A new trend that’s growing especially fast among Generation Z shows just how complicated – and sometimes confusing – luxury travel has become, where portfolios are hiding in plain sight. New perspective from influencers and content creators take us behind the scenes of how youth culture is creating a new frontier for big money. These curated personas have consequences and the way they affect their daily lives.
For more than a year and a half, she had the workhorse 23-year-old Jon Morgan mentored as his mentee. Individually and collectively, they crafted her luxury travel image through deliberate and purposeful actions. Through this very crafted identity, it portrayed her—depicted her—leading an ELITE lifestyle of $500,000 per year. Stunningly, her real annual spending was about $12,000.
Over a period of eight weeks, the mentee carefully curated posts to present an idealistic front online. She painted an extravagant picture of herself as a diplomatic jet-setter to swanky resorts. Her notoriety skyrocketed her Instagram account, which attracted 85,000 followers eager to see snapshots of her luxurious lifestyle.
“For $50 tips, they would let her access rooftop pools and lobbies at Four Seasons properties for 30-minute photo sessions,” – Jon Morgan
To help enhance her touch, the mentee recruited concierges at high-end hotels, bribing them with cash for introductions. This behavior shows the boundary in a bigger picture trend that Mohd Rizwan, director at Travelosei, has seen develop with younger travelers.
“You prioritize what you want in your life and deal with the consequences,” commented a Reddit user discussing the trend of faking luxury vacations.
As a landlord himself, Daniel Rivera said it’s a common practice among tenants he manages rental properties. A 24-year-old renter shared photos from her $400-a-night Airbnb apartment in Miami. In the midst of this, she found herself three weeks overdue on her $1,800 monthly rent.
“She later admitted she split that luxury rental with six friends for just one night to get the perfect poolside shots,” – Daniel Rivera
Rivera has recently noticed more housing applications containing identifies for domestic loan inquiries as “vacation spending. He said that in tenant screenings, he was seeing 30% higher applications showing recent loans taken out for vacation activities.
To avoid the pressure of sharing everything, most Gen Z travelers don’t share their full trips but rather pick and choose moments that fit that ‘Instagrammable’ aesthetic. This curated worldview makes it easy for them to project an air of riches and affluence. This almost always paints a distorted picture of their financial realities.
“During tenant screenings, I’ve noticed 30% more applications showing recent personal loan inquiries, often labeled as ‘vacation funding’ in their financial histories,” – Daniel Rivera
As a growing number of youths partake in this dangerous trend while being financially irresponsible, we should ask ourselves the more important question. The allure of social media pressure can lead individuals to make questionable financial decisions in pursuit of an idealized lifestyle.
“Was it financially irresponsible? Yes. Did most people tell me I was wasting my money and that I should be saving my money? Yes. Would I do it again? 1000%,” – the user