“Redefining Luxury Services: Exclusive Experiences, Emerging Elites, and the Future of Yachting”

Call for Papers – Special Issue: “Redefining Luxury Services: Exclusive Experiences, Emerging Elites, and the Future of Yachting”

Journal: Journal of Services Marketing
Publisher: (Emerald Publishing)
Submission deadline: 31 July 2026

Overview

This special issue examines how luxury services are being redefined by next‑generation Ultra‑High Net Worth Individuals (UHNWIs), digital innovation, and shifting global values. It focuses on exclusive, high‑contact, high‑price environments such as yachting, private aviation, bespoke travel, and UHNW client strategies, exploring how service providers must move beyond traditional mass‑luxury models toward hyper‑personalised, emotionally resonant, and tech‑enhanced experiences.

The issue invites empirical, conceptual, and methodological work—including practitioner‑academic collaborations—that investigates luxury consumption behaviours, intergenerational value shifts, and emerging service‑design paradigms across cultures and emerging markets.

Core Themes

1. Transforming luxury experiences and delivery

• Yachting, private jets, and bespoke travel as luxury service exemplars:

  • How service design on yachts or private jets differs from mainstream hospitality.

  • Role of crew‑customer intimacy, trust, and discretion in shaping memorable experiences.

• AI, immersive technologies, and “phygital” interfaces:

  • Use of AI‑driven personalisation, AR/VR, and data‑based anticipatory service in private yachts, aviation, or luxury travel.

  • How digital and physical elements are blended to create seamless, emotionally enriched journeys.

• Privacy, security, and discretion as core service attributes:

  • How elite clients evaluate confidentiality, exclusivity, and reputation management.

  • Service design choices that balance connectivity with isolation (e.g., off‑grid charters, digital‑detox crossings).

2. Luxury consumer behaviour and strategic management

• Emotional and symbolic drivers of luxury consumption among UHNWIs:

  • How status, identity, self‑expression, and legacy differ across cohorts and cultural contexts.

• Intergenerational value shifts:

  • Preferences of Gen Z, Gen Alpha, and “next‑gen” wealth holders versus traditional UHNW elites.

  • Changes in expectations around time, attention, co‑creation, and co‑ownership (e.g., fractional yachting, shared experiences with friends rather than family‑only).

• Exclusive membership and personalisation at scale:

  • Design and management of membership clubs, yacht‑sharing platforms, private‑club networks, and lifestyle‑based communities.

  • How providers maintain exclusivity while scaling personalisation through data and AI.

3. Methodological innovations in luxury services research

• Ethnographic and netnographic approaches to understanding UHNWI behaviours and decision‑making journeys.

• Contemporary metrics for experience quality in ultra‑premium services (e.g., “memorability,” “emotional density,” “lifetime value”), and their impact on loyalty, advocacy, and referral.

• Luxury journey mapping beyond standard customer‑experience (CX) frameworks, including:

  • Pre‑buying “aspiration journeys,”

  • Co‑creation and configurability,

  • Post‑experience storytelling and social signalling.

Submission Details

• Submission platform: ScholarOne Manuscripts for Journal of Services Marketing:
  https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jsmktg

• Submission window: 9 February 2026 – 31 July 2026.

• When submitting, select the special issue title: “Redefining Luxury Services: Exclusive Experiences, Emerging Elites, and the Future of Yachting” from the dropdown menu.

• Follow the journal’s author guidelines:
  https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/jsm#jlp_author_marketing

• Submissions may be empirical, conceptual, methodological, or mixed‑method papers.

• All work must be original and not under review elsewhere.

Guest Editor

• Prof. Dr. Phil Klaus
  (Contact: profdrphilklaus@gmail.com)

Why This Issue Matters

• The luxury sector is undergoing profound transformation driven by new wealth, younger elites, digitalisation, and sustainability concerns, yet still relies on traditional service‑marketing logics.

• This special issue offers a much‑needed platform to rethink luxury not only as a market segment but as a distinct service paradigm, where emotional intimacy, discretion, and experiential storytelling are as important as price, quality, and speed.

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