Luxury Escapes Co-Founder and CEO Adam Schwab has revealed the company’s Chadstone flagship store is “exceeding expectations” as he cut the ribbon on its second Australian physical outlet at Westfield Bondi Junction in Sydney.
The new store, designed by industrial designer George Berry Studio, marks a multi-million-dollar investment and brings Luxury Escapes’ signature high-touch service to Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
The success of the company’s first store in Melbourne made the Bondi expansion inevitable, according to Schwab. “The Chadstone store has been a phenomenal success – within two years becoming one of the world’s highest grossing travel stores by creating an inspiring experience before customers even take off on their holiday,” he said.
The Chadstone store is on track to hit $1 million in the “next couple of years” he revealed, although adding, “we’re not there yet but we’re well on the way.”
The fast-growing luxury travel company, which built its business online, has embraced bricks-and-mortar retail after discovering the model delivers outsized commercial returns, deeper customer trust and dramatically larger basket sizes.
The in-store experience drives far richer transactions than digital channels. “You have an almost $8,000 average basket,” he said, comparing it with the average of $3,500 per trip taken over the phone, and just $2,000 online.
On top of that, customers booking in person often commit to multi-component trips: “It’s a much bigger trip,” he pointed out. “That’s why you’ve got a three times basket size.”
The store also has the added benefit of offering inventory unavailable online. “Some of our hotels don’t want to sell online… so there’s a lot of extra stuff.”
Schwab said the retail model deliberately complements the company’s digital strengths. “We know it bucks the typical online-only trend, but a recent Luxury Escapes survey found that while 80% of travellers book online, 15% prefer to book in person and 5% over the phone. Our goal is to offer the best of both worlds.”
And although a physical presence wasn’t part of the vision when Schwab first founded the business with Jeremy Same in 2013, he confirmed that the idea has been bubbling for close to 10 years. “We did our first pop-up back in 2016,” he told LATTE. “The pandemic obviously put it on hold, but the idea’s been there for a while.”
Speaking about the strategy behind the physical stores, Schwab highlighted the “two reasons” for expanding into retail as firstly the marketing benefit with the store essentially acting as a giant “billboard”. “Then there’s the trust benefit,” he said. Travel, he noted, is “a big trust purchase,” and customers feel more comfortable booking expensive, complex holidays when “you’re speaking to them than online.”
With Bondi now up and running, the company is preparing for further expansion. “We’d love to have one per city, and that could be Brisbane,” Schwab shared, adding that another Melbourne site is also possible.
“Apple is our inspiration,” he said. “We’ll look at Apple as their inspiration… where you hit one per city, and then you double up on the bigger cities.”
International ambitions are also on the horizon. “We’d love [a store] in London,” he said—though he noted Australia remains the priority for now: “Because our brand’s strong here, it probably makes more sense. We’re looking at a maximum of around 10 stores.”
To celebrate the opening, Luxury Escapes gave away more than $100,000 in travel vouchers and holiday packages—the biggest giveaway in its 13-year history—with prizes to destinations including Bali, Vietnam, Dubai, Sri Lanka, Hawaii, Thailand and the Cook Islands. The Bondi store will employ fifteen full-time consultants and host in-store experiences inspired by global destinations.
