What LHW's Explore Summit Reveals About the Future of Luxury Travel

Lucía Torres · 2026-08-06

Last month, Laura Corrigan, SVP of Marketing & Communications at The Agency, headed to Vail, Colorado, as a guest of The Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) for their 2026 Summit. The event was hosted at the Sonnenalp Hotel and centered on the launch of *Explore: The Leading Hotels of the World* — the third installment in LHW's book series with Phaidon, Monacelli, and The Slowdown. But beyond the glossy pages, the Summit offered a real-time pulse check on where luxury travel is actually heading. ### The Big Shift: Exploration Over Checklist Travel *Explore* follows *Design* (2024) and *Culture* (2025), and according to Lauren Alba, LHW's Vice President of Global Marketing & Communications, the theme reflects a shift that's already showing up in booking data. "Around the world, travelers are seeking journeys that feel meaningful, transformative, and connected to place," Alba says. "We're seeing this reflected in our own business, with bookings to remote and rural destinations up more than 10% year over year." For LHW, exploration isn't about ticking boxes on a bucket list. It's about how independent hotels use deep local knowledge and a personal touch to open the door to a destination. The 80-plus properties featured in *Explore* trace this evolution across the portfolio, from stargazing in Chile's Atacama Desert to a Bavarian-style basecamp right here in Vail. Spencer Bailey, the series' editor-in-chief, frames it as a natural progression across all three books. "Design was really about helping readers see LHW differently — the physical environments that shape a stay," he explains. "Culture broadened that lens considerably, asking what makes a hotel culturally significant." Now, *Explore* marks another pivot: from what a hotel *is* to what a hotel *makes possible*. "The emphasis shifted from the destination itself to the adventures, discoveries, encounters, and even transformations that happen because you're there," Bailey adds. The book leans heavily into first-person reporting and introduces three destination inserts — Hawaii, Sicily, and Thailand — built around "Day Trip" itineraries that push guests beyond the property gates. ### Independent, Family-Led Hospitality as the Differentiator A second theme ran through both the book and the Summit conversation: in a landscape of increasingly interchangeable luxury, LHW's independent, often family-run properties are becoming its clearest point of difference. The Sonnenalp Hotel, owned by the Faessler family since 1979 and now in its fourth and fifth generation of leadership, served as a working example of this philosophy in action. "Sonnenalp Hotel was a fitting host for the Summit because it brings the spirit of Explore to life in a very family-oriented and tangible way," Alba says. "I hope guests saw that LHW hotels are not interchangeable luxury properties. They are individual expressions of their destinations, shaped by the people who own, operate, and care for them." Bailey, who grew up in Colorado, put it in more personal terms. "What surprised me was discovering something completely new in a place I thought I knew well," he shared. That sentiment — the idea that genuine connection to place comes from the people who steward it — is exactly what's driving today's most discerning travelers. ### What This Means for Travel Professionals For professionals in the luxury travel space, the takeaways are clear: - **Remote and rural is rising.** Bookings to off-the-beaten-path destinations are up more than 10% year over year, so clients are looking beyond traditional hotspots. - **Story matters more than status.** Travelers want narratives, not just amenities. They're drawn to properties with authentic histories and local roots. - **Family-run properties are a selling point.** In a market flooded with cookie-cutter luxury, independence and generational stewardship stand out. The Summit wrapped with a clear message: luxury travel is no longer about where you sleep — it's about what you experience, who you meet, and how you return changed. For agents and advisors, that's not just a trend. It's the new baseline.