The Long Game: Why Family-Owned Hotels Are Redefining Luxury

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.

I've long argued that some instances of so-called luxury hospitality have become an assembly line. Major hotel groups, in their pursuit of more profit, have attempted to standardize and scale what was once a craft. Think shoddy buildouts, inexperienced staff, and a mindset that treats guests as suckers with fistfuls of cash.

The factory farming of luxury has created endless playbooks and protocols, turning the art of genuine hospitality into a series of predictable touchpoints. But in doing so, they've created an opening for something more interesting to shine through: the family-owned luxury hotel.

The timing couldn't be better. As I wrote in Skift's Megatrends, many travelers are growing weary of conspicuous consumption and manufactured experiences. They're pushing back against exorbitant rates that don't deliver commensurate value, and are instead seeking experiences that are understated, thoughtful, and deeply personal.

The Baur au Lac in Zurich offers a masterclass in this approach. Speaking with Marguita Kracht, whose family has stewarded the property for generations, you begin to understand the profound difference in how owner-led properties think about hospitality. "When it