Matthieu Schon, a 29-year-old luxury travel concierge from Luxembourg, has revealed how his wealthiest clients can spend close to £850,000 in a single week, covering everything from private jets to yacht parties, as he arranges one-of-a-kind holidays for the super-rich.
Schon, founder of the company Matt Concierge, said a "standard VIP trip nowadays" carries a price tag of around £500,000, with clients often adding personal shopping once they land. "For the VIP, we can easily reach spending of half a million. Then the wife does some shopping; they will buy some jewellery," he said.
"That is what the luxury market has become recently," he added.
Schon said it is not always the obvious celebrities who spend the most. "It's mostly not the big VIPs or celebrities that everyone thinks will book the expensive villas or expensive experiences. It can be a guy you just pass by in the street," he said.
"You would never think that guy is going to spend £100,000 or £150,000 on a holiday, but normal looking people have the money and are happy to spend it on luxury."
Cost of a VIP holiday
Matt Concierge has broken down what a 10-day VIP holiday from Dubai to the South of France could cost. A return private jet alone comes to more than £100,000, on top of a helicopter transfer at around £1,700.
- Return private jet: more than £100,000
- Helicopter transfer: around £1,700
- Luxury hotel suite: approximately £4,300 per night
- Chauffeur: around £850 per day
- Security: thousands of pounds per day
- Yacht day: more than £40,000
An £857,000 week in Europe
Schon lives in Dubai and employs a team of five to help plan the trips. One client working in pharmaceuticals recently spent close to £857,000 during a single week-long holiday around Europe.
"He spent around £214,000 on a yacht rental, then a single afternoon of partying on the boat cost more than £51,000," Schon said. "And then it just kept going like this. In the end, nearly £850,000 was gone. That's the crazy reality of the luxury world nowadays."
Schon organises everything from accommodation and private transfers to restaurant bookings and other requests. He recently arranged a four-day trip to Mykonos for a major NBA player who, despite travelling with only his partner, booked the biggest villa available at the Santa Marina hotel.
The six-bedroom property cost around £45,000 for four days. "Even though he came as a couple, he booked a six-bedroom villa," Schon said. "NBA players have a lot of funds, so they like to spoil themselves. They might not go on holiday often because they have to train a lot. So when they do, they really do it properly."
Why he avoids standalone villas
Despite their popularity, Schon said he is reluctant to recommend standalone villas to his clients, preferring properties located within hotel grounds because of the extra security they provide.
"I never recommend villas to my VIP clients, celebrities, to anyone," he said. "When the NBA player came to me, I told him from the beginning, take a villa inside of a hotel. Hotels are usually less of a target because there are so many people around, so many cameras."
The giant croissant request
Schon has fielded some unusual last-minute requests too, including a client who suddenly decided they wanted a giant croissant delivered to their private jet.
"I had one client who asked for a big croissant in a private jet. That was quite last minute, so I had to figure that out," he said. "I had to get to the bakery, make sure they still had one, then get it to the airport. Obviously, I needed to get it through security and everything. So that was quite an experience."
Peace of mind over price
Schon said the biggest difference between ordinary holidaymakers and his richest clients is their attitude towards time rather than money. "VIPs are not trying to negotiate prices that much. They are trying to get peace of mind," he said. "For them, 20 minutes of negotiation with a driver would equal in their business world maybe $5,000."
That expectation does not stop when the sun goes down. Schon said clients regularly contact him at midnight or 1am after deciding on the spot that they want to keep partying.
"People like to go to a nice restaurant, then at the last minute they say, 'OK, I want to go to the club now.' They don't have a table, of course, so I have to quickly get that arranged," he said. "So I need to wake up, and it might be midnight or 1am, and get organised quickly. I need to call the club manager and arrange the table and make sure everything is in place for the client."
