Are Branded Luxury Yachts the New Frontier of High-End Travel?
The monogrammed robe really says it all. There it hangs in the gleaming white marble bathroom, conveniently perched within arms reach of the tub, which, by the way, has been filled to the brim with rose petals. Subtle, but just conspicuous enough, an entire brand philosophy ingeniously encapsulated in a single piece of terrycloth.
The brand in question here is Four Seasons, and its philosophy? That luxury is its love language. "It's these little unscripted gestures that create a sense of the bespoke," says Marc Speichert, the company's Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, who then relays an anecdote about a housekeeping manager who once noticed a photo lying on a table in a guest's room and went out to find a frame for it. The guest was ecstatic. "It wasn't in the playbook that says, 'If you find a picture put it in a frame.' It was just him being creative, and passionate about making a difference."
It's become quite a saturated market up there in the highest strata of luxury hospitality, with the top 5+ star brands locked in a perennial amenities cum experiential arms race to entice the superrich. Michelin-starred chefs, sumptuously decorated Insta-perfect environs, state-of-the-art spas equipped with cryotherapy chambers, access to places mere plebes wouldn't even dream of stepping into (or better yet, knew existed), the sky is the limit. So then how do you impress the one percenter who can't be impressed anymore? Hone in on the little acts of love. Make it couture. "Sometimes it's the smallest thing that has the biggest impact," Speichert says.
This exacting attention to detail, service, and care can presumably be found across the Four Seasons hotel portfolio, from Cap-Ferrat to Chiang Mai, Philadelphia to Punta Mita, and most definitely up in the air in the Four Seasons Private Jet, given what the 0.01 percent pay for that experience. And come 2025, it will all hit the water too, when the Four Seasons Yacht sets sail on her maiden voyage (reservations open in a year), becoming the latest to enter this elite luxury race which has apparently moved from terra firma to the high seas.
In October, the first of three ships in the new Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection finally set sail after three years of delays—the 624-foot Evrima ferried 298 guests around the Mediterranean for a week. Four Seasons' boat (also the first of three in the making), by comparison, will measure 679 feet and carry a fraction of passengers: there are only 95 suites on board (each cost more than $4 million to build) and an embarrassment of riches in amenities, from 11 restaurants, to an outdoor movie theater, to the largest pool deck in its class, to common areas designed by Martin Brudnizki.
The yacht wars don't end here: last December, Aman announced it was also building a yacht—600 feet, 50 suites, a spa with a zen garden, two helipads—which will also launch in 2025. Even aspirational furniture brand Restoration Hardware has put its stamp on maritime hospitality, tricking out an expedition yacht it bought in 2019 with its signature caramel-hued California cool aesthetic of Carrara marble, Italian leathers, sleek lacquers, and reclaimed woods.
Which brings us back to the question: how does one stand out in what's fast becoming a competitive market? "Maximum flexibility," Speichert says, by which he means a guest on the Four Seasons Yacht will be able to do whatever she wants whenever she pleases (within the parameters of the ship's port schedule, of course), rather than being forced to choose an itinerary in advance, as is the practice on most other cruises. "It's about however you want to discover where we go. Up to you."
The brand also has the advantage of a sprawling—and unrivaled—global network of hotels with highly capable concierge teams at the ready to craft curated on-shore experiences and dispense insider destination knowledge. Maybe you even add on a few nights at the Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat while the yacht is anchored off the coast, or at San Domenico Palace, the property in Taormina that just played a starring role in the second season of The White Lotus (the yacht will summer in the Mediterranean and winter in the Caribbean). "Everyone can have a completely different puzzle as they assemble the pieces," Speichert says. "We have scale. We're small in the context of hospitality, but big in the context of luxury."
Four Seasons (and its peers) seems to be banking on the idea that the Logan Roys of this world may already have their very own superyachts, natch, but should they be feeling sociable (or are in need of buying out a boat to fit their friends for, say, a milestone celebration on the Adriatic), they would feel just as home, and just as meticulously looked after, on its vessel. And Four Seasons does seem to have a competitive edge: few can yet claim bragging rights to luxury hospitality domination over land, sea, and air. Could a Four Seasons spaceship be far behind?
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