Ultraluxury hotel brands are turning to cruise ships and private jets

• Four Seasons, Aman, and Ritz-Carlton are expanding their portfolios with private jet tours and cruises.

• The offerings are part of a strategy to keep enticing high-paying customers in 2025 and beyond.

• This article is part of "Transforming Business," a series on the must-know leaders and trends impacting industries.

If you want to relax at a hotel, sip mai tais on a cruise, or see the world by private jet, you soon won't have to look further than your favorite luxury hotel brand.

Just don't refer to their vessels as "cruise ships." They'd rather you call them yachts.

Over the past few years, high-end hospitality companies such as Ritz-Carlton, Aman, and Four Seasons have expanded their portfolios to sea or air travel in a bid to keep high-paying customers within their networks.

After all, if you loved your Ritz-Carlton resort experience, wouldn't you be more inclined to try the at-sea version — even if you've never cruised before?

Four Seasons and Aman are creating an in-house vacation network

Aman and Four Seasons are in several markets — hotels, residential, retail, and travel "experiences" like private jet tours.

Alejandro Reynal, Four Seasons' president and CEO, told Business Insider that hotels and resorts accounted for about 80% of the company's revenue. Extracurriculars like its jet tours and coming ship then create a "halo effect" for the brand — an extension of its core business and another way to maintain relationships with loyal customers.

Both companies operate their multiweek group jet trips using third-party specialists. Four Seasons' launched in 2015 and uses a 48-seat Airbus A321LRneo. Aman's took flight two years prior, offering guests a sleek 19-seat loungelike aircraft (often an Airbus ACJ319).

Both include multicountry itineraries and overnight stays at their respective properties, creating a dream vacation for Four Seasons or Aman megafans.

For some travelers, these trips mark their first time staying at one of the luxe properties. But once they're in, they're hooked, Ben Trodd, Aman's COO, said.

"They will often come back and stay at our hotels and resorts individually," Trodd told BI in an email.

Four Seasons hosted eight jet trips in 2024. Almost all sold out, Reynal said, adding that the company was considering additional itineraries with varying aircraft or lengths (several of its 2025 tours already have a waitlist).

Despite their steady successes, both companies don't plan to go all in on private jets. Rather, they're turning their extra attention and resources to the friendly seas.

Ritz-Carlton is leading the hotel-to-cruise pipeline

In recent years, a flurry of hospitality companies announced their cruises — often in the form of yacht tours — in close succession: Ritz-Carlton in 2017, Aman in 2021, and Four Seasons in 2022.

It's a great time to be in the cruise business. Throughout 2024, industry giants such as Carnival and Norwegian reported record revenues and bookings.

These luxury cruises aren't anything like what you'll find on massive boats from mass-market cruise lines.

The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection's first vessel, Evrima, was a litmus test for the ultraluxury smaller-ship segment when it launched in 2022.

It was a success, with only a few availabilities during its inaugural year.

The 149-suite vessel is 623 feet long, a far cry from Royal Caribbean's almost 2,000-foot-long vessels. It also has a yachtlike feel with an almost 1-to-1 guest-to-staff ratio, attracting travelers who might not have been interested in traditional cruises.

"There's been a ton of buzz about how they knocked it out of the park," Jackie Roth, a Scott Dunn Private travel manager, told BI. Once concerned, she now believes the Yacht Collection has "elevated" Ritz-Carlton's brand, she said.

The company expects to sail its third ship in 2025.

By then, Four Seasons will still be a year from its vessel's planned launch.

Four Seasons' and Aman's 'floating resorts'

In 2026, Four Seasons plans to expand its "experienced-based business" beyond private jets with a 95-suite ship.

Reynal said bookings were already "very successful," with about two-thirds coming from the company's repeat customers.

"How do we create this luxury ecosystem around the brand, and which businesses do we need or don't need to be in?" the Four Seasons CEO said. "People were very favorable for us to pursue a Four Seasons experience at sea, and it has proven right."

Aman offers at-sea vacations with Amandira, a traditional five-cabin luxury yacht.

Its next vessel, set to launch in 2027, is planned to be more like a 600-foot-long cruise ship, flexing 10 times as many cabins.

Loyalty to the brand — not cruises — is key for these projects.

"People will follow Four Seasons wherever they go and whenever they launch a new experience," Roth said.

Other travel agents said they'd already received requests for the coming floating resort.

"We are led by the demand of our guests, who often call for us to expand into certain categories," Trodd, Aman's COO, said. "Our customers will travel because it's Aman first and the destination as a second consideration."

Potential road (or sea) blocks

"The luxury cruise market is niche but very competitive," Patrick Scholes, a lodging and leisure research analyst at Truist Securities, told BI. "Operationally, it's not easy. The risk and complexities are far greater than a land-based hotel."

Plus, not every wealthy traveler loves cruises, especially if their only experience is with the stereotypical attraction-filled, crowded megaships.

To overcome this, Four Seasons and Aman could simply continue doing what they do best — creating an ultraluxury experience.

"Customers are going to expect six-star service, and you better get it right," Scholes said.

Four Seasons' ship will be no Carnival cruise. According to its CEO, it won't even resemble some of the traditional industry's smaller luxury ships.

Renderings promise a sleek and luxurious vessel. On board, guests are planned to have 11 upcharged restaurants, a marina that opens onto the water, and cabins up to almost 10,000 square feet, some with au pairs and security personnel.

Aman, for its part, has remained mum about details. Its renderings also flex a yachtlike look. And as with its on-land properties, Trodd said the vessel would provide privacy, space, and a "restorative" experience.

When Four Seasons' and Aman's ships join Ritz-Carlton's, there will be no need to go to airlines for flights or cruise lines for cruises.

Just stay loyal to your favorite hospitality company, as they would want.

Read the original article on Business Insider