Flaunt the bucks, choose your luxe

The good times are rolling for guests at some luxury hotels. Flush with sky-high executive pay and bonuses, topped with double-digit returns in the stock market, the super-rich are looking to elite lodgings to satisfy their cravings for pampering experiences.

The result? "We are seeing more personalised services at high-end hotels," says Bruce Wallin, executive editor of Robb Report, a luxury lifestyle magazine.

These services include 24-hour butlers, private city tours, shopping advisers, Rolls-Royce transfers from the airport, paté for guests' pets and much more.

Age of decadence

"Decadence is in," says Jennifer Oberstein, spokeswoman for Ritz-Carlton's two New York hotels. "People have the money. They want to flaunt it."

Some recent offerings by luxury lodgings:

The Ritz-Carlton New York, Battery Park, has an aptly named 'Friends With Money' package for $137,580 (Dh505,306) a night, which puts 30 of your friends in executive suites and treats them to a custom fireworks display, city helicopter tour and five-course dinner while you overnight in the 2,000 sqft Presidential Suite.

For $500 (Dh1,836), guests at the Regent South Beach in Miami can have their own car-sitter, who parks himself by their Bentley or Ferrari all night.

The Peninsula New York will arrange a full day of city activities for children and their parents. One itinerary takes them by private car to peruse the FAO Schwarz toy store, take in a Broadway show with a backstage tour and more. The cost: $675 (Dh2,479) per person; lunch is extra.

Hits and misses

Not all these packages have takers. The Ritz had 'a bite' on the 'Friends With Money' package but the customer backed out because it would take two weeks to schedule the fireworks, Oberstein says. The guest wanted it in three days.

The Regent's car-sitters had not had any luck with clients either.

Children's packages at the Peninsula are popular, says spokeswoman Regina Wong, although she did not have numbers. But half the guests at the Peninsula Hong Kong, she said, choose a $109 (Dh400) airport transfer in a $395,000 (Dh1,450,794) Rolls-Royce Phantom, customised with touches, such as a compartment to chill hand towels.

Although some over-the-top hotel offerings may be publicity ploys, they point to a real trend, says Peter Yesawich, chairman and chief executive of Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown and Russell, a Florida-based marketing firm that co-sponsors annual surveys of travellers.

"Luxury hotels are trying to trump each other in terms of the creativity and exclusivity of the experiences they offer," he says.