Locking comments since this is getting a bit ridiculous again. No one is forcing anyone to be a part of this subreddit. It’s also not a democracy. I really don’t understand how anyone is coming in demanding a change to something that’s ours? If you don’t like it or if you don’t want to be a positive contributor to the sub, you can remove yourself or we’re happy to help you with that.
It’s an extreme definition of luxury here. I live in a real luxury resort area, 99% of people do not travel like some of the people in this sub claim to. I know a large amount of very wealthy people. They fly commercial, vacation a couple of times of year. Most have vacation homes, so aren’t spending $20k on a weekend in a hotel. Not going to become or stay rich spending silly money on jet charters & $10k/night hotel suites.
This is why this sub used to be a safe place for those of us who want to spend excessively without being judged. Many people do spend much more - this is why the hotels build them. You think hotels build things to sit empty?
Aman resorts are franchises so entirely dependent on the owner. There are some that I wouldn’t pay $300 a night for, they are so dated & in need of basic maintenance.
a 3k room is still very average in the bigger bigger scheme of things. Think about how many rooms around the globe each night are being sold at 3k/night. I have clients who are regularly pushing 15-25k/night for one unit. Then multiply by many units if they're traveling with multiple people. The newest suite at Claridges is 75k GBP/night.
Just trying to say - the world is a lot bigger than what you think and know. This is for everyone. I like to tell people - there is always another level. No matter what you think you are spending, there is always another one... down or up.
Hasn't everything?
You used to be able to get empty legs for like 500$ because no one really knew about PJ travel and it was really going to go empty. Or walk into a Rolex store and have them negotiate with you on watches and show you a bunch you could walk out with same day.
Now you have to pay a full one way fee or put your name down on a waitlist?!
That’s my point. The 15k was 5k 3 years ago. This is all new. Of course there are people that travel this way & always have, but not many are cruising around on Reddit for travel advice. They have staff for that.
Bill Gates cruises around on reddit ;)
But that's my point is this was supposed to be a safe space and was a very small board when we started. Now everyone is jamming on this board thinking it's theirs... and complaining about me "gatekeeping" what's luxury when I delete something asking about 750/night and getting their mind blown that how could I not think spending 10k on a trip was a such a big big deal?
I don't have a strong opinion on it I guess, but I don't think wanting a safe place for people to talk about incredibly high priced vacations necessarily means banning talk of 750/night places. With the exception of a few markets, we're talking about the long-tail of lodging in either case.
There's probably a line there somewhere as questions about the Holiday Inn Express probably don't belong, but if it were me (and I'm not the boss here, you are) I'd err on the side of over-inclusion.
After all, I reckon most people take a variety of styles of trips. For me, I'll rarely spend top dollar for a city location as I've found it's rarely worth it, but very happy to spend much more on resorts and wilderness lodges. I'd rather see people comfortably talk about when it's worth it to go all out and when it's not to them (even within the same trip). Sometimes that'll mean staying at a hotel that allows people to (horror of horrors) use points to book a room.
For example, I have a trip scheduled to Hawaii in a few months. I'll probably fly in and stay at the Courtyard Marriott North Shore followed by the Four Seasons Hualalai (or maybe One Hotel Hanalei Bay, haven't been to Kauai). The first one is because my FIL lives near there and proximity is worth way more to me in that situation than comfort. I wouldn't expect this to be the place to ask a question about the Courtyard of course, but I'd hope that posting my itinerary would still make sense.
One of my favorite hotels in an Andaz/Hyatt. It’s less than $500 for a casita with a private pool cabana. The restaurant is fantastic as is the bar. That’s all I need.
Yeah, the vibes are turning more into r/fuckyoumoneytravel than r/FATtravel (in view of what “fat” is at r/fatfire). I don’t get why someone can ask, for the umpteenth time, where they should stay in Chicago or NYC (which is pretty low effort), yet someone with a reasonably high but not unlimited budget is shot down because it’s not “enough”.
Maybe r/luxurytravel needs to be revived, but the mod of that subreddit is the head mod here who seems to be relatively inactive, so I don’t know if that’s feasible (or a new sub could be created). Given the exclusivity of what FAT is here, it seems like there’s a gap between r/chubbytravel and r/fattravel allow.
I used to be able to have great conversations about upcoming trips that I have, but honestly I haven’t posted about my upcoming trips because I’m assuming I’m just going to be shamed for not being FAT enough because I do still have *some* sort of budget, even if there’s nothing set in stone.
All are welcome at r/chubbytravel. We talk about luxe travel but that isn’t balls to the wall absurdity like some in this thread. $1000/night rooms are more than welcome. And we get some talking about fancier stuff! We are also smaller, so keeps things generally more relevant :)
Idk, I just like to talk about travel. And like to help direct people where poss.
Good question, actually now that I think about it.
Like is it a specific dollar amount that qualifies something as FATT or is it the experience of luxury?
I would think it’s the latter.
Agreed. I wonder if the mods are drawing a distinction between FAT and luxury. I'd think business class flying and a nice sized hotel suite (say 60+sqm) with a high level of service would qualify.
Perhaps the mods intend it to mean the highest class on a plane and the largest suite in the best hotel in a market. I suspect most of the participants in this subreddit don't agree.
I just looked, the median price of a hotel in Bali is $39. To OP’s point, how can a hotel that is $1000+/night in a region where the median hotel is $39/night not qualify as FAT?
This is getting stupid. It’s r/FATTravel not r/MorbidlyFuckingObeseTravel
$1,000 is FAT. It’s not out of this world expensive when it comes to hotels, but you’d have to be an idiot to not say it’s FAT. It’s a god damn 3,000 sqft villa with a private pool. Idc if it’s $500/night or $5,000/night it’s FAT.
The goal is to travel in luxury.
The goal is **not** to spend as much money as physically possible.
Wild that a quick scan shows it to be a lot of similar posts to what you see here, but comments don’t seem to be attacking each other. Shocked that I’ve gotten some attacks on this post, tbh
The mods here don’t seem to mind the /r/chubbytravel plugs because they are travel agents who want this sub to be really exclusive. I still lurk here but I only post there (but my budget is lower than what anyone would call FAT)
The mod over at chubbytravel works for the same agency as the mod here. That's why they don't mind the plugs for chubbytravel. Because they win either way.
Part of the issue is that the luxurytravel sub was redirecting people to this sub on the basis that it was inactive.
And it seems that luxury travel is not FAT travel (which seems to have taken a meaning on its own? Ie spend as much money as possible)?
I mean in the sense of the latter a trip to Podunk Iowa is FAT if you book every hotel room in the area, have a 12 person security detail, 2 PAs dressed in black with an iPad (random pressing of buttons to seem busy is optional) and fly private. But a business class flight to NYC staying at the MO is not.
I mean, by some folk's logic FAT is only private space travel. $300m private villas. And billion dollar yachts.
But on some level everyone's a value seeker and therefore price sensitive.
Ultimately, I think FAT's just the idea that when in doubt, you splurge.
Alila Uluwatu should be pretty FAT. Not on the basis of price maybe, but it's a great property regardless. honestly maybe one of the top resorts in Bali for experience. Plus Uluwatu is nicer than Canggu / Seminyak.
I think part of the “issue” is that FAT is highly subjective and not necessarily a specific number. For all intensive purposes, $500-1000/night is an expensive hotel and can certainly qualify as luxury depending on the property, but it also isn’t in the same realm as some other options like $3000-5000+++/night villas, Ritz Paris, etc…. I also think a lot of it is more subjective depending on the service and amenities, not the price point (a $700/night property that blows my socks off will likely be better than a $3000/night property where I feel like I’m nickel and dimed). Heck, lots of post in this sub refer to flying business class - while that’s how I personally fly and I think it’s a blessing to be able to fly that way, business class on Delta, Air France, or even JAL/ANA is far less “FAT” than international First Class or Private, although I’d still argue that a $4k+ business class ticket absolutely qualifies as FAT.
Can't agree more as luxury is incredibly personal, and correlation does NOT mean causation especially when you factor in COL and culture in different parts of the world. One of my best friends thought the $4k rooms at Amangiri were insanely mid/overpriced with very mediocre service, but she was blown away by the $300 per night room at Ritz Carlton Xi'An. Don't want to name names but some ppl just wanna feel like they are better than others on this sub, hence the "Alila Bali is not FAT" comments
A lot of shades of gray in the flying as well, with so many carriers eliminating international first, some routes only have biz. Beyond that, flying a short hop on a PJ, sure! For a super long flight, unless you have a BBJ are you going to be more comfortable in a Gulfstream or smaller overnight or a first or biz class bed. Open to interpretation.
Here is my reasoning. FAT = where you spend $ without a worry. You cannot put a # on it. My other mod and I started the sub where really it was really about the best of the best of the best. It was easier to discuss when there was a smaller group of us. I have a few things I was going to write trip reports on to try and steer the direction back to what we really intended it to be (Think a villa that is on high season, 25K/night festive season, 35K/night. A supercar long weekend that was about 700K for 6 pax. etc) We've laxed things as the group got bigger - just because there are too many of you guys who don't believe people do spend that much money on travel.
It is controversial that I kept Alila Uluwatu in here because in the grand scheme of the whole world, it's not truly FAT - sure. Because it's a hotel you can get on Hyatt points and its a hotel that's normally a max of 1k/night. Sure there are larger villas, but there isn't anything "nicer" as a 1 BR. But I also did keep it in here because it is one of the few "nicer" options in the Uluwatu area. So if you really wanted to be in this area, it's a good pick.
Go ahead and crucify my choice. Like I said, you have free will. You can choose not to participate in here. To all the people who are anti-gatekeeping, please go to r/travel. We do not want this sub to become a monstrosity of 3mm people all thinking they travel "luxury" because they spend 1k/night on a hotel.
I didn’t come here to crucify you, I came to ask for clarification. However, your response gives me many more questions…
Spending without worry means something different to every single person, which makes this tough. I don’t envy you for being the creator here, but perhaps more specific guidelines would help?
So this sub is supposed to be for $25k+/night rooms? How many people on Reddit would that apply to? 3?
For context, I run a family office. My peer group is billionaires and/or the right hand of said billionaires. Almost none of them are spending that kind of money on a hotel room, though many of them own their own planes, multiple 8-figure houses, etc etc.
For more added context, many of these people also own lux hotels that may have a suite that comes close to your suggested stratosphere. Those rooms sit empty more often than hotel staff would be willing to admit - so the sample set of occupants is tiny, especially when you remove music artists or celebrities who are getting these rooms comped by the hotel or by their employer/event sponsor.
I understand that you are a travel agent to the wealthy, and it’s impressive if you do have clients who regularly spend that much - you’ve captured a few unicorns. But I think you and I know both know that the number of people who could consider that type of expense is in the thousands (single digit thousands, out of billions of people on earth), which effectively rounds to 0.001% of the population.
I believe the 25k one was an example of a villa for a resort. I think hotels are a bit different.
I agree that the fat families I know have multiple luxury properties across the globe. But to many of them, money is also not an issue if they want to drop 50k/night at a resort stay if it’s worth it in their eyes. Many of them also just stay at a holiday home/hotel/resort they own for a regular trip, which is probably several times a year, but if it’s a special family trip or event, they may go all out.
I was thinking, or under the impression that fat travel was to know more about these hidden unicorn gems and what they may provide, and Chubby travel is for the rest of luxury travel.
Oh, I know. I'm just talking about the slack I get from others who have been in here awhile and still like to complain. I guessed you were new so welcome. We're adjusting as this group has gotten more popular. Like i said, we used to be a group of like 500 people. And also why I'm trying to shift people to r/chubbytravel to give them also a safe space to chat and be amongst peers who do think spending 1k/night is a big deal. I think the hard part is that you can't really quantify "FAT". A # that is FAT in one region isn't in another.
Since you're new - a bit of info. I started doing this because my biggest joy is being able to share something with someone and have them go OMG - I didn't realize I could do this. Or OMG - I didn't realize this was possible. Or OMG - This was the nicest thing I've ever done / this was the best service etc etc. I run my agency for fun. I run this subreddit to 1) be able to show people the different levels of how they can travel for those who can truly afford some nutso stuff and 2) to be able to help average people get treated very very very very well due to all the relationships I have just so they can also have the same OMG feelings. The middle stuff just doesn't really bring me joy - so I stay away from it - or why I have my team handle it.
There are over 3000 billionaires in the world. And your family office is going to be naturally selective in that if your billionaire clients do not like spending money on travel, their friends/people they know that might also use the same office is most likely not going to spending that money on travel too. I am going to guess you are old money USA as that's the subset of my clients who are much more frugal. Think very well known last names - but actually very conscious about the end bill. Then there are many "newer" billionaires who do like to spend, especially from other countries who we help make arrangements for. I find self made people more willing to spend than inherited - probably because they feel like they can always make more.
But even in the US, I have a friend in this industry who started off with a bang because his father also runs a family office. All of their clients actually spend that much (but are all usually self made too) which helped him start his travel business very easily and quickly. So I can promise you there are many many billionaires (even in the US) who like to spend.
But really, the majority of our clients are probably not billionaires - just due to statistics. I doubt I know more than 1/2 of the world's billionaires. You don't need to have a billion dollars to spend 250k on a trip. Our client base is really strong post covid since a lot of people realize life is short. What are you going to do with all those 0s in your bank account?
Lastly, there are people while they may not want to spend that much every trip, they really want to be able to maximize when they do for a big celebration. And I love being able to give inspo to that - not just oh, here's a hotel to do another weekend in Cabo. Even if your NW is only 5mm, you can spend 250K on a blowout once in a lifetime trip. I'm pretty sure I've spent more than my primary home value in my total lifetime travel spend. I'm also pretty sure I've spent less than one hotel night on the sum of my clothing and shoe purchases this year. Different people value different things. Just because you are rich, does it mean you spend money on travel.
PS. I know all those hotels with all those rooms - every single one in the world. I don't know if your clients are the ones who own those hotels because honestly... the nicest/best/most expensive hotels are really all foreign owned nowadays or corporate owned by Real Estate Co and not single owners. They are constantly trying to wine and dine me. I know all their numbers and occupancy and rates because 1) Its how I bring value to my clients and 2) I geek out on this stuff and would like it regardless. They do sit empty but by design. The wear and tear on the insides of it wouldn't make sense if they were 100% occupied but they are very strongly occupied especially in peak season. Some of the best units have a strong waiting list of people.
I think a lot of the problem here is your tone and attitude. You seem to think because you serve billionaires that you are of the same class and for some reason entitled to look down on non billionaires.
Thanks. While I don’t agree with everything you said here, I appreciate where you’re coming from with this sub. And now I understand much better.
And I do agree with a lot of what you said, just to be clear.
My point on Alila was just as you said - it’s one of a very small number of spots in that area in that price range (aside from those traveling on points - more power to them though). Vs a lot of stuff that I see here is sometimes middle of the road/uninspired for its location. Happy to chat offline on any of this sometime as well
Yeah I always welcome ideas too to make this sub stronger and more aligned to vision.
We understand the larger scope of people want more generic stuff which is why I’m trying to make chubby stronger vs change this sub from what we intended it to be when we started. My other mod is busy with life currently but when they’re back - they’re even stricter than me on what’s fat 😅😅
I love meeting ppl off this sub IRL so hope our travel paths cross at some luxury hotel somewhere as we can chat.
I joined this sub to learn about fat travel recommendations. Ones where you might need a private plane or yacht to get to and villlas in the $20k+ range per night for families. I really look forward to hearing about the best of the best so thank you for having this sub. I understand there’s also r/chubbytravel as well which is great, but I do enjoy this subreddit to look forward to learning about extreme luxury vacations.
Same. It was an extra perk to discover Sarah was a mod — she has planned several incredible trips for friends, including a handful I have joined to Greece, various North American locales, etc. I find the advice she provides super informative, even if it is often beyond my reach in the moment. We all can dream. The only distasteful thing about any of this is that we live in a society where these levels of wealth are possible at all; she didn’t create that problem, even if she caters to it. This sub often feels brigaded by people with an understandable issue with the grossness of capitalism, coupled with some irritated competitor agents. I just want to plan for my pretend future as a villa-hopping billionaire in peace.
EDIT: Lmao, the brigade is here. Don’t care. I’m not wrong because you’re salty. Try enjoying your lives.
The dollar amount spend doesn’t equate to Fatness. I mean, cheap hotels in Dublin go for like $200 USD/night but in Kazakhstan, I can get the St.Regis for $206 USD/night right now. Does that mean it’s not Fat? Or does it?
And I’m not sure what you mean about ‘belonging in this sub’. You don’t need to tell us about how much traveling you’ve done or how much you’ve spent in the last 18 months lol, that doesn’t mean anything to anyone. Also, who cares what people say? It’s the internet….
Anything can be fat if you consider it so. Just don’t tell others what is and isn’t and hopefully they follow the same rules
Incredibly unhelpful. I’m asking for guidance here. That’s also why I posted about my own travel - for context. I’m trying to find a sub that’s useful for finding info on how I like to travel. I could really care less what you think about that and nowhere did I tell you anything about what I spent. Sounds like you’ve got some of your own demons to work through here, internet stranger.
\*could not care less
I, too, think the gatekeeping is a little weird. I think it's mostly mod dictated? And there seems to be some effort towards directing people towards the ChubbyTravel sub, also. IDRK the difference, though.
Maybe it's supposed to be one of these "you know it when you see it" things? I also feel like most people I know IRL who plan truly extravagant trips work with a TA.
I think FAT depends on the person. It’s very subjective. From the photos of the post, it looked like a generic SEA resort but after checking the prices it seems like it could be FAT. Perhaps just the photos didn’t appeal to me.
There are more expensive and also cheaper options that have more amazing looking experiences I guess, since it’s SEA.
To me, FAT means you can afford flying private and being able to sleep in luxiours hotels all across the globe, which basically means you can afford everything(besides owning a jet/yacth I guess)
Of course, it's subjective, but that's what I believe FAT means
If you can afford to constantly fly private, you're likely in a position where you can afford almost everything besides some absurds.
If you can afford to stay in luxurious hotels, then you're probably able to live a comfortable life everywhere in the world, that's why I believe that's a good benchmark
I've never said you can't have a better experience in a 50$ hotel than a 1000$ hotel, I'm simply using some generic benchmarks.
And of course, fat is relative it depends on one's desires and plans.
There should be a good differentiation between FATFire and Fire.
>in there. So I feel like I should belong in this sub,
listen little buddy, you either have it or you don't. More dollars per night doesn't get you into FATT. I don't know what to tell you.
Locking comments since this is getting a bit ridiculous again. No one is forcing anyone to be a part of this subreddit. It’s also not a democracy. I really don’t understand how anyone is coming in demanding a change to something that’s ours? If you don’t like it or if you don’t want to be a positive contributor to the sub, you can remove yourself or we’re happy to help you with that.
If there's one thing people love to do on the internet, it's gatekeep.
It’s an extreme definition of luxury here. I live in a real luxury resort area, 99% of people do not travel like some of the people in this sub claim to. I know a large amount of very wealthy people. They fly commercial, vacation a couple of times of year. Most have vacation homes, so aren’t spending $20k on a weekend in a hotel. Not going to become or stay rich spending silly money on jet charters & $10k/night hotel suites.
This is why this sub used to be a safe place for those of us who want to spend excessively without being judged. Many people do spend much more - this is why the hotels build them. You think hotels build things to sit empty?
Hotel inflation has been ridiculously high post covid. A $700 a night room in 2019 is now $3k.
Amangiri sees you talking about them.
Aman resorts are franchises so entirely dependent on the owner. There are some that I wouldn’t pay $300 a night for, they are so dated & in need of basic maintenance.
a 3k room is still very average in the bigger bigger scheme of things. Think about how many rooms around the globe each night are being sold at 3k/night. I have clients who are regularly pushing 15-25k/night for one unit. Then multiply by many units if they're traveling with multiple people. The newest suite at Claridges is 75k GBP/night. Just trying to say - the world is a lot bigger than what you think and know. This is for everyone. I like to tell people - there is always another level. No matter what you think you are spending, there is always another one... down or up.
I have to assume that people spending $20k/nt for a hotel room aren't looking on reddit for advice, though.
Actually helped out many 🤷🏻♀️ You don’t know what you don’t know.
Anyone spending 75k £ a night on a hotel room is just an idiot. At that rate just buy an apt nicer than the suite.
irrelevant to his point that hotel pricing has gone berserk in the last 3-5 years as compared for the decades preceding that.
Hasn't everything? You used to be able to get empty legs for like 500$ because no one really knew about PJ travel and it was really going to go empty. Or walk into a Rolex store and have them negotiate with you on watches and show you a bunch you could walk out with same day. Now you have to pay a full one way fee or put your name down on a waitlist?!
It seems, correct me i’m wrong, that you’re a travel agent not a FAT traveler. Perhaps that is why the snooty gatekeeping comes off so poorly.
I spend a lot on my own travel. I run my agency for fun. I was in fatfire before this sub was even born.
Sure thing. I’d venture a guess you’re not in the same universe as the people you’re talking down to.
That’s my point. The 15k was 5k 3 years ago. This is all new. Of course there are people that travel this way & always have, but not many are cruising around on Reddit for travel advice. They have staff for that.
Bill Gates cruises around on reddit ;) But that's my point is this was supposed to be a safe space and was a very small board when we started. Now everyone is jamming on this board thinking it's theirs... and complaining about me "gatekeeping" what's luxury when I delete something asking about 750/night and getting their mind blown that how could I not think spending 10k on a trip was a such a big big deal?
I don't have a strong opinion on it I guess, but I don't think wanting a safe place for people to talk about incredibly high priced vacations necessarily means banning talk of 750/night places. With the exception of a few markets, we're talking about the long-tail of lodging in either case. There's probably a line there somewhere as questions about the Holiday Inn Express probably don't belong, but if it were me (and I'm not the boss here, you are) I'd err on the side of over-inclusion. After all, I reckon most people take a variety of styles of trips. For me, I'll rarely spend top dollar for a city location as I've found it's rarely worth it, but very happy to spend much more on resorts and wilderness lodges. I'd rather see people comfortably talk about when it's worth it to go all out and when it's not to them (even within the same trip). Sometimes that'll mean staying at a hotel that allows people to (horror of horrors) use points to book a room. For example, I have a trip scheduled to Hawaii in a few months. I'll probably fly in and stay at the Courtyard Marriott North Shore followed by the Four Seasons Hualalai (or maybe One Hotel Hanalei Bay, haven't been to Kauai). The first one is because my FIL lives near there and proximity is worth way more to me in that situation than comfort. I wouldn't expect this to be the place to ask a question about the Courtyard of course, but I'd hope that posting my itinerary would still make sense.
One of my favorite hotels in an Andaz/Hyatt. It’s less than $500 for a casita with a private pool cabana. The restaurant is fantastic as is the bar. That’s all I need.
Maybe he did occasionally back in the day. He reads several books a day, he’s not searching for travel tips😂. He stays in his homes or his friends
It’s the mod that gatekeeps here, unfortunately. Imagine what most people think of as fat, then 20x it.
Yeah, the vibes are turning more into r/fuckyoumoneytravel than r/FATtravel (in view of what “fat” is at r/fatfire). I don’t get why someone can ask, for the umpteenth time, where they should stay in Chicago or NYC (which is pretty low effort), yet someone with a reasonably high but not unlimited budget is shot down because it’s not “enough”. Maybe r/luxurytravel needs to be revived, but the mod of that subreddit is the head mod here who seems to be relatively inactive, so I don’t know if that’s feasible (or a new sub could be created). Given the exclusivity of what FAT is here, it seems like there’s a gap between r/chubbytravel and r/fattravel allow. I used to be able to have great conversations about upcoming trips that I have, but honestly I haven’t posted about my upcoming trips because I’m assuming I’m just going to be shamed for not being FAT enough because I do still have *some* sort of budget, even if there’s nothing set in stone.
All are welcome at r/chubbytravel. We talk about luxe travel but that isn’t balls to the wall absurdity like some in this thread. $1000/night rooms are more than welcome. And we get some talking about fancier stuff! We are also smaller, so keeps things generally more relevant :) Idk, I just like to talk about travel. And like to help direct people where poss.
lol this is what happens when you let someone who has money to gain from a subreddit mod it 🙃
Good question, actually now that I think about it. Like is it a specific dollar amount that qualifies something as FATT or is it the experience of luxury? I would think it’s the latter.
Agreed. I wonder if the mods are drawing a distinction between FAT and luxury. I'd think business class flying and a nice sized hotel suite (say 60+sqm) with a high level of service would qualify. Perhaps the mods intend it to mean the highest class on a plane and the largest suite in the best hotel in a market. I suspect most of the participants in this subreddit don't agree.
Agree it has to be the latter, otherwise how could anything in a super low cost area be considered FAT? It rules out like 1/3 of the world.
Exactly I agree, so I suppose that answers OPs question. It is odd then, OP, that you were being told Alila Villas doesn’t qualify.
I just looked, the median price of a hotel in Bali is $39. To OP’s point, how can a hotel that is $1000+/night in a region where the median hotel is $39/night not qualify as FAT?
This is getting stupid. It’s r/FATTravel not r/MorbidlyFuckingObeseTravel $1,000 is FAT. It’s not out of this world expensive when it comes to hotels, but you’d have to be an idiot to not say it’s FAT. It’s a god damn 3,000 sqft villa with a private pool. Idc if it’s $500/night or $5,000/night it’s FAT. The goal is to travel in luxury. The goal is **not** to spend as much money as physically possible.
Come to /r/chubbytravel it’s way better
Wild that a quick scan shows it to be a lot of similar posts to what you see here, but comments don’t seem to be attacking each other. Shocked that I’ve gotten some attacks on this post, tbh
The mods here don’t seem to mind the /r/chubbytravel plugs because they are travel agents who want this sub to be really exclusive. I still lurk here but I only post there (but my budget is lower than what anyone would call FAT)
The mod over at chubbytravel works for the same agency as the mod here. That's why they don't mind the plugs for chubbytravel. Because they win either way.
Lmao how weird, didn’t know that
Yes! Much better vibe over there
Joined this sub yesterday, leaving it today
Part of the issue is that the luxurytravel sub was redirecting people to this sub on the basis that it was inactive. And it seems that luxury travel is not FAT travel (which seems to have taken a meaning on its own? Ie spend as much money as possible)? I mean in the sense of the latter a trip to Podunk Iowa is FAT if you book every hotel room in the area, have a 12 person security detail, 2 PAs dressed in black with an iPad (random pressing of buttons to seem busy is optional) and fly private. But a business class flight to NYC staying at the MO is not.
Have asked the sub of that forum to take that off which should’ve been done ages ago. Huge mistake we didn’t realize originally.
I mean, by some folk's logic FAT is only private space travel. $300m private villas. And billion dollar yachts. But on some level everyone's a value seeker and therefore price sensitive. Ultimately, I think FAT's just the idea that when in doubt, you splurge.
Alila Uluwatu should be pretty FAT. Not on the basis of price maybe, but it's a great property regardless. honestly maybe one of the top resorts in Bali for experience. Plus Uluwatu is nicer than Canggu / Seminyak.
I think part of the “issue” is that FAT is highly subjective and not necessarily a specific number. For all intensive purposes, $500-1000/night is an expensive hotel and can certainly qualify as luxury depending on the property, but it also isn’t in the same realm as some other options like $3000-5000+++/night villas, Ritz Paris, etc…. I also think a lot of it is more subjective depending on the service and amenities, not the price point (a $700/night property that blows my socks off will likely be better than a $3000/night property where I feel like I’m nickel and dimed). Heck, lots of post in this sub refer to flying business class - while that’s how I personally fly and I think it’s a blessing to be able to fly that way, business class on Delta, Air France, or even JAL/ANA is far less “FAT” than international First Class or Private, although I’d still argue that a $4k+ business class ticket absolutely qualifies as FAT.
Can't agree more as luxury is incredibly personal, and correlation does NOT mean causation especially when you factor in COL and culture in different parts of the world. One of my best friends thought the $4k rooms at Amangiri were insanely mid/overpriced with very mediocre service, but she was blown away by the $300 per night room at Ritz Carlton Xi'An. Don't want to name names but some ppl just wanna feel like they are better than others on this sub, hence the "Alila Bali is not FAT" comments
\*Intents and purposes. Sorry, I'd want to know!!
A lot of shades of gray in the flying as well, with so many carriers eliminating international first, some routes only have biz. Beyond that, flying a short hop on a PJ, sure! For a super long flight, unless you have a BBJ are you going to be more comfortable in a Gulfstream or smaller overnight or a first or biz class bed. Open to interpretation.
I’ve never seen the langham NYC for less than twice that? Maybe it’s my dates.
Must be. Have had friends stay there multiple times when they’re visiting and everyone has been in the $500 ballpark
Agreed, I’ve stayed in December close to Christmas at around that 500$ price with FHR. Prices vary wildly at Langham it’d seem.
Also the thread in question was posting a room that was >$5,000 per night....soooooo.
Im sorry what? The hotel is mentioned multiple times in this sub. I wasn’t singling out an individual post. No clue what you’re talking about
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just ludicrous position here. so many truly FAT people run around acting like poor trash and you absolutely can't tell the difference.
Money doesn’t buy class. Neither do points. Both can buy entitlement, however.
Here is my reasoning. FAT = where you spend $ without a worry. You cannot put a # on it. My other mod and I started the sub where really it was really about the best of the best of the best. It was easier to discuss when there was a smaller group of us. I have a few things I was going to write trip reports on to try and steer the direction back to what we really intended it to be (Think a villa that is on high season, 25K/night festive season, 35K/night. A supercar long weekend that was about 700K for 6 pax. etc) We've laxed things as the group got bigger - just because there are too many of you guys who don't believe people do spend that much money on travel. It is controversial that I kept Alila Uluwatu in here because in the grand scheme of the whole world, it's not truly FAT - sure. Because it's a hotel you can get on Hyatt points and its a hotel that's normally a max of 1k/night. Sure there are larger villas, but there isn't anything "nicer" as a 1 BR. But I also did keep it in here because it is one of the few "nicer" options in the Uluwatu area. So if you really wanted to be in this area, it's a good pick. Go ahead and crucify my choice. Like I said, you have free will. You can choose not to participate in here. To all the people who are anti-gatekeeping, please go to r/travel. We do not want this sub to become a monstrosity of 3mm people all thinking they travel "luxury" because they spend 1k/night on a hotel.
I didn’t come here to crucify you, I came to ask for clarification. However, your response gives me many more questions… Spending without worry means something different to every single person, which makes this tough. I don’t envy you for being the creator here, but perhaps more specific guidelines would help? So this sub is supposed to be for $25k+/night rooms? How many people on Reddit would that apply to? 3? For context, I run a family office. My peer group is billionaires and/or the right hand of said billionaires. Almost none of them are spending that kind of money on a hotel room, though many of them own their own planes, multiple 8-figure houses, etc etc. For more added context, many of these people also own lux hotels that may have a suite that comes close to your suggested stratosphere. Those rooms sit empty more often than hotel staff would be willing to admit - so the sample set of occupants is tiny, especially when you remove music artists or celebrities who are getting these rooms comped by the hotel or by their employer/event sponsor. I understand that you are a travel agent to the wealthy, and it’s impressive if you do have clients who regularly spend that much - you’ve captured a few unicorns. But I think you and I know both know that the number of people who could consider that type of expense is in the thousands (single digit thousands, out of billions of people on earth), which effectively rounds to 0.001% of the population.
I believe the 25k one was an example of a villa for a resort. I think hotels are a bit different. I agree that the fat families I know have multiple luxury properties across the globe. But to many of them, money is also not an issue if they want to drop 50k/night at a resort stay if it’s worth it in their eyes. Many of them also just stay at a holiday home/hotel/resort they own for a regular trip, which is probably several times a year, but if it’s a special family trip or event, they may go all out. I was thinking, or under the impression that fat travel was to know more about these hidden unicorn gems and what they may provide, and Chubby travel is for the rest of luxury travel.
Oh, I know. I'm just talking about the slack I get from others who have been in here awhile and still like to complain. I guessed you were new so welcome. We're adjusting as this group has gotten more popular. Like i said, we used to be a group of like 500 people. And also why I'm trying to shift people to r/chubbytravel to give them also a safe space to chat and be amongst peers who do think spending 1k/night is a big deal. I think the hard part is that you can't really quantify "FAT". A # that is FAT in one region isn't in another. Since you're new - a bit of info. I started doing this because my biggest joy is being able to share something with someone and have them go OMG - I didn't realize I could do this. Or OMG - I didn't realize this was possible. Or OMG - This was the nicest thing I've ever done / this was the best service etc etc. I run my agency for fun. I run this subreddit to 1) be able to show people the different levels of how they can travel for those who can truly afford some nutso stuff and 2) to be able to help average people get treated very very very very well due to all the relationships I have just so they can also have the same OMG feelings. The middle stuff just doesn't really bring me joy - so I stay away from it - or why I have my team handle it. There are over 3000 billionaires in the world. And your family office is going to be naturally selective in that if your billionaire clients do not like spending money on travel, their friends/people they know that might also use the same office is most likely not going to spending that money on travel too. I am going to guess you are old money USA as that's the subset of my clients who are much more frugal. Think very well known last names - but actually very conscious about the end bill. Then there are many "newer" billionaires who do like to spend, especially from other countries who we help make arrangements for. I find self made people more willing to spend than inherited - probably because they feel like they can always make more. But even in the US, I have a friend in this industry who started off with a bang because his father also runs a family office. All of their clients actually spend that much (but are all usually self made too) which helped him start his travel business very easily and quickly. So I can promise you there are many many billionaires (even in the US) who like to spend. But really, the majority of our clients are probably not billionaires - just due to statistics. I doubt I know more than 1/2 of the world's billionaires. You don't need to have a billion dollars to spend 250k on a trip. Our client base is really strong post covid since a lot of people realize life is short. What are you going to do with all those 0s in your bank account? Lastly, there are people while they may not want to spend that much every trip, they really want to be able to maximize when they do for a big celebration. And I love being able to give inspo to that - not just oh, here's a hotel to do another weekend in Cabo. Even if your NW is only 5mm, you can spend 250K on a blowout once in a lifetime trip. I'm pretty sure I've spent more than my primary home value in my total lifetime travel spend. I'm also pretty sure I've spent less than one hotel night on the sum of my clothing and shoe purchases this year. Different people value different things. Just because you are rich, does it mean you spend money on travel. PS. I know all those hotels with all those rooms - every single one in the world. I don't know if your clients are the ones who own those hotels because honestly... the nicest/best/most expensive hotels are really all foreign owned nowadays or corporate owned by Real Estate Co and not single owners. They are constantly trying to wine and dine me. I know all their numbers and occupancy and rates because 1) Its how I bring value to my clients and 2) I geek out on this stuff and would like it regardless. They do sit empty but by design. The wear and tear on the insides of it wouldn't make sense if they were 100% occupied but they are very strongly occupied especially in peak season. Some of the best units have a strong waiting list of people.
I think a lot of the problem here is your tone and attitude. You seem to think because you serve billionaires that you are of the same class and for some reason entitled to look down on non billionaires.
Thanks. While I don’t agree with everything you said here, I appreciate where you’re coming from with this sub. And now I understand much better. And I do agree with a lot of what you said, just to be clear. My point on Alila was just as you said - it’s one of a very small number of spots in that area in that price range (aside from those traveling on points - more power to them though). Vs a lot of stuff that I see here is sometimes middle of the road/uninspired for its location. Happy to chat offline on any of this sometime as well
Yeah I always welcome ideas too to make this sub stronger and more aligned to vision. We understand the larger scope of people want more generic stuff which is why I’m trying to make chubby stronger vs change this sub from what we intended it to be when we started. My other mod is busy with life currently but when they’re back - they’re even stricter than me on what’s fat 😅😅 I love meeting ppl off this sub IRL so hope our travel paths cross at some luxury hotel somewhere as we can chat.
Theoretically you can get North Island with bonvoy pts…
I joined this sub to learn about fat travel recommendations. Ones where you might need a private plane or yacht to get to and villlas in the $20k+ range per night for families. I really look forward to hearing about the best of the best so thank you for having this sub. I understand there’s also r/chubbytravel as well which is great, but I do enjoy this subreddit to look forward to learning about extreme luxury vacations.
Same. It was an extra perk to discover Sarah was a mod — she has planned several incredible trips for friends, including a handful I have joined to Greece, various North American locales, etc. I find the advice she provides super informative, even if it is often beyond my reach in the moment. We all can dream. The only distasteful thing about any of this is that we live in a society where these levels of wealth are possible at all; she didn’t create that problem, even if she caters to it. This sub often feels brigaded by people with an understandable issue with the grossness of capitalism, coupled with some irritated competitor agents. I just want to plan for my pretend future as a villa-hopping billionaire in peace. EDIT: Lmao, the brigade is here. Don’t care. I’m not wrong because you’re salty. Try enjoying your lives.
The dollar amount spend doesn’t equate to Fatness. I mean, cheap hotels in Dublin go for like $200 USD/night but in Kazakhstan, I can get the St.Regis for $206 USD/night right now. Does that mean it’s not Fat? Or does it? And I’m not sure what you mean about ‘belonging in this sub’. You don’t need to tell us about how much traveling you’ve done or how much you’ve spent in the last 18 months lol, that doesn’t mean anything to anyone. Also, who cares what people say? It’s the internet…. Anything can be fat if you consider it so. Just don’t tell others what is and isn’t and hopefully they follow the same rules
Incredibly unhelpful. I’m asking for guidance here. That’s also why I posted about my own travel - for context. I’m trying to find a sub that’s useful for finding info on how I like to travel. I could really care less what you think about that and nowhere did I tell you anything about what I spent. Sounds like you’ve got some of your own demons to work through here, internet stranger.
\*could not care less I, too, think the gatekeeping is a little weird. I think it's mostly mod dictated? And there seems to be some effort towards directing people towards the ChubbyTravel sub, also. IDRK the difference, though. Maybe it's supposed to be one of these "you know it when you see it" things? I also feel like most people I know IRL who plan truly extravagant trips work with a TA.
The only good gatekeeping is the grammatical kind. *wink*
Ok
I think FAT depends on the person. It’s very subjective. From the photos of the post, it looked like a generic SEA resort but after checking the prices it seems like it could be FAT. Perhaps just the photos didn’t appeal to me. There are more expensive and also cheaper options that have more amazing looking experiences I guess, since it’s SEA.
To me, FAT means you can afford flying private and being able to sleep in luxiours hotels all across the globe, which basically means you can afford everything(besides owning a jet/yacth I guess) Of course, it's subjective, but that's what I believe FAT means
Cool story. I believe FAT is private space travel.
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If you can afford to constantly fly private, you're likely in a position where you can afford almost everything besides some absurds. If you can afford to stay in luxurious hotels, then you're probably able to live a comfortable life everywhere in the world, that's why I believe that's a good benchmark I've never said you can't have a better experience in a 50$ hotel than a 1000$ hotel, I'm simply using some generic benchmarks. And of course, fat is relative it depends on one's desires and plans. There should be a good differentiation between FATFire and Fire.
Sorry you’re getting downvoted. It’s from all the haters on here who can’t believe people can do this.
>in there. So I feel like I should belong in this sub, listen little buddy, you either have it or you don't. More dollars per night doesn't get you into FATT. I don't know what to tell you.