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 the 2026 LHW Summit. The event, hosted at the Sonnenalp Hotel, centered on the launch of *Explore: The Leading Hotels of the World* — the third volume in LHW's book series with Phaidon, Monacelli, and The Slowdown. But the Summit was about more than just a beautiful coffee-table book. It gave us a real-time look at where LHW sees luxury travel heading — and the direction might surprise you. It's not about bigger suites or fancier amenities. It's about something far more personal. ### 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, it reflects a shift that's already showing up in the booking numbers. > "Around the world, travelers are seeking journeys that feel meaningful, transformative, and connected to place. We're seeing this reflected in our own business, with bookings to remote and rural destinations up more than 10% year over year." That stat is telling. People aren't just collecting countries anymore. They want to feel something. For LHW, exploration isn't about checking places off a list — it's about how independent hotels use deep local knowledge to open the door to a destination. The 80-plus properties featured in *Explore* trace this shift beautifully, from stargazing in Chile's Atacama Desert to a Bavarian-style basecamp right here in the Rockies. Spencer Bailey, the series' editor-in-chief, frames it as a natural evolution across all three books. "*Design* was really about helping readers see LHW differently — the physical environments that shape a stay," he says. "*Culture* broadened that lens considerably, asking what makes a hotel culturally significant." *Explore*, he explains, marks another shift entirely: 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." The book leans 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. ### Family-Led Hospitality as the Ultimate Differentiator A second theme ran through both the book and the Summit conversations: in a landscape of increasingly interchangeable luxury, LHW's independent, often family-run properties are becoming its clearest point of difference. The Sonnenalp Hotel itself served as a working example. Owned by the Faessler family since 1979 and now in its fourth and fifth generation of leadership, it embodies everything *Explore* is about. "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 personal terms. "What surprised me was discovering something completely new in a place I thought I knew well." That's the magic of this kind of travel — it rewards curiosity with genuine connection. ### What This Means for Travelers So what does this all mean for you? A few key takeaways: - **Look beyond the brand.** The most memorable stays often come from independent, family-run properties with a real story to tell. - **Prioritize experiences over amenities.** The trend is moving toward adventure, discovery, and transformation — not just thread counts. - **Trust local expertise.** The best guides aren't found in apps; they're the people who own and operate the places you stay. Luxury travel is becoming less about where you sleep and more about what you wake up to. And honestly? That's a shift worth packing for.