Now that pens of Ozempic, Mounjaro and other GLP-1 weight-loss injections are as frequently found packed in a Celine raffia tote as a Dyson AirWrap, there are obvious — and somewhat less obvious — ripple effects for industries around the world, especially the world I cover, luxury travel. You’d expect guests to be eating less, and they are. More on that shortly.
But as a writer, I look for the things people aren’t saying on record. And the main source of gossip in the industry amongst hoteliers, concierges and travel operators, and whispered about over lunch at the Beverley Hills Hotel, is the discreet boom of ‘affair travel,’ with newly svelte guests arriving at their favorite five-star properties with partners who, let’s just say, may not be the ones they usually turn up with.
Affairs themselves aren’t news unless, it seems, you conduct yours at a Coldplay concert, but the motivation behind what I’m calling new-bodied affairs are: a whole swath of guests who suddenly have the means to look like the best version of themselves. “I keep seeing people who have been liberated with a sense of total reinvention. They feel like a new person,” one hotelier confided, candidly but anonymously. “Some people want to test that freedom.”
Esther Perel, the relationship guru who is big on what she calls ‘erotic intelligence,’ has been reminding us for years that affairs are rarely about the other person, and more about wanting to feel alive. (Ideally somewhere with 24- hour room service and a discreet concierge.) What could give more of a sense of rebirth than seeing an entirely new body that you may have struggled with for years, and finally liking what you see? Add in an exotic locale, a well-chosen wine list and that particularly reviving scent of expensive suntan lotion, and you have the perfect incentive for adding to your air miles.
When you’re dressed again, shopping is now a pleasure. You feel like you can conquer the world, or at least the Amalfi Coast and St Tropez, with fabulous new clothes. According to hotel friends, personal shopper and stylist requests are up. At LVMH-owned Samaritaine in Paris, basket spend has increased considerably for personal shopping; some hotels are even offering 24-hour tailoring turnarounds for guests who’ve dropped a dress size in less than a week.
To be clear, there’s no judgment here. I’m all for an increase in joy. And many of these changes are likely to be net positive. I expect the current era of hotel merch and collabs will mark the start of more elevated edits for hotel retail, an easy offering of new clothes for new bodies, already happening at places such as the boutiques at Gleneagles, Schloss Elmau, Royal Mansour Tamuda Bay and Four Seasons Resort Los Cabos.
It’s all part of a bigger shift beyond the traditional pillars of vacation thrills such as food and alcohol (industry insiders tell me that they’re considering experimenting with by-the-ounce wine pours and smaller portions of premium steak and seafood) into fashion, wellness, energy and yes, sex: there are seismic shifts under the umbrella of luxury travel. It’s what Jack Ezon, co-founder of Embark Beyond, calls the new Vibe Economy, where atmosphere matters more than the tasting menu.
Two of my recent trips took me to Airelles Val d’Isère and the Carlton in Cannes, both centered around what the French call festive restaurants — La Folie Douce and Le Piaf in Val d’Isère, and La Guérite in Cannes — where the is napkin-swinging, champagne-popping, Backstreet Boys meets Abba. Except, as one server whispered to me, magnums are ordered just to meet minimum spends, remaining unopened. Weight-loss drugs are said to make you drink less and whether it’s that or a burgeoning low-alcohol generation, booze spend is down across the board, with mocktail offerings going in the opposite direction.
During a recent stay at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in NYC, I saw the super sexy Portrait Bar simply calling them spirit-free cocktails, chic and sober phrasing. “There’s no denying that GLP-1s are shaping the luxury travel landscape in real time,” says Whitney Haldeman, founder of Atlas Adventures. “It’s not that joy is gone from the table, it’s just a bit more thoughtful. Instead of pure indulgence, it’s about balance.”
That means sharing a starter, splitting a main, and skipping dessert. Among insiders, it’s being called the biggest shift in wellness (an increasingly meaningless word) since phrases such as healthspan, superfood, and clean eating started trending. The days of arduous 15-mile hikes in the mountains — fueled by a snack of seven almonds in your pocket — are on the way out. With appetite dulled pharmaceutically, army-style boot camps and deprivation are less appealing. Toning, strength training and Pilates are in.
At SHA Wellness in Spain and Mexico, personalized programs include advanced physiotherapy to build up the muscle lost when all that weight drops off. Toned, tailored, and tight — that’s the new bodies and maybe also the new alibis.
Welcome to the Vibe Economy, where everyone is hot — and we’re only just at the beginning. Some of it might end in a personal train wreck, but at least it will be a good-looking one.