The Great Reset in Luxury Hospitality
If you somehow follow hospitality industry or involved with luxury hotels, sure you realized a shift lately between big shots of hotel brands and some silent players which quietly chase their goal.
While all luxury hotel brands claim to be ultimate luxury, reality is only few can really make it and most far from being luxury in modern standards. in this blog post, I will try to cover this topic not only as a hotel photographer but also as a senior hotelier who spent 20 years of his life in industry at top hotels of the World.
Why Legacy Brands Are Becoming Generic — and What Comes Next
Over the past decade, the luxury hospitality has changed dramatically. Traditional global hotel chains — once the undisputed symbols of five-star service — are facing a structural challenge: expansion and scale have diluted their distinctiveness.
If you try to talk everyone, you talk to no-one.
drastically increasing number of hotels are forcing hotel brands to cater to much broader audience and steal small share of business from all other brands. Imagine Hermes trying to capture market share from Tommy Hilfiger, DKNY, Diesel etc. Hermes would not be Hermes because of compromise required to attract clients from those brands that has totally different clientele and budget.
This is exactly what giants brands are facing now. They are victim of their own success for the cost of losing battle to high end luxury.
Simultaneously, smaller, experience-driven brands like Aman are quietly redefining what “luxury” means for a new generation of travelers. This isn’t just a trend; it’s a revolution that’s rewriting the rules of hospitality and hotel photography.
1. The Legacy Luxury Model: Expansion at the Cost of Distinction
Global hotel brands like Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Hilton, and Marriott have historically defined modern luxury by standardizing service and amenities across markets. Their business model thrives on scale — hundreds or thousands of properties around the world — and loyalty programs that reward repeat guests. But this focus on expansion has unavoidable consequences:
A. Standardization Equals Predictability — But Also Homogenization
Global brands often rely on rigorous brand standards and playbooks to deliver consistent quality. This ensures guests know what they’ll get no matter the city.
But as the number of properties grows, the risk increases that one hotel begins to feel very much like another — similar design templates, service scripts, and amenities — even in culturally rich destinations.
In many markets, this has turned “luxury” into a comfortable version of generic five-star service — reliable, yes, but increasingly undifferentiated and hard to meaningfully distinguish in marketing or imagery.
B. Soft Brands and Boutique Collections: A Tactical Response
To respond, major chains have developed soft brands like Curio (Hilton) or the Ascend Collection (Choice) — which allow independent hotels to retain their identity while benefiting from corporate infrastructure. However, even these are sometimes perceived as patchwork boutique experiences under a corporate umbrella rather than genuinely unique properties.
Result: The legacy luxury hotel has often become “a five-star hotel that looks like most other five-star hotels.”
2. The Boutique Frontier: Experience, Authenticity & Culture
Enter smaller, visionary brands that are redefining luxury beyond scale.
A. Aman: A Case Study in Distinctive Luxury
Aman Resorts — with roughly 35 properties worldwide — epitomizes this shift. From serene desert retreats to remote island outposts, Aman has built its reputation not on scale but on emotional depth, seclusion and place-specific design.
What distinguishes Aman:
Minimalist, site-specific architecture that complements local landscapes and cultures.
An emphasis on transformation rather than transaction; Aman doesn’t just sell rooms, it sells a feeling of sanctuary.
Historically, no large advertising budgets — its reputation spreads largely through word-of-mouth from loyal travelers.
If you occasionally check your LinkedIn, one thing you will never see is a sales manager from Aman posting a picture of themselves posing next to a client or how productive their meeting was with so and so partner. Because with Aman everything is part of brand that is managed meticulously.
Even more surprising and bold act from this small giant is they Don’t exist in big OTAs. This single decision alone shows incredible self confidence and self claim. They manage their distribution in very precise manner and they are so sure top tier luxury guests will find them regardless the channel and cost.
Aman’s design language is intentionally restrained compared with many legacy luxury interiors. This quiet elegance — often intentionally subdued — creates tension with the more ostentatious imagery typical of traditional five-star hotels.
Other smaller luxury chains — Capella, Belmond, Oetker Collection, Cheval Blanc — are also emphasizing experiential depth, individuality, and cultural storytelling. Their ability to forge emotional connections often exceeds that of scaled-up legacy brands.
3. Why This Matters: The Shift in Traveler Values
Luxury travelers today seek:
Authentic, immersive experiences instead of generic luxury environments.
Connections to location and culture rather than a global luxury template.
Subtlety, narrative, and emotional resonance — quiet luxury over glitz.
These preferences are reshaping how luxury properties position themselves and how they compete for the attention of discerning guests.
4. The Photography Parallel: Why Visual Storytelling Is Now Competitive Advantage
Just as guest expectations have evolved, so too have the visual norms of hospitality marketing.
A. Photography Is Often the First Touchpoint
Before travelers book or even scroll further, photography communicates the promise of experience — and can make or break a decision:
There are many research shows photography can account for a significant portion of a guest’s booking decision on online travel agencies and search platforms.
B. The Legacy Brand Challenge
Large hotel portfolios often assign photography projects regionally and work with many different photographers across markets. The result?
Inconsistent visual style
Visuals that emphasize rooms and amenities — but fail to convey personality or narrative
Loss of distinctive storytelling that builds emotional connection
This visual inconsistency parallels how legacy hotel brands can feel visually homogeneous in the marketplace.
C. Boutique & Experience-Driven Hotels Lean Into Visual Storytelling
For brands like Aman and similar boutique hotels:
Photography is not just documentation — it’s a narrative tool that conveys serenity, place, and emotion.
Visual imagery is curated to reflect the brand ethos, not just the hotel’s physical features.
The focus is on lifestyle and experiential imagery — scenes that make viewers feel the place.
Lifestyle photography — images that evoke emotions, experiences, rituals, and moments in context — is now a core tactic for brand storytelling in luxury hospitality marketing.
5. Why Many Hotels Struggle with Photography Now
A. Scaling Visual Production Dilutes Quality
As hotels rapidly open new properties and markets, many:
Work with too many different creatives
Lack centralized visual direction
Rely on transactional photography (cataloguing spaces) rather than brand photography (telling the story)
This results in:
Mediocre portfolio images
Inconsistent color, mood, and narrative across campaigns
Shots that fail to differentiate properties in a crowded digital environment
B. The Cost of Missed Narrative
Generic photography reinforces the generic hotel aesthetic. It fails to visually communicate:
Emotional experience
Sense of place
Cultural and design uniqueness
Without that, luxury hotels struggle to connect with travelers on an emotional level that inspires aspiration, loyalty, and premium pricing.
6. The Photography Imperative for Modern Luxury Hospitality
To stay relevant, luxury hotels must invest in strategic visual storytelling that is:
A. Concept-Driven
Every shoot should start with:
Brand narrative
Experience promise
Local cultural context
This informs choices around mood, location, models, lighting, and post-production.
B. Consistent Across Properties
Even in global portfolios, visual language must feel cohesive:
Color palette
Editorial tone
Emotional intent
…so travelers know instantly what a brand stands for.
C. Experience-Focused
Rather than static architecture, compelling photography should show:
Guests engaging with rituals (spa, dining, sunset cocktails)
Design details that evoke place
Candid lifestyle moments that feel authentic
This is the core of what makes boutique brands’ visuals so powerful — they make viewers want the experience before they book.
7. Conclusion: A New Paradigm of Luxury and Visual Storytelling
The luxury hospitality industry is shifting:
Major legacy brands are broadening at the cost of distinctiveness.
Smaller, experience-driven brands are setting new standards for authenticity and emotional resonance.
Photography has transformed from functional representation into strategic brand storytelling.
For photographers, marketers, and hotel executives, the takeaways are clear:
Luxury is no longer just about service standards — it’s about emotional and narrative depth.
Visual storytelling is the medium that carries those narratives to the world.
Consistency, craft, and concept in photography are competitive differentiators — not just beautiful images.
In this evolving landscape, the hotels that win will be those that look different, feel different, and tell stories that matter.Photography — carefully crafted and strategically aligned with brand essence — will be one of the most powerful toolsin shaping that future.