Need to Know
18 : 08 : 22

New York – Just off Fifth Avenue, near a street that's been dubbed 'billionaires row', luxury hospitality company Aman Resorts is opening a hotel that sets new benchmarks for wellness tourism.

The hotly anticipated 83-suite hotel offers an exhaustive list of amenities including a jazz club, Aman-branded residences, and the first Aman Club, a members’ club with dedicated facilities for the urban elite. It’s the hotel’s health infrastructure, however, that distinguishes it from other upmarket establishments.

The hotel's spa and wellness area spans three levels, over about 25,000 square feet, and includes a swimming pool and cryotherapy chambers. The top floor of the spa is entirely taken up by a fully operational medical practice. Here, internist Dr Robert Graham, a Harvard-trained physician, uses a variety of devices to assess guests’ stress levels before recommending wellness immersion programmes that may include acupuncture, intravenous peptide boosters or hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

With high-intensity Technogym treadmills costing upwards of £14,100 ($17,000, €16,720) and a long list of other attractions, The Aman New York is bringing Recuperative Tourism to new extremes.

Texas – As more brands enter the crowded hard seltzer market, vodka maker Tito’s is pushing back with a limited-edition empty can that makes its opposition to pre-mixed cocktails clear. Instead of launching a hard seltzer product, the brand is selling a refillable empty container with a removable lid that encourages users to make their own.

Rather than dilute its hero product, the Texas-based vodka brand is allowing the re-usable cans to illustrate a singular focus in its area of expertise. ‘At Tito's, we put our energy into doing one thing, and doing it really well: making a high-quality and smooth vodka at a reasonable price,’ says Taylor Berry, Tito's vice-president of brand marketing. ‘We developed Tito's in a Can so Tito's drinkers can make their own, better-quality seltzers; ones that are fresh and are as strong or carbonated or citrusy as you want. Because we don't make seltzers, you do.’

As the Rebranded Ready-to-Drink market continues to expand, Tito’s is responding to the growth of hard seltzers without simply jumping on board with a cookie cutter product – strengthening its own brand image by outlining its opposition.

Despite the cost of living crisis and fears of impending recession, luxury consumer spending is showing no signs of slowing down. According to the Saks Luxury Pulse, an online survey which periodically tracks luxury consumers’ attitudes to shopping, 76% of US consumers with income over £166k ($200k, €197k) plan to buy the same or more luxury items in the next few months as they did in the past three months.

The results from Saks’ latest survey show that higher-earning consumers are continuing to spend on luxury, despite rising economic turbulence. Fashion and holidays remain key areas where luxury consumers are treating themselves, while an increased focus on wellness is boosting spending on luxury self-care, fitness and home products.

With the highest earners insulated against the cost of living crisis, luxury brands are catering for their most valuable customers with Gated Retail concepts that double down on exclusivity, stepping away from the democratic approach to luxury fashion that’s emerged in recent years.