Why Luxury Escapes Is Betting Big on Brick-and-Mortar Travel
Photo Credit: A Luxury Escapes office in Sydney Luxury Escapes
Skift Take
Luxury Escapes is proving something the industry has long suspected but rarely executed well: in high-consideration travel, physical retail isn’t a relic — it’s a revenue amplifier.
On Experience
Colin Nagy is a marketing strategist and writes on customer-centric experiences and innovation across the luxury sector, hotels, aviation, and beyond. You can read all of his writing here.Luxury Escapes, the Australian travel platform, is doubling down on something that feels counterintuitive in 2025: physical retail.
Instead of obsessing over online conversions and incremental A/B tests, the company is investing in fully fledged travel boutiques where customers sit down, drink champagne, and plan expensive holidays with a consultant.
And based on the numbers, the move is paying off.
The company’s flagship at Melbourne’s Chadstone mall now generates roughly A$60 million a year. The new Bondi Junction boutique — opened in November next to an Apple Store — saw appointments booked out on day one. These stores aren’t just soft brand building. They convert, and the
