The travel industry must shift its focus from logistics to emotions as the definition of luxury, once synonymous with excess, is rewritten, according to This is Beyond Founder and CEO Serge Dive.
Speaking to LATTE during Further East in Bali, Dive explained that the key trend he is seeing is a pivot from the superficial to the profound. “We can no longer live in a world of excess,” he said. “Presence is the luxury now.”
This new definition of indulgence isn’t about caviar and champagne, it’s silence, stillness and the feeling of being completely in the moment – ever more elusive in this digital age. “The idea of coming back to our animal self should be the goal of every travel provider – because this is where we are happy.”
For travel operators, that means changing the way they approach business. “Hotels can be the mixologists of emotion – mixologists of destiny,” Dive explained. In his view, the most forward-thinking brands are now designing experiences that evoke emotional chemistry through the release of dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins.
Instead of selling itineraries, they are curating feelings. “We live in a surprise economy,” he says. “Adventure means what must happen without purpose.” Over-planning simply kills the magic so he advised operators to leave room for surprise. “Craft storylines, not schedules,” he said.
This also means letting go of perfection – increasingly prevalent given the rise of AI and automation. “So people will start to re-embrace the humanity behind the product and its imperfections,” he predicted.
He pointed to the popularity of hand-crafted watches that may be sometimes inaccurate, and the return to vinyl records with their scratches as signs that consumers are rediscovering beauty in imperfection.
In this new landscape, sustainability isn’t a marketing trend but a change of mindset, according to Dive. “Everybody talks about sustainability,” he said, “but it’s more about longevity – designing something that lasts.”
He believes that longevity applies not only to the environment but to the traveller’s own sense of wellbeing. In his view, experiences that connect people with nature and community – rather than isolate them in luxury bubbles – will be those that endure.
True high-end travel is therefore about removing filters rather than adding them – comfort is important but not the objective. “We’re not selling memories – we’re selling the present,” he stressed. “The memory is just the by-product.”
