Luxury Travel

The bitcoin bubble may have burst — at least temporarily — but there are still plenty of people sitting on sizable gains. The risk for any company accepting payment in cryptocurrencies is their volatility, which tells you that it is probably more about public relations than profits at this stage.

Bitcoin's growth has made a lot of people very wealthy, and more companies are looking at tapping into what could be a lucrative market. The problem, though, is the unpredictable nature of cryptocurrency markets means accepting these virtual currencies comes with considerable risk.

There are countless lessons to consider when examining how luxury fashion, auto, and hospitality are already perfectly integrated inside the world's fashion capital.

Luxury travel advisors tell us clients are getting super-specific when it comes to certain destinations. It seems "the same as everyone else" just doesn't cut it anymore.

Asset light, something with history and heritage, fewer than 200 hotels ... IHG CEO Keith Barr has quite a specific wish list. It doesn't sound like we'll have to wait too long until we find out the identity of the luxury hotel brand in question.

Here's a concept you are likely to hear more about soon: silo travel. It's all about going to a place for a very specific reason, and luxury travelers are all over it.

Growing the luxury side of the business is clearly a priority for newish CEO Keith Barr, and IHG does need another high-end offering to truly compete with the likes of Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons. We're wondering which brands IHG is looking at buying.

Nowadays, luxury travel is all about discovering new frontiers. It's not just about expanding physical and geographic boundaries. The travel cognoscenti are "brain dating" around the world in order to stretch their minds.

The needs and wants of luxury travelers have evolved dramatically in recent years, which means the services looking to reach them need to offer a fully vetted, curated, and unique experience — this is especially true of sharing economy services.

To be honest, we weren't very surprised by Thursday's launches. In fact, we wondered why they haven't been launched sooner. But for the most part, all of them certainly seem in step with Airbnb's plans for being much more than just about any other travel brand or company out there.