How Much Tailor-Made Is Too Much?

In the luxury sector, bespoke has become the buzzword of the decade.

From hotel pillows to helicopter routes, it seems everything must be customised. But in truth, not all clients crave endless personalisation.

What they do crave is confidence, trust, and clarity.

A surprising amount of hyper-customisation exists not because clients demand it, but because agencies and DMCs feel the need to justify their expertise or differentiate their offer.

It becomes a way to validate the high price tag – and, ironically, it sometimes overshadows what really matters: exceptional execution.

Last week, I had the pleasure of discussing this topic with one of my Finnish DMCs – a lovely couple to whom I was recommended by someone I do not think I know, but who follows me in one of the virtual corners of this world.

And during this conversation, which was one of my longest Teams calls I have had this year, we started asking real questions.

Are we designing for the client’s comfort, or for our own reassurance that we are doing enough?

Most clients, especially high-level ones, are busy people.

They do not always want daily WhatsApp updates or a hundred choices. They want:

• Seamless service,
• Trustworthy curation,
• And most importantly, not to have to think about it.

Sometimes the luxury is in not choosing. In being led, not managing.

Hyper-tailoring can backfire:

• It creates mental fatigue for clients.
• It shifts the role of the agent from curator to over-involved assistant.
• It dilutes the storytelling, the essence, and the why behind the journey.

When every detail becomes a choice, nothing feels truly special any more.

The art lies not in infinite options, but in the illusion of freedom within a well-designed framework.

To the DMCs reading this  –  a genuine question.

Do you enjoy the constant messaging, the dozens of emails, the WhatsApp threads that never seem to end?

Or do you simply feel it is expected of you? Do you believe it builds trust, or are you quietly exhausted by the weight of proving your value in real time, every time?

Sometimes I wonder if the pressure to stay in constant contact comes more from habit than necessity…

What would happen if we trusted the quality of our work  –  the strength of the itinerary  –  to speak for itself?

The truth?

Often, it is the supplier who needs it more:

• DMCs tailor to demonstrate local knowledge.
• Agents customise to prove added value.
• Hotels personalise to appear exclusive.

But clients just want to feel understood. That is it.

A truly luxury experience is not “designed by committee”. It is a composition  –  one voice leading, others harmonising.

The best trips are not about the number of personal touches, but the intention behind each one.

There is also a deeper layer to this conversation: the quiet, constant pressure to compete  –  not always with better products or deeper service, but simply with more.

More updates, more ideas, more speed, more noise.

But who truly needs this competition? Is it the client, who often has no idea what is happening behind the scenes?

Or is it the industry itself  –  agents trying to out-perform one another, DMCs trying to be indispensable, hotels over-promising in fear of being left behind?

Much of this pressure is performative.

And it creates a cycle where everyone is exhausted and no one wins  –  because the person we are all supposedly working for, the client, never asked for a race.

In my opinion, no. On the contrary  –  it might be worth more.

Because peace, clarity, and the feeling of being taken care of without needing to manage anything  –  that is a luxury in itself.

The WhatsApp is a tool. It should not be the experience.

Do you really want to decide about everything  again?

You already do that at work. At home. In your relationships. You are constantly choosing, managing, directing.

But what if your trip was different? What if, just this once, you could let go  and simply trust that every detail has been curated for you, without needing your input at every turn?

Or do you sometimes feel forced by your travel agent to be involved in every decision?

Like you are being treated not as a discerning traveller, but as someone unsure like a child who must be shown every candy before picking one.

True luxury is not in having more options. It is in not having to choose at all.

When the customisation becomes noise instead of narrative.

When the WhatsApp updates become control rather than comfort. When the options offered blur the very purpose of travel: to experience something beyond the familiar.

Luxury should not be defined by the number of customisable elements.

It should be defined by how effortlessly it all comes together.

If you are a DMC who is tired of the noise, the constant messaging, and the illusion of competition  and you are looking for a partner who believes in non-competing luxury, clarity, and mutual trust  we might be aligned.

Luxury Quests was built on the idea that we can work smarter, not louder.

That excellence does not need to be exhausting.

If you are open to a collaboration that respects your time, simplifies your workflow, and redefines how luxury is delivered  we would love to hear from you.

Let us create something exceptional together, without losing ourselves in the process.