Luxury Travel Advisor jetted out to Los Angeles in April for American Express Publishing’s annual Luxury Summit, which was held at the Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village (http://www.fourseasons.com). Luxury experts, from hoteliers and designers to entrepreneurs and actresses, made the scene to discuss what’s on the minds of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) and how best to serve them.

Right away, the tone was set with an address to delegates by keynote speaker Robert Frank, wealth reporter for the Wall Street Journal and author of Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich. Frank dissected the psyche of today’s newly affluent Americans, describing many of them as uncomfortable in their wealth. Often, Frank said, those individuals who make up the top percentage of America’s rich no longer desire to be the “neighbor on the street with the Hummer in his driveway.” Instead, Frank said, today’s HNWIs yearn for life experiences that set them apart from their peers. To illustrate, Frank told the story of a man he met in his research for Richistan who traveled with his family to Antarctica, where they studied penguin migration for 10 days. Not only did his subject enjoy an extravagant 10-day expedition with his family, but when he returned home to regale friends with tales of his family’s journey, no one knew how much he spent to make it happen. Frank’s point: Sell values, not value.

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