Lessons from Tulum: What luxury brands must change in 2026

I am writing this from a beach in Tulum. Fifteen years ago, this place was arguably one of the most serene locations on Earth. Back then, it was pure magic: an endless stretch of pristine sand and a quiet hippie-style community. It was a hidden gem where you could walk for miles without seeing a soul. It was a secret whispered among those who valued tranquility over transaction. Fast forward to today, and the contrast is jarring. Social media exposed the secret, and the world descended. But the crowd taking endless selfies for their social media is not the only issue. The real disaster lies in how the destination has chosen to manage its newfound fame. One beach club after another has colonized the coast. Many have transformed what was once a sanctuary into a chaotic assembly of indifference. I visited a self-proclaimed ultra-luxury beach club where the music was deafening. The issue was not simply the volume — a high-energy atmosphere can be sophisticated if curated well. Rather, the noise was a barrier. I could not hear my voice during lunch. The experience lacked refinement entirely. To make matters worse, the staff was indifferent, moving with the arrogance of a venue that assumes the queue outside guarantees its future. Prices here have skyrocketed, yet the value proposition has plummeted. Many establishments seem to confuse high price points with luxury. They have replaced the soul of Tulum with expensive cocktails and loudspeakers. They have created an environment that feels extractive rather than restorative. And as empty tables appear in some of these high-priced venues, the cracks are beginning to show. The self-destruction of luxury destinations Importantly, this phenomenon is not unique to Tulum. We see it in Bali, where traffic jams now rival those of Los Angeles. We see it in major European luxury capitals, where entering a boutique feels more like passing through a security checkpoint in a crowded space than being welcomed into a sophisticated home. Driven by an endless chase for revenue and the dopamine hit of viral visibility, many destinations and brands have forgotten a fundamental truth. Luxury goes beyond what we show to how we make people feel. This self-destruction of beautiful places mirrors the crisis many luxury brands face as we move into 2026. For years, the industry rode a wave of easy growth. Brands became complacent. They hiked prices aggressively without a corresponding increase in value or service quality. They leaned heavily on transactional luxury while neglecting the relational luxury that builds lasting emotional bonds. Luxury’s most undervalued asset My experience with the indifferent staff in Tulum underlines the critical importance of training in 2026. This is where the broken promise is most visible. Brands invest millions in real estate and marketing campaigns only to neglect the asset that actually delivers the experience: the human element. This indifference is the greatest threat to the sector today. When I sat in that restaurant, unable to communicate with my waiter because of the noise and unable to get their attention because of their apathy, the illusion of luxury vanished. It didn’t matter that the setting was beautiful. The lack of human connection destroyed its value. Therefore, the strategic imperative for the year ahead is to operationalize empathy. Most luxury brands train for the process: they teach staff how to use the POS system or memorize product specs. This is insufficient. To fix the broken value equation, we must shift the culture toward emotional intelligence. We need to empower teams to read the room. They must understand the client’s mood and adapt accordingly. A true luxury experience creates value by anticipating needs before they are spoken. In Tulum, that club failed because the staff was not trained to care. They were functionaries rather than hosts. A sophisticated venue would have sensed the need for connection and adjusted the atmosphere to facilitate it. The strategic imperative for 2026: Human first The lesson for 2026 is essential: to be successful in this new climate, the luxury industry must undergo a radical human-centric reset. We need to understand that expensive is not a synonym for luxury and often leads to what I call “luxury in ambition only.” Real luxury is the ability to create a memory, to positively surprise on an emotional level. It requires a level of sophistication and inspiration that justifies the price point. For brands, this means moving beyond the product. A handbag or a watch, a restaurant, a hotel, or a beach club — they are merely vessels. The real value lies in the stories they tell and the emotions they evoke. If I walk into a store and the experience feels transactional and indifferent, the magic dies. If the human touch is missing, the luxury is nonexistent. Brands must also stop obsessing over traffic and start focusing on resonance. It is better to have fewer clients who are deeply engaged and emotionally connected than a flood of one-time buyers who feel nothing for the brand. This requires a shift in metrics. We need to measure emotional impact rather than just conversion rates. We need to ask if we made the client feel seen. Overcrowding and high prices are not a strategy. They are a sign of a market that has lost its way. As I look out at the ocean trying to ignore the bass from the club next door, I am reminded that the most beautiful things in the world are fragile. A destination can lose its soul in a few short years of greed. A brand can lose its legacy even faster if it forgets who it serves. The opportunity for 2026 is to reverse this trend. It is to bring the human back into the center of the equation. To stop extracting and start enriching. The brands that win this year will be the ones that understand that, in a noisy and fast-paced world, making someone feel special is the ultimate act of luxury. This is an opinion piece by Daniel Langer, CEO of Équité, recognized as one of the “Global Top Five Luxury Key Opinion Leaders,” and advisor to some of the most iconic luxury brands in the world. He serves as an executive professor of luxury strategy and pricing at Pepperdine University in Malibu and as a professor of luxury at NYU, New York. Daniel has authored best-selling books on luxury management in English and Chinese, and is a respected global keynote speaker. Daniel conducts in-person masterclasses on various luxury topics across the world. As a luxury expert featured on Bloomberg TV, Forbes, The Economist, and others, Daniel holds an MBA and a Ph.D. in luxury management and has received education from Harvard Business School. Sign up for his online luxury masterclasses at the Jing Academy.

Sectors

Insights

Company

Lessons from Tulum: What luxury brands must change in 2026