California Luxury Forum Dazzles in West Hollywood

The fifth California Luxury Forum took place Oct. 22-25, 2023, in West Hollywood. Visit California partnered with Connections Luxury to curate this event to provide our California partners an opportunity to meet and network with luxury advisors from around the world who serve high-net-worth clientele — a network worth $5.1B.

Buyers were hand-selected by Connections and pre-qualified by our offices in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, India, Italy, Mexico, the Middle East, the Nordics, the United Kingdom, the U.S. This was the largest delegation to date, with 45 buyers and 45 suppliers, allowing for some additional California luxury partners to attend, while still maintaining a more intimate setting that allows this program to foster more meaningful connections — Luxury Forum is known for its unique “anti-tradeshow” format based on shared California experiences that showcase the Golden State lifestyle.

Watch the event recap video below:

Two five-day post-Luxury Forum FAMs followed the program, allowing participating buyers to experience more Southern California luxury in person. The “Going Coastal” FAM hosted seven luxury buyers and visited four destinations: Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach. The “Beach Break and Desert Escape” FAM hosted eight luxury buyers and visited three destinations: Dana Point, San Diego and Palm Springs. Advisors were surprised and delighted by the diversity of luxury products and discovered new destinations and resorts add to their portfolios.

Luxury Forum by the Numbers

• Fifth in-person California Luxury Forum
• 45 suppliers: 16 DMOs, 26 Accommodations, 1 attraction, 1 shopping center, 1 transportation company
• 45 luxury buyers
• 38 unique experiences at 4 different hotels over 2 days of programming
• 766 1:1 appointments
• 6 additional group networking opportunities
• 2 post-FAMs covering 7 destinations and dozens of hotels and attractions

Key Insights and Takeaways

Buyers with ultra-high-end clients are not just booking travel for them, but act as a full-service concierge, managing many other aspects of their lives as well. This also results in buyers being “always on” for their clients and communicating with them more than ever.

There is a need for unexpected experiences in luxury destinations that can be perfectly tailored to a client’s needs, as well as a need for privacy. This affects the kind of information and asset needs the buyers are looking for from destinations.

Experiencing and protecting nature, involvement with local people, luxury wellness, inclusivity and outdoor experiences are all important components to the new luxury traveler. They want to have authentically local experiences focusing on sustainability and philanthropy.

Measurable sustainability metrics are important. Travelers not only want to know that a hotel or destination is sustainable, but they also want to see the results of those efforts.

The new luxury traveler is also interested in ethically and locally sourced, farm-to-table, organic, plant-based foods when dining during their travels. Knowing where their food is coming from is more important than ever.

Buyers are very interested in education and learning more about a destination through in-person experiences and online training tools.

FAM tours continue to play a vital role in selling a destination to buyers through in-person touchpoints.

Having a mix of types of California partners was important to the buyers as well. They want to meet with DMOs, but also their hotel partners and any other experiences or attractions as well.

The luxury audience will continue to play a vital role in the trade strategy as this audience offers significant growth opportunities for Visit California and partners as more than just high net worth and super affluent travelers are looking for luxury experiences.

The overwhelmingly positive industry buzz ensures California Luxury Forum will continue to anchor Visit California’s luxury marketing platform looking to the future. The organization is looking forward to continuing to grow this event as it travels to new destinations throughout the state, so please stay tuned for an announcement of the 2024 edition. Meanwhile, a big thank you to our California suppliers for participating and to all of the event partners and FAM hosts!