A Dubai-based concierge to the ultra-rich says a £500,000 trip is now a routine request from his clients, who fly on private jets costing up to £100,000 and charter yachts for £40,000 a day.
Matthieu Schon, 29, who was born in Luxembourg and is now based in Dubai, founded the company Matt Concierge. Together with his five-person team, he handles almost every detail of a client's trip, from private flights and accommodation to restaurants, nightlife and unusual personal requests.
A £500,000 trip is normal
Schon said a trip with a total cost of £500,000 was no longer considered unusual among his clientele, particularly once luxury purchases, jewellery and personal expenses were added to the bill.
He said the biggest spenders were not necessarily famous people. Many of his clients would go unnoticed on the street, he said, yet they could set aside £100,000 or £150,000 for just a few days of holiday.
Client spent almost £857,000 in a week
One example Schon gave was a client from the pharmaceutical industry who, he said, spent almost £857,000 in a single week in Europe.
About £214,000 of that went on renting a yacht alone, while an afternoon party held on board the boat cost more than £51,000. By the end of the holiday, the total bill had come close to £850,000, according to Schon.
Four-day Mykonos break for an NBA star
Schon's clients have included a major National Basketball Association player, for whom he organised a four-day escape to Mykonos, the Greek island in the Cyclades known as a summer destination for celebrities and the wealthy.
Although the player travelled with only his partner, he chose the largest villa available at Santa Marina. The property had six bedrooms and cost around £45,000 for the four days.
Schon explained that top athletes have limited free time because of training and competition commitments. As a result, when they do manage to take a holiday, they often place few limits on what they spend, he said.
Why he avoids standalone villas
Despite the privacy they offer, Schon said he avoids booking standalone luxury villas for VIP clients and prefers homes located within organised hotel complexes.
The main reason is security. A large hotel has a constant presence of staff and guests, along with organised surveillance systems, he said.
That was the advice he gave the NBA player in Mykonos, judging a luxury home within a hotel to be the safer option.
The giant croissant that had to reach the jet
Not every request is so predictable. One client decided shortly before departure that he wanted a giant croissant delivered onto his private jet.
Schon said he had to find a bakery that could supply it at very short notice, confirm it was available, and then arrange for it to be transported to the airport. The oversized croissant still had to go through the necessary security checks before it was loaded onto the aircraft, he said.
The real luxury is time, not money
Through his work, Schon said he has identified a key difference between the ultra-rich and the average traveller: the value they place on time.
His VIP clients rarely want to spend time haggling or negotiating, he said. They would rather pay more, as long as someone else has already taken care of everything.
He gave an example: the 20 minutes someone might spend negotiating with a driver could, for an extremely wealthy businessperson, be time in which they could earn thousands of dollars instead.
That means service has no fixed hours. Schon said he can receive a call at one in the morning from a client who has just finished dinner and decided he wants to go to a club, without having made any reservation.
At that point, he said, a race begins to find the right contact, secure a table and have everything ready before the client arrives.
In this world, Schon suggested, ultimate luxury is not only the private jet, the yacht or the villa. It is the ability to ask for almost anything, at any hour, and have someone else make it happen.
