Luxury lodge digs deep for customer satisfaction

Rotorua's Lake Okareka Lodge caters for top-end clients in an idyllic setting.

How do you define luxury? Is it a flash car, having chandeliers hanging from the ceilings of your million dollar beachfront property or owning a yacht?

Definitely not, according to the thousands of people who use blog sites and forums every day.

Research by Lebua Hotels & Resorts into the meaning of luxury travel has revealed it is all about a feeling you are getting value for money and the experience.

Deepak Ohri, chief executive of Lebua, which owns luxury Rotorua resort Lake Okareka Lodge and another resort in Bangkok, said it undertook the research to find out what consumers really thought rather than those in the industry. "I speak at many conferences around the world and at every conference luxury has a different definition. We wanted to go direct to the consumer."

The research was conducted by searching for 'luxury' in blog sites and forums in Australasia, the United Kingdom, United States and India over two months, and then analysed by a computer to identify trends. Ohri said call centre interviews often meant people gave a prescribed answer but the blog and forum research left it open to people to say whatever they felt.

"It seems consumers aren't placing an importance on products but more on the emotional needs. Consumers want a total luxury experience and this is different for different people."

They also wanted assurance that they were getting a good price.

Ohri said the economic downturn had made even wealthy people more cautious about spending.

"Now if they are spending $10,000 they want to make sure the experience is very good," he said.

Previously people had believed recessions did not affect those at the top or the bottom end of the market.

But Ohri said the latest downturn had bucked that view.

Ohri said his resort and others in the industry had been hit by a slowdown in business, particularly from the long haul markets. The resort had reduced its rates over winter by 15 to 20 per cent but hoped to maintain its normal summer rate for the coming season at US$3500 ($5981) a night.