How Amex Travel Will Use Brand Trust To Win The Luxury Consumer

I sat down recently with American Express Travel President Audrey Hendley to discuss luxury travel.

Amex has spent more than a century building a travel business and Ms. Hendley is the lead steward of this esteemed brand.

American Express Travel’s next phase is less about selling an isolated flight or hotel room and more about connecting the entire journey—from inspiration and booking to airport lounges, premium hotels, dining and access to the live events that motivate people to travel in the first place.

That is an ambitious strategy, but recent performance provides evidence that customers are responding.

American Express reported that its travel bookings grew 22% year over year in the second quarter. At the corporate level, second-quarter revenue rose 10% to $19.6 billion, Card Member spending increased 9% on an FX-adjusted basis and earnings per share climbed 11% to $4.53. The company raised its full-year revenue-growth outlook to 10%.

Hendley sees those results as validation of a broader thesis: Premium travelers increasingly define luxury not only by the quality of a hotel or airplane cabin, but also by how much time, friction and uncertainty a brand can remove from the journey.

“We want to be bigger than just coming to us to book a flight,” Hendley told me. “We want to be bigger than just transactional relationships. We want customers to get more out of life with their American Express Card and, ergo, get more out of their travel journey.”

Luxury Is Increasingly Measured In Time & Freedom

The classic symbols of luxury still matter. Travelers continue to value iconic hotels, premium cabins and great food. But they are no longer a complete definition of the category.

Hendley points to the contrast between a traditional palace hotel and a property such as Wildflower Farms in New York’s Hudson Valley, where cabins, nature, farm experiences and a communal fire pit can feel every bit as luxurious as chandeliers and marble. The common denominator is not a particular design language. It is an experience that feels distinctive, restorative and difficult to replicate.

“Luxury is about time, it’s about ease, it’s about access and personalization and knowing me—and getting more out of every trip,” Hendley said.

That expanded definition matters because the premium traveler’s scarcest asset often is not money. It is time. A seamless itinerary, priority access or trusted help when plans go wrong can be more valuable than another physical amenity. The opportunity for Amex is to use its combination of customer relationships, service, data and partners to make those separate benefits feel like one experience.

“Beyond premium products, travellers are looking for frictionless journeys, personalised service and meaningful experiences that make the most of their time,” said Gloria Guevara, president and CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

The company’s network includes digital planning tools, travel counselors, thousands of partners and access to more than 1,500 airport lounges globally, including its growing Centurion Lounge footprint. Amex is also expanding the hotel side of the ecosystem. Fine Hotels + Resorts marked its 35th anniversary this year, while American Express Travel announced more than 350 additions across its premium hotel programs. In the first quarter, bookings through Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection grew approximately 50% year over year.

Luxury travel is moving beyond access.

Stuart McNeill, CEO of Knightsbridge Circle, a platform for Ultra High Net Worth consumers explained the real value is having someone who knows you well enough to say, “Don’t do that—do this instead.” That’s where a great concierge earns their money. The test for Amex is whether its broad network can deliver that kind of judgment consistently at scale, across both human service and digital planning.

“For us, the ambition is bringing all of those pieces together into an increasingly seamless journey that’s very personalized for a Card Member,” Hendley said.

This is an important strategic distinction. A collection of benefits can help sell a premium card. An integrated ecosystem can build a deeper habit—and give customers more reasons to begin their travel planning inside the Amex brand.

Travelers Expect Every Trip To Count

The desire to maximize limited vacation time is also changing what people expect from a trip. The Amex 2026 Global Travel Trends Report found that 66% of global respondents planned to travel to celebrate someone else’s milestone. Among those extending a milestone trip, 72% planned to add at least three or four days.

The implication is that consumers are not necessarily trying to accumulate the largest possible number of trips. They are being more intentional about the trips they do take—and more willing to invest in making them memorable.

“Travelers are increasingly intentional about the trips they take. They’re not focused on taking more trips,” Hendley said. “They want the time and money they spend today to result in something meaningful and memorable.”

James Smith, CEO of InvitedHome, put the stakes in personal terms when we met at Skift Global Forum: “How many spring breaks do you get with your kids? If the brand falls short, you can’t get your time back.”

That creates an opening for brands that can understand the purpose behind a trip. A hotel stay connected to a wedding, reunion, major birthday or long-awaited sporting event carries different needs and emotions than a routine overnight stay. Personalization becomes more valuable when it is based not only on what a customer has purchased before, but on what this particular trip is meant to accomplish.

For travel brands, “make every trip count” should be more than a campaign line. It should shape product design. Give customers meaningful choice. Help them extend a milestone trip without adding planning friction. Use known preferences to narrow options, but preserve room for discovery. Most importantly, be ready to help at the moments when time and memories are most at risk.

Live Events Are Driving The Destination Decision

Live events are accelerating the same shift.

Increasingly, travelers choose a concert, game or festival first and build the destination around it. The event is no longer simply one item on the itinerary. It is the reason the itinerary exists.

“Sports tourism is incredibly interesting because it reflects a broader shift that we’re seeing: the experience itself becoming the destination,” Hendley said. “It’s true for concerts, too.”

Amex research shared by Hendley found that 24% of global respondents planned to travel within their market for a sporting event in 2026, up from 21% the prior year. Nearly 80% of U.S. American Express Card Members identify as sports fans.

American Express is positioning itself close to that demand.

The company became the NFL’s official payments partner in 2026, complementing relationships across Formula 1, the NBA, WNBA, U.S. Open and Wimbledon. These partnerships can create Card Member access, but their travel value may extend well beyond the venue. Someone flying to Paris, Madrid, Melbourne or Rio for an international NFL game is likely to need flights, several hotel nights, restaurant reservations and other experiences.

Hendley’s own family illustrates the pattern. Her son rows in college, and the family traveled to Boston for five days around the Head of the Charles Regatta—even though the race itself lasted only one day. A single event became the anchor for a much larger trip.

This behavior should influence how travel and loyalty brands think about customer journeys. The winning experience may begin with a ticket, but it expands into lodging, dining, transportation and access. Brands that recognize the motivating event early can curate the rest of the trip around it.

Trust Is The Advantage—And The Obligation

Amex enters this competition with a valuable asset: trust.

Customers already rely on the company to facilitate payments and, in difficult moments, to have their backs. Extending that relationship deeper into travel can reduce the anxiety that comes with expensive and emotionally important trips.

But trust raises the standard. The more of the journey a brand promises to connect, the more noticeable every disconnected handoff becomes. A premium ecosystem must feel coherent across the app, website, lounge, hotel and human service experience. Personalization must save time rather than merely produce more recommendations.

Hendley describes the strategy as sustained innovation rather than a finished product.

“Travel is important to American Express. It’s in the DNA of American Express,” she said. “It has been a constant road of innovation for the last hundred years, and we anticipate the same as we move forward.”

The broader lesson for premium brands is that luxury is moving from possession toward orchestration. The best experience is not simply the most expensive room, the hardest-to-get seat or the most exclusive lounge. It is the confidence that the pieces will work together—and that the brand knows which pieces matter most to you.

American Express is betting that its payments relationship, travel infrastructure and access partnerships can deliver that confidence at scale.

If it succeeds, the company will be selling something more valuable than a booking: more meaningful experiences from the time customers have.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com