Reframed:
Luxury Hospitality
Reframed: From Escape to Expansion
Hospitality has long divided its offering by age.
Gen Z gets lifestyle. Gen X get plush.
Younger travelers are seen as seekers of adventure, curation, and cultural capital - vibrant and restless.
Older travelers? Quiet suites. Soft slippers. Cruise brochures.
Luxury becomes a reward for having arrived not a resource for what’s next.
This framing reduces 50+ guests to a passive role: guests at rest, not lives in motion.
It’s a narrow, outdated view and it misses how today’s midlife and older travelers think, move, and aspire.
What the Epilogue Lens Reveals:
Today’s older travelers aren’t winding down.
They’re recalibrating. Reimagining. Reinvesting in themselves.
They want:
Depth over novelty
Beauty with meaning
Time that feels intentional, not just luxurious
For many, travel is a pivot point: after a loss, a reinvention, a life transition.
It’s not just where they’re going. It’s who they’re becoming while they’re away.
These guests aren’t nostalgic. They’re evolving.
And they’re looking for hospitality that sees their present. not just pampers their past.
STRATEGY BRIEF
Client: Vireo Group
Project: Designing Hospitality for a Cross-Generational Growth Market
Audience Focus: Gen Z and the Epilogue Economy (50+)
Background / Context
Vireo Group is a global hospitality company dedicated to developing, managing, and investing in experience-driven properties across key destinations. With a portfolio spanning urban, resort, and lifestyle concepts, Vireo brings together thoughtful design, operational excellence, and a long-term view of guest relevance.
Their approach balances cultural insight with commercial strategy, creating spaces that reflect the evolving needs of modern travelers across generations and geographies.
What If Luxury Was Designed for the Way We Evolve?
The hospitality sector has long been bifurcated, Gen Z in the lifestyle brands, Boomers in the penthouse suites. But something is shifting.
Today’s luxury isn’t about age. It’s about intention.
Both Gen Z and Epilogue travelers are seeking:
Meaningful design
Intelligent experiences
Emotional resonance
And a brand that sees them — not just their spend
They want different things for different reasons, but they’re both rejecting the same thing: generic luxury.
This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to stop designing for a median age and start designing for shared values across life stages.
Business Opportunity
Position Vireo Group as a cross-generational icon of modern luxury, one that:
Deepens relevance with Gen Z and the 50+ audience
Builds a loyalty ecosystem that reflects different journeys
Leads the category with a bold new definition of inclusivity in design and experience
Audience Insights
Gen Z
Luxury is freedom of expression, access, alignment with values.
They’re curious, social, value-driven, experience-hungry.
The Epilogue Guest
Luxury is depth, comfort, cultural credibility, and time well spent.
They’re intentional, generous, legacy-minded, and often invisible to the industry.
Shared drivers:
A hunger for authenticity
A distaste for waste - of time, space, or attention
A desire for experiences that reflect who they are, not who they were expected to be
Strategic Idea / Platform
“Luxury That Grows With You.”
A hospitality vision that sees people not by demographic, but by desire.
A place that evolves, just like its guests.
This is a brand that knows how to welcome someone in their 20s, surprise someone in their 60s, and connect them both to something deeper: themselves, each other, and the place they’ve arrived in.
Tone & Personality
Mature, but never stiff
Playful, but never juvenile
Grounded, global, and quietly bold
Design-forward and socially aware
Key Creative Territories
“Two Generations. One Destination.”
Curated experiences that allow Gen Z and Epilogue guests to intersect, or diverge, with grace. Think shared spaces with multiple rhythms.
“Design for the Arc, Not the Age.”
Rooms, rituals, and services that adapt to changing needs without signaling “young” or “old”, just beautifully considered.
“Moments Made to Matter.”
Intergenerational travel is booming, but most hotels treat it as an afterthought. Reimagine it as an artform.
“Stories Worth Returning To.”
A brand story built on repeat value — where guests can return at different points in life and still feel deeply seen.
What Success Looks Like
Net new guest growth across both younger and older travelers
Intergenerational bookings (multi-gen travel, legacy experiences, reunions)
Increased loyalty and lifetime value from returning guests over decades
A brand narrative that sets Accor Hotels apart in a crowded, age-siloed category