• Four Seasons, Aman, and Ritz-Carlton are expanding their portfolios with private jet tours and cruises.
• The offerings are part of a strategy to keep enticing high-paying customers in 2025 and beyond.
• This article is part of "Transforming Business," a series on the must-know leaders and trends impacting industries.

If you want to relax at a hotel, sip mai tais on a cruise, or see the world by private jet, you soon won't have to look further than your favorite luxury hotel brand.

Just don't refer to their vessels as "cruise ships." They'd rather you call them yachts.

Over the past few years, high-end hospitality companies such as Ritz-Carlton, Aman, and Four Seasons have expanded their portfolios to sea or air travel in a bid to keep high-paying customers within their networks.

After all, if you loved your Ritz-Carlton resort experience, wouldn't you be more inclined to try the at-sea version — even if you've never cruised before?

Four Seasons and Aman are creating an in-house vacation network

Aman and Four Seasons are in several markets — hotels, residential, retail, and travel "experiences" like private jet tours.

Alejandro Reynal, Four Seasons' president and CEO, told Business Insider that hotels and resorts accounted for about 80% of the company's revenue. Extracurriculars like its jet tours and coming ship then create a "halo effect" for the brand — an extension of its core business and another way to maintain relationships with loyal customers.

Both companies operate their multiweek group jet trips using third-party specialists. Four Seasons' launched in 2015 and uses a 48-seat Airbus A321LRneo. Aman's took flight two years prior, offering guests a sleek 19-seat loungelike aircraft (often an Airbus ACJ319).

Both include multicountry itineraries and overnight stays at their respective properties, creating a dream vacation for Four Seasons or Aman megafans.

For some travelers, these trips mark their first time staying at one of the luxe properties. But once they're in, they're hooked, Ben Trodd, Aman's COO, said.

"They will often come back and stay at our hotels and resorts individually," Trodd told BI in an email.

Four Seasons hosted eight jet trips in 2024. Almost all sold out, Reynal said, adding that the company was considering additional itineraries with varying aircraft or lengths (several of its 2025 tours already have a waitlist).

Despite their steady successes, both companies don't plan to go all in on private jets. Rather, they're turning their extra attention and resources to the friendly seas.

Ritz-Carlton is leading the hotel-to-cruise pipeline

In recent years, a flurry of hospitality companies announced their cruises — often in the form of yacht tours — in close succession: Ritz-Carlton in 2017, Aman in 2021, and Four Seasons in 2022.

It's a great time to be in the cruise business. Throughout 2024, industry giants such as Carnival and Norwegian reported record revenues and bookings.

These luxury cruises aren't anything like what you'll find on massive boats from mass-market cruise lines.

The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection's first vessel, Evrima, was a litmus test for the ultraluxury smaller-ship segment when it launched in 2022.

It was a success, with only a few availabilities during its inaugural year.

The 149-suite vessel is 623 feet long, a far cry from Royal Caribbean's almost 2,000-foot-long vessels. It also has a yachtlike feel with an almost 1-to-1 guest-to-staff ratio, attracting travelers who might not have been interested in traditional cruises.

"There's been a ton of buzz about how they knocked it out of the park," Jackie Roth, a Scott Dunn Private travel manager, told BI. Once concerned, she now believes the Yacht Collection has "elevated" Ritz-Carlton's brand, she said.

The company expects to sail its third ship in 2025.

By then, Four Seasons will still be a year from its vessel's planned launch.

Four Seasons' and Aman's 'floating resorts'

In 2026, Four Seasons plans to expand its "experienced-based business" beyond private jets with a 95-suite ship.

Reynal said bookings were already "very successful," with about two-thirds coming from the company's repeat customers.

"How do we create this luxury ecosystem around the brand, and which businesses do we need or don't need to be in?" the Four Seasons CEO said. "People were very favorable for us to pursue a Four Seasons experience at sea, and it has proven right."

Aman offers at-sea vacations with Amandira, a traditional five-cabin luxury yacht.

Its next vessel, set to launch in 2027, is planned to be more like a 600-foot-long cruise ship, flexing 10 times as many cabins.

Loyalty to the brand — not cruises — is key for these projects.

"People will follow Four Seasons wherever they go and whenever they launch a new experience," Roth said.

Other travel agents said they'd already received requests for the coming floating resort.

"We are led by the demand of our guests, who often call for us to expand into certain categories," Trodd, Aman's COO, said. "Our customers will travel because it's Aman first and the destination as a second consideration."

Potential road (or sea) blocks

"The luxury cruise market is niche but very competitive," Patrick Scholes, a lodging and leisure research analyst at Truist Securities, told BI. "Operationally, it's not easy. The risk and complexities are far greater than a land-based hotel."

Plus, not every wealthy traveler loves cruises, especially if their only experience is with the stereotypical attraction-filled, crowded megaships.

To overcome this, Four Seasons and Aman could simply continue doing what they do best — creating an ultraluxury experience.

"Customers are going to expect six-star service, and you better get it right," Scholes said.

Four Seasons' ship will be no Carnival cruise. According to its CEO, it won't even resemble some of the traditional industry's smaller luxury ships.

Renderings promise a sleek and luxurious vessel. On board, guests are planned to have 11 upcharged restaurants, a marina that opens onto the water, and cabins up to almost 10,000 square feet, some with au pairs and security personnel.

Aman, for its part, has remained mum about details. Its renderings also flex a yachtlike look. And as with its on-land properties, Trodd said the vessel would provide privacy, space, and a "restorative" experience.

When Four Seasons' and Aman's ships join Ritz-Carlton's, there will be no need to go to airlines for flights or cruise lines for cruises.

Just stay loyal to your favorite hospitality company, as they would want.

• Me and my family love high-end luxury travel but my sister and her family aren't used to it.
• We went on a big group trip, and I chose to go to a luxury resort that was right up my alley.
• My sister's family seemed bored and out of their comfort zones at times, but we all bonded.

I'm well known in my family for my love of high-end luxury travel.

Although I used to rough it in my earlier years, these days you'll rarely find me staying anywhere that's not at least on par with a Four Seasons.

My sister has the opposite inclinations: Her last trip involved building community centers in rural Mexico with my niece.

Still, we pushed to make a joint family vacation happen this summer. We hoped it'd help deepen the bond between our kids, who are five first cousins between the ages of 9 and 17.

She let me take the reins on the trip, so I gathered our families for a vacation to the ultra-luxurious Four Seasons at Cabo del Sol in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

The posh trip was a great bonding experience even though I don't think my sister and her family were fully sold on it.

The luxurious accommodations were great, and we didn't really leave the resort

My branch of the family was thrilled as soon as we arrived at our resort.

We had no problem settling into our massive suite with a private pool overlooking the ocean and a walk-in closet as big as our kitchen at home.

It took my sister's family a lot more time to settle into their similar accommodations — a far cry from when they'd slept under wool blankets on plywood platforms on their last trip to Mexico.

Together, we enjoyed the property's expansive pool — the kind where you never have to fight for a chaise lounger and two varieties of resort-issued sunscreen are available on tap.

The five cousins (and us moms) spent hours in the game room, playing friendly competitions of billiards, ping-pong, and pinball.

Still, we didn't really leave the property or do much exploring. I didn't mind, but I could tell my sister and her family weren't as thrilled.

Since there were multiple restaurants at the resort, it was easiest to eat just about all of our meals there without leaving.

Although the resort had tons of kayaks, boogie boards, and snorkel equipment lined up on the beach, it wasn't feasible to take them out for a spin on the choppy coastline in the area.

The kids were disappointed that the sea felt like a bit of a tease — a hint at the possibility of more adventurous days that weren't.

I didn't win over my sister, but the relaxing trip helped us bond

To me, the slow pace, convenience, and luxury make resort-style environments like these great options for a big family vacation.

But the truth is, I could tell my sister's family was a little bored. Her brood is more used to engaging in cultural deep dives or strenuous physical activities than sitting around being pampered.

Meanwhile, my kids grew up on this style of posh travel and eat it up, devouring it as a restful counterpart to the more vigorous trips we also do as a family.

In the end, I probably didn't win over my sister's branch of the family to my way of traveling like I secretly hoped I would. But the trip was still a great success because it allowed us to bond and connect as a family.

The resort provided a slower backdrop for simply being together. We didn't have to worry about running around to different places while juggling a packed itinerary.

And I suspect my sister's family will remember it this way too — with a deep fondness for the memories it helped create — even if they aren't likely to make a habit of this style of trip.

• The Four Seasons Jackson Hole offers exclusive penthouse suites for high-paying guests.
• These luxury suites cater to bachelorette parties and multi-generational families.
• The Granite Residence provides a home-like experience with ski-in and ski-out access.

In a hallway off the lobby at the five-star Four Seasons hotel in Jackson Hole, there's an exclusive elevator nook for the highest-paying guests.

The elevators lead to the ski-in, ski-out resort's 31 private residences. These penthouse suites with full kitchens and up to five bedrooms commonly host bachelorette parties and multi-generational families, Kim Cole, the director of public relations for the Four Seasons, told Business Insider.

On a recent trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, I got an exclusive tour of one of these suites — the Granite Residence — and it felt more like a luxury home than a hotel accommodation.

The penthouse suite is in the Four Seasons Jackson Hole, a luxury ski resort in Teton Village.

Just beneath the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, the Four Seasons is well-located for Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Park visitors.

Cole told BI that while the Four Seasons maintains top-tier service across all 133 locations, each is designed uniquely to suit the destination.

"There's a sense of place at every Four Seasons," she said.

With a "mountain modern chic" brand, this location of the 63-year-old, high-end hotel chain was ranked the best stay in Jackson Hole by US News.

Rates vary by season. In the peak winter season, the Granite Residence starts at $11,000 a night.

The stay includes ski and snowboard rentals for kids under 12 from mid-December to early January.

I knew the penthouse would epitomize Jackson Hole from the moment I walked through the door.

On the ninth floor of the resort, I stepped into a foyer with leather coat hooks and a pair of matching ottomans beneath. A framed, purple buffalo stared me in the face.

I felt like I was in a Western film — and that was the intention, according to Sarah Kennedy, CLB Architects' principal and lead design director of the penthouse suite.

"The majority of people who come to Jackson are really coming here to immerse themselves in nature," Kennedy said.

Cherry-wood cathedral ceilings made the living and dining space feel large and luxurious.

When CLB redesigned the penthouse, completed in the summer of 2024, Kennedy said the team maintained the hotel's style while elevating it.

"They had accented it previously with a bunch yellows and warm whites. So in terms of trying to modernize it, we kept the base palette of rich cherries and redwoods and offset it with whites," she said.

CLB selected a neutral color palette.

"The color palette is very simple, with natural textures," Kennedy said. "When we did try to bring color there, it was being inspired from the outside, like the soft blues and the greens of the natural landscape at the resort."

Windowed doors led to a balcony at the back of the living room.

"The interesting thing about doing interiors here in Jackson is that the quality of light filtering into the space in peak winter and peak summer is completely different," Kennedy said.

So, CLB selects tones that complement light filtering into the interiors throughout the year.

"For example, I'm looking out the window now, and the amount of yellow and orange from all the leaves that are coming in is crazy," she said. "But you have to make sure that that same palette looks really good when there's a bunch of blue coming in from all the reflection of the snow."

"The subtle picking of these soft blues and neutrals is the way that we allow that palette to really feel immersive in nature but also stand the test of the seasons throughout the year here," she continued.

The dining table seated up to 10 people.

When sourcing furniture, Kennedy worked with an approved list of vendors, including Restoration Hardware and more local vendors. Select pieces also came from showrooms around the US.

The kitchen was a small, pentagonal room off the dining room.

The full kitchen had a gas stove. Guests can book a private chef to cook meals for them.

Next to it, there was a spacious pantry with an additional fridge, freezer, and other appliances.

This huge pantry had all the kitchen appliances anyone could need, from blenders to crock pots.

Next to the closet, I came across the smallest — and coolest — room in the entire penthouse.

Nestled in a corner of the penthouse, I opened the door leading to the guest powder room. It was the smallest room, with just a sink, toilet, and counter.

In such a luxurious space, I wasn't expecting to be wowed by the guest bathroom.

But I was wrong.

It was a guest bathroom with a bold wall covering.

"The bread and butter of what we do here is connect people with nature," Kennedy said. "As it relates to pieces within the space, there are some wall coverings, particularly the one in the powder room that's got a mountainous scene."

The bathroom was covered in white wallpaper with simple black sketches of mountains on them. A gold and gray painting of a fox on the right matched the finish of the faucet.

It was a simple room, but every aspect felt thoughtfully considered, which is why it stood out to me.

On the other side of the penthouse was an additional living space with cozy seating.

Kennedy told BI that the penthouse design is as much about comfort as it is about nature.

"We're giving people the ability to feel like they're living a luxurious experience," she said.

That's why the penthouse boasts two living spaces with cozy seating.

"After you've been skiing all day, you don't really want a super flimsy thin profile chair. You want something that feels like it's hugging you," Kennedy told BI. "There's an element of, 'I'm just going to sit here and sip my hot chocolate and not move for four hours.'"

The second living space led to a hallway decorated with custom Western art.

Cole told BI that much of the art in the penthouse was custom-made for the space, and guests can purchase the pieces.

The hallway led to the five guest rooms, each with its own bathroom and balcony.

The master bedroom also had a fireplace.

In all five bedrooms, CLB selected soft colors for the fabrics.

All five had an en-suite bathroom complete with marble.

These bathrooms screamed luxury, with oversize tubs, multiple shower heads, and separate toilet rooms.

There was also a laundry room in the penthouse.

I thought it would be convenient for long-term guests and large families.

Throughout the penthouse, there was a crow's nest view of the mountains surrounding the resort.

After I toured the Granite Residence, I thought it screamed Jackson Hole and the Wild West inside and out.

From the walls to windows and terraces, it was impossible to forget where I was while exploring the vast penthouse.