Beyond Thread Counts: Why ‘Vibe’ Is the New Luxury in Southeast Asia
An Orchan perspective on a shift that may - or may not - outlast the post‑COVID moment. Last week, the Economic Times ran a piece asking whether “vibe” is the new luxury. The evidence came from India’s hospitality sector: Marriott’s Moxy brand opening in Bengaluru with compact rooms and oversized lobbies, Accor publishing a “Vibe Menu” of emotional drivers, one veteran declaring that “the room is no longer the product. The tribe is.” It is tempting to read that as a blueprint for Southeast Asia. Tempting, and misleading. India is a single, vast, relatively contiguous market. Southeast Asia is eleven countries, dozens of languages, and consumer behaviours that vary more between Jakarta and Hanoi than between Mumbai and Delhi. A vibe that takes off in Bengaluru may not survive the flight to Bangkok. So let us look at what is actually happening here without assuming the Indian model travels, and without pretending the vibe economy is permanent. What the vibe economy claims to be The term ...
