Welcome to the Luxury Unpacked Season One Wrap Party — a chance to pause, reflect, and celebrate what we’ve learned from ten incredible conversations about the world of modern luxury.

From Portofino to the Polar Regions, from the wellness sanctuaries of Thailand to the red heart of Australia, we’ve explored one big question: what does luxury really mean today?

And as it turns out there’s no single answer — just a thousand beautiful interpretations.

Hear from all of our fabulous Season 1 guests, as we share the highlights and takeaways from this standout series.

And while Season One may be wrapped, the conversation is far from over.

Season Two of Luxury Unpacked is already on the horizon — and we’ll keep exploring the stories, trends and people redefining the future of luxury travel.

Until then — thank you for listening, thank you for believing in the power of travel, and here’s to the journeys that stay with us long after we’ve returned. 

Cheers to Season One!

Subscribe to the Luxury Unpacked Podcast here

Read more about the Luxury Unpacked Podcast here

Read more about this episode here

Discover more from Karryon Podcast's: Listen to Into The Hearts Of Canada here

And The Karryon's Check In here

Visit: karryon.com.au for more from Karryon

Luxury Unpacked is a Karryon Podcasts original podcast, hosted by Fiona Dalton, produced by Cassie Walker and executive produced by Matt Leedham.

Karryon acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands on which Karryon Media is made and the lands you are listening from today.

Welcome to the Luxury Unpacked Season one wrap party.

It's a chance to pause, reflect and celebrate what We've learned from 10 incredible conversations about the world of modern luxury.

From Portofino to the polar regions, from the wellness sanctuaries of Thailand to the red heart of Australia, we've been exploring one big question.

What does luxury really mean?

Today, it turns out there's no single answer.

The luxury experience does not only start when you board that cruise ship, when you go to that hotel, you go on that beautiful tour.

We have to consider that the luxury experience in our world needs to begin from the very beginning of the inquiry.

There's so much more in luxury travel that is now considered luxury.

It's not just a booking, it's enhancing and elevating the client's experience at the hotel or on the ship or wherever it might be.

Before we dive in any further, let's talk about that word luxury.

It can be polarising.

It's a word that's often overused, not easily understood, and at times, especially lately, it's causing a seismic rift down the fault line of the travel industry around who should use it, how to position it, what it means and what it represents.

But that's exactly why we created this series.

We make no apology for calling it luxury unpacked, because the word isn't going anywhere and nor should it.

It's about how we position it thoughtfully and responsibly in consumer marketing, in the guest experience and in the minds of the affluent traveler.

And it's my personal hope that season one has added something positive and enduring to that conversation, helping us all to reframe luxury in a more genuine and human way.

I asked the question, do you have any first class seats left and what is the cost to upgrade?

And the answer was, yes, we have one seat left.

And considering there was only four seats in the first class cabin, €100 an hour, and I thought, this is my chance.

So I did it.

My world changed completely.

It was totally transformed from that moment onwards.

For us, luxury is very different.

Luxury is space, luxury is nature.

Luxury is getting away from those hustle, bustle luxuries, really away from those noises, rather than being in this natural surroundings.

The reason we're all so happy is.

Because we sell happiness.

Find the rare.

Find your rare people that can tell the story in a passionate and real way.

I mean, we're not a pretentious type of luxury.

I don't think Australia is ever gonna be a pretentious type of luxury.

I think what we're gonna be is authentic, real.

But I mean, one of the things that people really look for is participation, not observation.

Across every conversation, one truth has stood out to me that luxury today is deeply personal, driven by purpose and powered by people.

Anthony Goldman and Steve o' Dell spoke of personalization, of finding what truly fits the guest in front of you.

And Deb Corbett reminded us that expedition guests aren't chasing status, they're chasing meaning.

Because luxury isn't a product anymore.

It's about how the experience makes you feel.

What is luxury to one client?

And one person is very different to another person.

So for me, and what I think about is how do we broadly define luxury to make people comfortable in their purchasing decisions?

The luxury experience does not only start when you board that cruise ship, when you go to that hotel, you go on that beautiful tour.

We have to consider that the luxury experience in our world needs to begin from the very beginning of the inquiry.

So it's just not a booking.

It's an enhanced and elevated experience wherever it might be, because we've got insider access to the general manager or the person that's doing the booking and checking you in and possibly an upgrade or any other number, number of options that we have to elevate the experience.

Some of the moments that stayed with me came from the places and the people who connect luxury with purpose.

I think back to Penny Rafferty and Drew Klusker discussing rewilding and regeneration.

That's tourism that gives back more than it takes.

And Alicia Trigg's from Journey beyond reminded us that luxury can be truly down to earth.

A white linen dinner under the Milky Way on the red dirt beside the Ghan.

Those are the moments that money can't buy but that meaning can create.

The purpose for having tourism on the property is to help support the rewilding.

Same with Bullough River Station, a property that now only has about 4% of the land that raises cattle.

They have a partnership with the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.

They operate a tourism business.

But those three things combined, it's a very deliberate way of saying we need agriculture, we need to protect the land.

Tourism is a very powerful way of showing people in a very, very enjoyable way how that can happen.

El Questro, with the partnership that they have with the Willingdon people, where actually of that original million acres, all of it is now back in the hands of traditional owners and leased back, leased back by tourism business.

Gan is known worldwide.

She's 96, she's beautiful.

She's got such a rich history but there are trains globally that all give this nod to, I guess, nostalgia and have this romanticism behind them.

What the GAN does is brings a real Australian, authentic down to earth level of luxury.

It's very different to what you'll see on the Orient Express.

It's very different to what you'll see on the Twilight train in Japan.

It's something that's really uniquely Australian.

And so what it means is that we've really made sure that we play to the strength of the rugged nature of the countryside.

So it means you stop in destinations like Mangoori, for example, which it's just out of Coober Pedy and it's all red dirt and it's all flat and you step off and we create a moment there.

So we have fire pits, we have Sepalsfield Port.

You're creating connections with the travelers.

You're experiencing something that you would never do on your own with a group of collective minded people that all want to be doing the same thing.

There's a beautiful moment in an Alice Springs if you're traveling southbound on the gan, but as the sun sets, it gives way to the most spectacular blanket of stars.

So you've got the Milky Way, you've got your red dirt, you've got your white tablecloths, you've got exceptional food and wine and it's just one of those special moments of wow.

Get your boots dirty, jump on the dance floor, kick up the red dirt.

It's very special.

Woven through every episode was the power of the travel advisor.

Anthony Goldman, Jo Kennedy, David Brandon all reminded us that behind every seamless journey is a human being.

Calm in the chaos, creative in the challenge and caring in every detail.

When flights are cancelled or plans fall apart, it's the advisor who turns disruption into delight and connection with people.

And access is what builds that trust.

So it's just not a booking, it's an enhanced and elevated experience, wherever it might be, because we've got insider access to the general manager or the person that's doing the booking and checking you in and possibly an upgrade or any other number of options that we have to elevate the experience.

When you're connecting flights, you haven't got a, you know, might have a short connection, but you'll still get through in time.

But, you know, there's, there's different things like that, you know, whereas the travel industry, you know, travel agents know, you know, whereas it's not so readily available, you know, online.

I think that is a really important factor when looking at this segment that it's not just an advisor sitting there, planning something, booking it, barely communicating with the client because they're busy, but really it's giving them that experience from the beginning.

I think both ocean and expedition cruising can be a fantastic entry point into luxury cruising.

It's more a sea exploration and a sea safari.

I think it comes down to what kind of explorer the guest is and where their curiosity is taking them.

So where to next?

Well, Steve o' Dell and Seb Seward spoke of small ship exploration and the rise of yacht style cruising luxury that's intimate, flexible and hyper personal.

Baz Busquita from Captain's Choice took us to the skies, showing how even private jet journeys are being reimagined for a more sustainable future.

Luxury is expanding, becoming more conscious, more connected and more meaningful.

Design an itinerary which is over a weekend using an aircraft with 45 people and for example, out of Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne, we'd take those guests, we'd pick them up from their homes in a chauffeur driven car, taken out to the airport.

They'd fly to Broken Hill for lunch, they'd fly over Murray man and Lake Eyre to Cooper Pedy and they would stay overnight in Cooper Pedy.

The next day they would fly to Birdsville for lunch and then they'd be home Sunday, late afternoon.

It's called a weekend in the outback Bucket list.

Items that a lot of people would love to go and see.

We have Bangkok mid voyage on one of our beautiful voyages.

And as you may know, the port is quite a long way from the city in Bangkok.

So instead of asking guests to travel all the way there into the city and all the way back to the port in a day, we're actually incorporating an overnight at the brand new Ritz Carlton Bangkok as part of the itinerary so that guests can travel once, you know, relax, enjoy Bangkok, don't need to worry about.

Oh, when do we need to go back and travel back, have a beautiful experience in Bangkok, beautiful evening, enjoy a beautiful new property and then travel back at leisure the following day and continue on with.

What a great idea.

Sip.

Well, again, it's, you know, being part of this really large family enables us to do things like that.

And you know, we're doing similar with a beautiful positioning voyage that we've got up through.

It starts in Mauritius, goes up through the Seychelles, Maldives and finishes in Colombo.

Beautiful itinerary.

We're docking at the Ritz Carlton in the Maldives and guests can utilize the facilities there, you know, so it's it's really iconic things that we're able to do and we really want to leverage that even more in our upcoming itineraries.

So that's our initial Asian season and then we're just launching our second season already for it'll be a slightly longer season.

So after our inaugural Asian season, Luminara will travel to Alaska for the first time.

Another first for us.

And it's a bit like the theater in the sky.

You get the caviar, the champagne, the privacy, and some airlines provide the chauffeur drive as well.

As I look back on this first season, what surprised me most was how human the conversations were.

Yes, we talk brands, ships, lodges and jets, but underneath it all were people with heart, vision and humility.

I was moved by the stories of transformation, moments where travel changes us in ways we don't expect.

I think back to Deb Corbett and her daughter experiencing the penant moment in Antarctica.

And I think about Lisa Pal and her mum traveling together in Norway.

Those are the stories I'll carry with me long after the season fades.

We indeed discussed the idea that luxury isn't about more, it's about meaning.

It's not about how much something costs, but about how deeply it connects us.

It's about people, purpose and possibility.

So to everyone who shared their insights, I thank you.

To my partners at Carrie on, thank you for bringing this project to life with such creativity and heart.

That's Danny, Matt and our wonderful producer Cassie.

You went all in and gave me such creative leeway.

And to you, our listeners, colleagues, industry friends and fellow travellers, thank you for coming along on this journey.

Luxury is nothing without the people who believe in it, the people who challenge it, and the people who keep redefining it.

And as we close season one, I think one reminder stands tall above all the others.

In a world where of endless possibilities, travel remains an exquisite privilege.

With the power and the potential to change our world.

It makes a difference for the people who travel, for the people in the places we travel to, and for the many millions who work in tourism and hospitality around the globe.

There are so many case studies now of nations who have transformed their GDP through positive purpose led tourism.

But to me, the spirit of human connection remains our most incredible luxury.

And while season one may be wrapped, the conversation is far from over.

I'm happy to share that season two of Luxury Unpacked is already on the horizon.

And we'll keep exploring the stories, the trends and the people redefining the future of luxury travel.

And until then, thank you for listening.

Thank you for believing in the power of travel.

And here's to the journeys that stay with us long after we've returned.

Cheers to season one.

And if you're looking for more travel podcast magic, why not check out the two other podcasts produced in the Carry on range.

They are the Carry On Check in and into the Hearts of Canada.

Both series can be located wherever you find your favourite podcasts.

Sam.