Following the launch of Luxury Escapes’ new loyalty and rewards program, Société, CEO Adam Schwab spoke to HM about the changing loyalty landscape and the most important factors influencing Australian travel decisions.
What changes have you noticed in how Australians are travelling in the last 12–18 months?
Travel demand has been interesting this year – travellers are becoming increasingly savvy and price conscious. The pivot to more luxurious stays remains strong but travellers are definitely looking for value. At the same time, we are seeing lots of Australian travellers prioritise immersive travel, with 58% saying exploring new places is a top priority. Only 9% want to go back to the same old spots. There’s a clear shift from routine getaways to those once-in-a-lifetime trips that really offer something special – whether that’s adventure, culture, or wellness.
A big part of the reason we launched LuxPlus last year and our wider loyalty program Société in April is to be able to provide even better value to travellers who are becoming increasingly discerning on how they buy travel.
Based on your travel booking data, is there much demand for sustainable stays?
Sustainability is interesting – lots of travellers tell us they are concerned about sustainability, but everything has a price, and a bit like carbon offsets, when it comes to actual purchasing decisions, sustainability will generally take a back seat to club access or all-inclusive F&B. It feels like travellers are all for sustainability but often don’t want to pay for it.
What advice would you give hoteliers in terms of the types of experiences travellers are seeking?
Today’s travellers are looking for more than a room – they want connection, discovery, and unique, localised moments. According to our Travel Trends survey, there’s strong interest in food tourism (39%), immersive cultural experiences (38%), and wellness travel (30%). Experiences like a sunrise meditation session, private cooking classes or hiking with local guides are becoming more sought after.
Value is also becoming increasingly critical – 38% of travellers we speak with value complimentary buffet breakfasts and 31% appreciate a room upgrade. We used these insights to develop the tier benefits as part of our Société loyalty programme, with loyal customers receiving inclusions like chauffeur driven transfers, lounge access and room upgrades. These inclusions are fully funded by Luxury Escapes, giving our hotel partners priority access to high spending elite customers.
What international destinations are rising in popularity?
Our travel trends data has named Japan as the most popular international holiday destination for 2025 helped by the lower yen (although this has unwound somewhat recently and we’re also seeing higher operators adjust pricing higher). Bali and Thailand remain popular (although the famed ‘White Lotus’ effect is not having the positive impact on Koh Samui that many predicted). Vietnam has continued to be strong and we’re seeing strong demand to Hawaii and mainland USA as the US dollar starts to finally show some signs of weakness.
What are today’s travellers seeking when it comes to loyalty offerings?
Before we created Société we did a huge amount of research with thousands of travellers – the results were clear, travellers are super frustrated with the difficulty in redeeming their points across many airline loyalty schemes (this isn’t necessarily the fault of airlines, but the economics of carriers has changed and they can now sell most of their premium seats so giving them away cheaply to frequent fliers makes little commercial sense).
That’s why we built Société to be different: members can use their points on everything Luxury Escapes sells, even our most popular limited time exclusive offers.
Also, for our status benefits, everything is guaranteed – you don’t have to cross your fingers and hope for an upgrade, you can get your free upgrade confirmed before you book, similarly with lounge access and chauffeur transfers, our loyal members can lock all their benefits at booking.