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Business Insider
11-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
4 trips the ultrawealthy are taking right now, according to a luxury travel planner
Even as travel demand has softened, one group is spending their way through the economic uncertainty: the wealthy. Rich Americans have continued to spend on travel and other products even as others are cutting back, with airlines such as United and Delta reporting strong demand for premium bookings despite a broader slowdown in domestic travel demand. Major hotel brands like Hilton and Hyatt have also reported resilience in the luxury sector. For the wealthy travelers who are still spending, there are four specific kinds of trips that are trending, according to Tom Marchant, the co-founder of the luxury travel company Black Tomato. The average price of a trip organized by Black Tomato, which plans bespoke travel around the world, is about $40,000, Marchant said, adding the trips can range from $10,000 to hundreds of thousands. Marchant told Business Insider that the company's clients often say, "I'm pretty agnostic on where I want to go, but this is how I'm looking to feel." Rather than focus on specific destinations, he said there are certain emotions or experiences that luxury travelers are seeking. Earlier this year the company launched a " Feelings Engine" that incorporates AI to help users plan a trip around a feeling, whether they want to feel relaxed, challenged, free, motivated, or many other emotions. Here are the four kinds of trips that Marchant said are trending right now. 1. The earned experience Black Tomato has seen a rise in travelers seeking out challenging experiences that are "earned" through more than just how much they pay for them. "There's this desire to challenge yourself, whether it's through a trek or a long journey or going to a part of the world where you're going to be overwhelmed by cultural stimuli," Marchant said. These kinds of trips are often viewed by travelers as an antidote to the realities of day-to-day life, when just about everything is available at the click of a button, he said, adding that this type of trip is trending for solo travelers as well as couple and families who want to get out of their comfort zone. For instance, the company organizes "Get Lost" trips in which the client is dropped off in a remote destination and left with supplies to navigate themselves back to civilization over the course of several days. Esther Spengler, a Black Tomato client, previously told BI her $13,000 "Get Lost" experience in Morocco was more of an "adventure" than a vacation. Other earned experiences the company plans are river rafting in Papua New Guinea, mountain treks in Japan, or quad biking across the salt pans of Botswana. 2. In search of silence For many wealthy travelers, the goal of a vacation is to get away from the noise of everyday life, Marchant said. While these travelers don't necessarily want to be off-grid, they want to be somewhere with minimal background noise or noise pollution. "We've seen more and more people looking for places where there is genuine quiet — where they can go and reflect or just feel," he said. There's been a growing trend of quiet-place conservation and travelers seeking out "quiet parks," places that provide opportunities to experience relative silence, or nothing but noises from the natural world. In 2019, the non-profit group Quiet Parks International awarded Zabalo River in Ecuador as the first wilderness quiet park. Glacier National Park in Montana was the first US national park to receive the status. Marchant said one aspect of this trend is "reading weeks," in which the traveler says they want to go somewhere quiet primarily so they can read and reflect without any distractions. He said reading trips are especially popular with business leaders who feel they rarely have time in their day-to-day life to enjoy books without getting pulled into work. 3. Bare witness Traveling for natural phenomena is another trend among Black Tomato clients, with the company increasingly planning trips around natural events that could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see. Several years ago the company built bespoke camps in the mountains of Patagonia so its clients could witness the total solar eclipse in luxury. Traveling to witness natural phenomena like eclipses, the northern lights, or animal migrations could be especially appealing to the wealthy because it's likely to be very different from their daily life, Marchant said. He noted that a lot of their clients live in LA, so traveling somewhere with a gorgeous villa, fancy pool, and nice weather is less likely to be appealing to them since it's what they already have at home. 4. Travel as therapy The last major trend in luxury travel Marchant said he's seeing is "using travel as a kind of answer for some of life's challenges." Increasingly, travelers are viewing their trips as a way to step back and reevaluate aspects of their life, whether that's work, family, romantic relationships, or their health. "When you get taken out of the day-to-day, where you're immersed in everything, it gives you time to think on things and get perspective," he said. Those types of trips might bring the client to a place where they can immerse in a community that has a different or interesting perspective on the building blocks of life. One example would be travel to Blue Zones, locations where the local population tends to live longer, which have seen an increase in tourism since the concept was popularized. The travel as therapy trend also aligns with the increase in self-improvement retreats or psychedelic retreats that have grown in popularity, especially with business leaders. Marchant said he thinks the resources available to wealthy clients and how connected the world is makes them yearn for disconnection even more. He also said it makes them want to visit places that few other people have, adding, "There is still so many vast tracks in the world that you can do that in."
What's On
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- What's On
Damian Lazarus is playing a set at Be Beach Dubai next weekend
The night belongs to Lazarus… If your idea of the perfect Saturday night means dancing by the beach with a crowd that loves music, Be Beach is calling. On May 10, Damian Lazarus steps in with his signature sound – the man known for turning dancefloors into groovy journeys. It's part of Be Beach's stacked May line-up, with international DJs taking over every Saturday as the sun sets and the dancefloor opens up. Lazarus' sets are sonic rituals: deep and groovy. Think sunrise sessions in Tulum, sunset beats in Ibiza – and now, Dubai gets its turn this weekend. About Damian Lazarus A true pioneer in the world of electronic music, Lazarus has built his reputation on pushing boundaries. The Crosstown Rebels label boss has been shaping underground scenes from London to Los Angeles, but it's his Day Zero festival in Mexico and the spellbinding Get Lost parties that really show his vision: music that's immersive, atmospheric, and just a little bit otherworldly. The venue Set against the glittering Dubai Marina, Be Beach is where music meets the waterfront. Beach club by day, dancefloor by night, with the cityscape as your backdrop. Expect insane sound systems, a crowd that knows its music, and that open-air energy. Damian Lazarus sets are built like journeys, pulling from ancient rhythms and deep percussive grooves that feel both tribal and futuristic. Founder of Crosstown Rebels and the creative mind behind Day Zero in Tulum, Lazarus has made a career out of crafting immersive musical experiences that feel both soulful an groovy. His sound blurs the lines between deep house, minimal, and techno, but always with a twist – think basslines, echoing chants, flutes, and desert drums. Whether it's sunrise at Burning Man or a jungle rave in Tulum, Lazarus is known for playing sets in a way that feels like a ritual. Be Beach, Dubai Marina. Tel: (0)54 751 119. @bebeachdxb Images: Instagram > Sign up for FREE to get exclusive updates that you are interested in
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- Yahoo
This mom paid $13,000 to get dropped in the wilderness by a luxury travel company. She said it changed her life.
Esther Spengler saved $13,000 to spend three days alone traveling in the mountains of Morocco. Black Tomato's "Get Lost" experience drops travelers off in remote destinations around the world. The trips typically cater to wealthy travelers and CEOs seeking a mental and physical challenge. Esther Spengler was lost. She was around five years into the throws of postpartum depression and felt, "as so many mothers do," that she had lost her sense of identity after having two children, she said. Desperate for inspiration, she was researching for unique trips she and her husband could take to celebrate their anniversary in 2020 when she came across an usual service — a luxury travel company that would drop you in the wilderness and leave you to find your own way out. Spengler, who is now in her mid 30s and lives in Texas, became fixated on the idea. Her homebody husband could see her excitement and suggested she go on the trip alone while he stayed back to watch their kids. Over a year and half and thousands of dollars saved later, Spengler found herself alone in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco — now lost in a very different sense. "I had felt so long like a dead skeleton walking around and I felt all of a sudden this spark of life," Spengler said of the experience, which was organized by the UK-based luxury travel company Black Tomato. "It's completely change the trajectory of my life." Black Tomato's "Get Lost" experience is part of a growing trend of travelers, especially wealthy ones, opting out of traditional resort-style luxury in favor of nature-based adventures that can be more challenging, physically and mentally, than they are relaxing. The idea behind "Get Lost" is for the traveler to be dropped off in a remote area and navigate themselves out it, or to "get lost to find yourself," as the company puts it. Spengler told Black Tomato she wanted to go somewhere warm and far from the US, which is how she ended up in Morocco. She spent three days alone navigating herself out of the mountains, relying mostly on her map and compass to get to a set end-point in a more populated area. When she wasn't entirely sure she was headed the right way, she consulted a GPS device she carried with her for backup. "That's what I had been looking forward to, just being alone in the middle of nowhere," she said. "I wanted that isolation where you need space to just think and to be." "We see travelers seeking out activities that require more mental and physical exertion," Misty Belles, vice president of global public relations for luxury travel planning company Virtuoso, told Travel + Leisure last year. "C-suite clients in particular want experiences that go beyond their comfort zone." Rob Murray-John, head of special projects at Black Tomato who helps plan the "Get Lost" trips, said a wide range of people opt to go on them, adding that "often very successful individuals are doing this as a period of reflection." Some are experiencing or coming out of a period of personal hardship. Others might be a CEO weighing a career change, or have recently sold their business and are trying to figure out what comes next. Most, though not all, of the clients are wealthy, as the trips can cost upwards of $25,000 dollars. "From an ethos point of view, what connects everyone is that desire for wildness and complete disconnect from the outside world," he said. Spengler, whose husband was in the military, spent months saving and fundraising to be able to afford her trip, which cost around $13,000 when she went in October 2021. Each trip is entirely bespoke and catered to the individual, including "how lost" they truly want to be, Murray-John said. Some clients choose a country they'd like to visit, but that's about all they know ahead of time. Others don't know what country they are headed to but ask to be sent to a specific type of landscape, like a jungle, desert, mountain, or polar environment. Some clients who opt to fly private don't even know where they are headed until they arrive. The trips take place all over the world, with some past destinations including Mongolia, Peru, and Svalbard in Norway's Arctic. Once they fly into their destination country, they are met by on-the-ground guides and brought to a remote location over a day or more of travel, which could be by car, aircraft, four-by-four, or even yak. Then they typically undergo a day or two of basic survival training — learning things like how to build a fire, construct a shelter, or dig a hole in the ground to go to the bathroom. After training, the traveler, equipped with supplies that includes a map and compass, will split up from their guides and be left all alone to navigate themselves back to civilization over the course of several days. Though the person on the trip may feel totally isolated, Black Tomato is always tracking them visually and with satellite communication devices. The guides are on the ground trekking along — often with the client literally in their line of sight, even though the client can't see them — so that they can intervene if needed for safety reasons. Altogether, the trips require months of meticulous planning by Black Tomato, Murray-John said. "I really want people to experience travel in this way because I think it changes you for the better," he said. "Travel now is becoming a part of your therapy plan." After the end of the wilderness excursion, the client meets back up with the guides, celebrates, and typically spends a night or two at a hotel to cap off their trip with a bit of traditional luxury. At the end of Spengler's third day in the wilderness, when she started seeing signs of civilization again, she wasn't ready for it to end. By the time she returned home to the US, she said her perspective had entirely shifted. "I thought I'm not going back to the way it was before," she said. "I'm going to be responsible and take care of my family but I'm going to start living." She joined the Army — something she had always wanted to do — and started taking survival classes that involve putting her in tricky situations for days at a time in order to test her abilities. Spengler said the trip brought her a lasting sense of empowerment and resiliency, and that now when she experiences a hardship she is better equipped to get through it mentally. "It wasn't relaxing," she said. "It was an adventure." Do you have a story to share about a unique travel experience? Contact this reporter at kvlamis@ Read the original article on Business Insider
