bookings are strong.
Those figures buck the well-reported “Trump Slump” that has been affecting the rest of the US travel sector, amid strained international relations, trade tariffs, and wobbly markets. US consumer economic sentiment is at a three-year low and falling, yet Albert Herrera, executive vice president at Internova Travel Group, has declared. “Thank God for luxury and ultraluxury.” The Wall Street Journal reported him saying, “That’s what’s keeping our business thriving.”
Since COVID, luxury room rate increases around the world have followed a similar pattern, going up in London by 43%, New York by 50%, Paris by 109%, and Rome by 116%, CoStar finds, explaining that average daily room rates in the luxury accommodation segment are at a record high of $394 per night this year (around €340), which is $168 (approximately €145) more than the average price one tier down. That’s 180% more than the price difference between those tiers in 2008.
And at the ultra-luxury end (think chauffeurs, butler service and members’ only spaces), the difference is even starker. CoStar reports nightly rate at luxury hotels in France averaging $1,000, while ultra luxury accommodation is 160% more. In New York, the price difference between luxury and ultra luxury is 230%.
So, just as basic travel, let alone luxury travel, is becoming more unaffordable for some, the appeal of exclusivity appears to be intensifying for those who can afford it – at least in the US, driven by a post-COVID consumer focus on bucket-list experiences and multi-generational trips combined with soaring US stocks and real estate that have increased the incomes of the wealthiest.
One illustration is Corinthia Hotels group, whose CEO, Simon Casson, has reported that overall profitability is stagnant year-on-year, except at its refurbished Manhattan Corinthia Surrey, which will set guests back by $2000 a night (over €1700). As CoStar notes, at the high-end, low occupancy is less of an issue – nobody wants to book a luxury experience and find it crowded.
