Matter of Form is proving that luxury travel brands need therapy—not to fix what's broken, but to discover what makes them singular in a sea of "elevated experiences" and "art of luxury" clichés.

In this ILTM episode, recorded live in Cannes, Anant Sharma, founder and CEO of Matter of Form, joins Afar cofounder Joe Diaz to dissect why luxury hospitality has become awash with homogenized language and how brands can reclaim their confidence through clarity of purpose. With 60 people working across continents, the London-based Matter of Form has transformed hospitality giants like Aman Resorts, Belmond, Mandarin Oriental, and Lindblad by finding the unspoken truths within organizations.

The conversation explores luxury travel's eight percent compound annual growth and $1.38 trillion market size, and why bigger isn't always better when everyone's competing with identical promises.

What You'll Learn

• The luxury travel market's growth creates more competition and pushes brands toward clichéd language like "elevated experiences" and "being in the heart of" destinations
• Successful luxury brands must identify which aspect of their guests' personality they're appealing to and deliver on that singular promise
• Matter of Form provides three key values: outside perspective, forcing clients to make time for change, and understanding what's not explicitly stated
• Organizational design and stakeholder values reveal more about a brand's true identity than their marketing materials

Key Moments [2:25] Anant traces his path from magazine-obsessed kid with authority issues to luxury brand consultant via a 10-year transformation journey with Aman Resorts [7:36] The homogenization problem: "You can't tell people how to feel. You need to invite them into a stage that makes them feel something" [10:17] Why branding is like therapy: helping intelligent, creative leaders see past their blind spots and find what's naturally special about their culture [12:20] Joe identifies the core issue: luxury brands lack confidence to step into who they truly are, and matter of form gives them permission to be themselves

Resources

• Visit the Matter of Form website for case studies and insights
• Listen to Anant's podcast, What The Luxe, exploring modern luxury concepts
• Learn about ILTM Cannes where this conversation was recorded

Stay Connected

• ⁠Sign up⁠⁠ for our travel industry newsletter, Afar Advisor.

• Sign up for our podcast newsletter,⁠ ⁠⁠Behind the Mic⁠⁠⁠, where we share upcoming news and behind-the-scenes details of each episode. 

• Explore our other podcasts,⁠ ⁠Unpacked,⁠⁠ where we dig into the trickiest topics in travel, and⁠ ⁠⁠Travel Tales⁠⁠⁠, which celebrates first-person narratives about the way travel changes us.

View From Afar is part of⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Airwave Media⁠⁠⁠⁠'s podcast network. Please contact ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast.

This ILTM special series was recorded live in Cannes, France. View From Afar is a production of Afar. The podcast is produced by Aislyn Greene and Nikki Galteland.

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