In this video, Ramit Sethi explains why some travelers spend $3,000‑$5,000 a night on a hotel by sharing a personal story from his honeymoon stay at Aman Phuket. He describes a bespoke cooking class arranged for his wife, the resort’s high staff‑to‑guest ratio, and the level of personalized service that distinguishes ultra‑luxury properties from standard chains. Sethi then discusses how wealthy travelers approach travel spending differently, using concrete decision rules—such as flying business class on any flight longer than four hours—and how having ample resources changes the calculus of cost versus experience. He emphasizes that these choices are not inherently better or worse, but reflect a distinct mindset that prioritizes convenience, personalization, and the ability to set automatic rules rather than constantly bargain‑hunt.
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Why would somebody spend $3,000 or $5,000 a night on a hotel room? Does it make any sense? Is it 1,000 times better than another Marriott hotel? Well, let me tell you a story about a time that I stayed at the Aman in Phuket. This was at the end of our honeymoon. We'd gone on a 6-week honeymoon across the world, and we ended very specifically at this resort, beautiful, overlooking the beach. And I remember one morning we were having breakfast, and I still remember they have some of the best hotel breakfasts anywhere in the world. And my wife said, oh my God, like, this is amazing, this dish. I wonder how they make it. And I said, ask them. They love to answer questions like that at hotels like this. So she asked the waiter, and the waiter said, just a moment. He goes in the back, comes back with the head chef, the guy with the big hat. And the guy— chef says, I understand that you are asking about our dish. Would you be interested in a cooking class? And she said, wow, that would be amazing. When is it offered? And he smiled and he said, whenever you'd like. So later that afternoon, she went to a cooking class that they arranged. They picked 4 dishes, including that one. They did all the prep work. They did the cooking class with her. Then they made it, served it to her. And I went out to join her around 5. She was just sitting in bliss, just eating this food. Now, this is the kind of magical experience that you can get at a resort that costs These kinds of rates. The goal is to delight the guest. There are things that I would never expect to happen at a Marriott that can happen at a resort like this, where they have this high staff ratio and lots of time and only 30 or 40 rooms on the entire property. Now, is it worth 100 times what you might pay at another hotel? I don't know. I guess it depends on how you're calculating your money. Because for a lot of people, they will say things like, well, I don't want to spend a lot on the hotel because we're going to be out most of the time. That can make sense. That makes a lot of sense. That's how I was raised. But when you have enough money that you can choose both, then you're not making the same kinds of trade-offs. So when it comes to spending money on luxury travel for people who have a lot of money, they're making a different type of trade-off. For example, I will make rules after traveling a lot so I don't even have to think about it anymore. A rule that I've made is any flight over 4 hours, we're going business class. Now again, when I was starting out in my career, I couldn't afford that. Now that I have enough money to be able to do that, I don't even want to think about it. I just want to set it as a rule and then it gets done. So these are some different ways that rich people are thinking about travel. They are not making the same calculus. And I'm not saying it's better or worse. Sometimes I love a good bargain as well as anybody. But these are some of the different decisions that might be made for luxury travel.
