What does luxury mean to you?
I love this question.
This easy, simple question includes an entire universe, the universe of luxury.
Luxury is an important element of the Business Aviation, and its presence is detectable everywhere.
In the red carpet by the Private Jet’s door, the Captain who awaits for his passengers at the terminal, the interiors of the jet, the smiles and the interactions between crew and customers.
Moreover, luxury is the quality of the catering, the plating style, the wine, the table set up, the amenities in the lavatory, the uniform and everything else that is part of the flying experience.
So tell me: what does luxury mean to you?
I usually ask this question during interviews and I love to listen to the different answers.
Well, I am happy to tell you what does luxury mean to me!
On my opinion, luxury is not something touchable and is not necessarily related to a brand.
Luxury is a sensation, something that you breathe and that you gives you a deep feeling of well being and happiness.
It’s driven by the feeling that somebody is taking care of you.
Why do you think is nicer to go shopping in a boutique rather than a department store?
Because the whole experience is different.
The example of the boutique and the department store.
Have you ever tried a shopping experience in a luxury boutique?
When you enter the building, they greet you, they ask you what you are in need of, they sit you down and they offer you champagne.
They tell you stories, they create an interaction with you and you have a dedicated person who is there FOR YOU until you are satisfied.
The environment is clean, calm and peaceful.
You feel safe and relaxed.
When you go to a department store you are in a completely different place.
You have to carry all your belongings, no-one is available to help you.
Often the items, the fitting rooms and the corridors are dirty and dusty and there is a lot of people.
No beverages unless you took a bottle of water with you and it can happen quite often that the personnel is unfriendly.
You are left there by yourself to dig in big containers full of clothes (for me, the worse are the bras baskets) and find what you need.
Probably there is also loud music and the general feeling is of rush, chaos and dirtiness.
The power of taking care of others
The example I mentioned is probably quite dramatic but is the best way to explain what luxury means to me.
Is not the brand nor cost of the items, is the environment and the people who has the power to make an experience a luxurious one.
The art of conversation and hospitality, the awareness of the self esteem.
The sensitiveness to catch messages from non verbal communication and meet those expectation before they are actually expressed.
This is what I recreate on board my Private Jet .
A safe, stress free environment where I am all the time present and on top of of everything that happens.
All my actions are driven towards the goal to unload concerns from my customer’s shoulders.
Small details like a warm and genuine welcome on board, fresh flowers in the lavatory, a clean toilet, a hand wearing a white glove, a never-empty glass of champagne.
Moreover, a soft and graceful walk down the cabin (the contrary of those heavy steps down the aisle that I often hear when I fly commercial airline!) and slow and precise movements.
This is what luxury means to me.
As you can see, it doesn’t have anything to do with money, but it does have a lot to do with people.