The New Meaning of Luxury

Luxury was once measured in gold fittings, private jets, and ever-bigger villas. Today, a quiet revolution is reshaping what discerning travelers truly value. Increasingly, luxury is not about excess—it is about meaning. Guests now want experiences that are exclusive yet purposeful, indulgent yet regenerative.

Studies show that 73% of travelers intend to travel more sustainably, and in the luxury segment, this desire is even more pronounced. By 2025, analysts predict that “luxury will be defined by purpose—high-end experiences combined with sustainability and giving back.” In other words, the future of luxury is not just about where you go, but why you go.

Patagonia: Activism as a Business Model

In 2022, Patagonia’s founder Yvon Chouinard shocked the business world by donating his $3 billion company to a trust and a nonprofit dedicated to climate action. Declaring that “Earth is now our only shareholder”, he ensured that Patagonia’s annual profits (around $100 million) will go entirely to fighting the environmental crisis.

But Patagonia’s purpose-first approach predates this radical move. The company pays bail for employees arrested at peaceful climate protests, offers on-site childcare, covers travel costs for working parents, and encourages repairing clothing through its Worn Wear program rather than buying new. Even on Black Friday, Patagonia urges consumers to “buy less.”

The result? Turnover of just 4% annually—a fraction of the retail industry average. Patagonia proves that purpose builds not just loyalty, but endurance.

Six Senses: Sustainability Meets Wellness

Six Senses has redefined hospitality by embedding sustainability and well-being into every detail of the guest journey. Their mantra: “Sustainability isn’t what we do; it’s who we are.”

• Environmental leadership: elimination of single-use plastics since the 1990s, renewable energy, organic gardens.

• Community empowerment: hiring locally, sourcing regionally, and funding health and education initiatives.

• Sustainability Fund: every resort allocates 0.5% of revenue to social and environmental projects in its local community.

• Earth Labs: on-site learning centers where guests can see sustainability in action and even participate in conservation.

For Six Senses guests, true indulgence comes not only from a spa treatment but from knowing their stay leaves a positive footprint.

Soneva: Barefoot Luxury with Purpose

Soneva pioneered the idea of “barefoot luxury” back in 1995. Their philosophy is that a business must exist for more than profit. Soneva’s resorts in the Maldives and Thailand operate waste-to-wealth recycling centers, ban single-use plastics, restore coral reefs, and reinvest eco-levies from guests into renewable energy and community projects.

The signature “No News, No Shoes” concept invites guests to disconnect from the digital world and reconnect with nature—luxury expressed as presence, authenticity, and regeneration.

Aman: Quiet Luxury, Global Stewardship

Philosophy & governance.
Behind Aman’s pared-back “quiet luxury” aesthetic sits a formal sustainability framework: the brand says it builds its strategy on the UN Sustainable Development Goals and works to GSTC-recommended pillars (local heritage, culture, environmental protection, social responsibility). That’s the operating system beneath the serenity. Aman

Living the ethos through place-specific action.
Aman’s stewardship shows up most clearly at property level—where design choices double as conservation moves:

• Amanyangyun (Shanghai): moving a forest, saving a village.
  When a reservoir project threatened 10,000 camphor trees and dozens of Ming/Qing-era homes, Aman’s partners spent more than a decade relocating the trees and reassembling the historic houses near Shanghai—an architectural rescue that turned conservation into hospitality.

• Amanfayun (Hangzhou): restoring an ancient tea village beside UNESCO West Lake.
  Set within walking distance of Lingyin Temple and just 6 km from the West Lake World Heritage landscape, Amanfayun occupies an 800-year-old former tea village that has been carefully restored—keeping vernacular layouts and materials intact to preserve cultural continuity.

• Amanjiwo (Java): rewilding the Borobudur buffer.
  Overlooking Borobudur (UNESCO), the resort collaborates with nearby communities to reforest and rewild lands around the temple, creating a buffer between farms and forest with indigenous species—a cultural landscape approach that protects heritage and biodiversity together.

Rosewood: A Sense of Place, A Legacy of Care

Rosewood Hotels & Resorts has translated its motto “A Sense of Place” into a mission of social and environmental impact. Through Rosewood Impacts, the group invests in both people and planet.

• Rosewood Mayakoba (Mexico): founded a primary school for employees’ children and local families, now serving 400+ students.

• Hong Kong’s BluHouse: a social enterprise restaurant donating 1% of revenue to community projects while training vulnerable groups for employment.

Rosewood demonstrates that luxury hospitality can elevate entire communities, not just serve guests.

EIR Resorts

Our Legacy for Future Generations

EIR Resorts is not just about building destinations—it’s about building a living legacy. For future generations, we commit to leaving behind more than iconic resorts:

• Regenerated ecosystems: every property is designed to restore biodiversity, clean water sources, and reforest degraded land, so the natural world is healthier after we arrive.

• Thriving communities: our human-first culture ensures employees and neighbors benefit from education, dignified work, and opportunities that last beyond our presence.

• A culture of dignity: we believe leadership is measured by how people feel under our care. Future generations will inherit not only resorts, but a philosophy of hospitality grounded in empathy, respect, and inclusion.

• A model of regenerative luxury: we aim to prove that luxury and sustainability are not opposites but allies, showing the industry how to create profit with purpose.

Our legacy is not a monument—it is a system of renewal, where each resort becomes a sanctuary that enriches nature and society, and inspires travelers to live differently when they return home.

Sources & References

• The New Meaning of Luxury

  • TerraFauna Journeys (2024). What Is Purpose-Driven Travel? Why Luxury with Purpose Is the Future of Tourism. (73% of travelers seeking sustainable travel; luxury defined by purpose by 2025).

  • Virtuoso Travel Week (2024). Luxury Travel Trends 2025.

  Patagonia: Activism as a Business Model

  • El País (2022). Patagonia’s founder donates the company to fight climate change.

  • Investopedia (2022). Patagonia’s $3 billion donation and governance model.

  • Inc. Magazine (2019). How Can Patagonia Have Only 4% Turnover?

  Six Senses: Sustainability Meets Wellness

  • Six Senses (2024). Sustainability Report and Impact Initiatives.

  • Six Senses Official Website. Sustainability Vision.

  • Six Senses Official Website. Earth Labs and Sustainability Fund programs.

  Soneva: Barefoot Luxury with Purpose

  • Soneva Official Website. Sustainability Philosophy & No News, No Shoes.

  • Soneva (2023). Waste-to-Wealth recycling and eco-levy initiatives.

  • Travel & Leisure (2022). How Soneva pioneered barefoot luxury with purpose.

  Aman: Quiet Luxury, Global Stewardship

  • Aman Official Website. Sustainability framework aligned to UN SDGs and GSTC pillars.

  • ArchDaily (2018). Amanyangyun Project: relocation of camphor trees and historic houses.

  • UNESCO World Heritage Centre. West Lake cultural landscape (Amanfayun context).

  • Aman (2020). Amanjiwo and rewilding initiatives around Borobudur.

  • Academic case study (2021). Mapping Aman properties to SDGs.

  Rosewood: A Sense of Place, A Legacy of Care

  • Rosewood Hotel Group (2023). Rosewood Impacts: Empowers & Sustains framework.

  • Rosewood Mayakoba (2017–2023). Centro Educativo K’iin Beh school project.

  • Rosewood Hong Kong (2023). BluHouse social enterprise initiative: 1% revenue pledge & BluUp Upskilling Programme.

  • Rosewood Press Releases (2023). Impact Trailblazers and sustainability targets.

  EIR Resorts: Our Legacy for Future Generations

  (Vision statement – original content from EIR Resorts philosophy, no external source required.)