A recent BBC documentary “Time Shift: Hotel Deluxe” set out how luxury hotels meet the needs of all forms of wealth, from aristocrats to rock stars, through impeccable service and remaining at the cutting edge. Luxury hotels are a breeding ground of innovation; for example, they were the first places to have en-suite bathrooms, a trend which rapidly caught on in the private property sector.

The programme suggests that to understand luxury, we need look no further than luxury hotels, such as the Savoy, the Ritz, the Dorchester, which are synonymous with wealth and style around the globe. Even during the recession, new hotels were springing up – six in London – providing a case-in-point of their durability and continued relevance to luxury lifestyles.

When these hotels were first launched in their current incarnation, 150 years ago, these were for the few rather than the masses. Most people could not afford to visit them, and so they remained a symbol of aspiration. Although luxury hotels are now more accessible, as more people possess disposable incomes, the pull of what the programme dubs “clubability”, or meeting like-minded people, remains substantial; “your hotel says more about you than your cash ever can.”

But now that luxury hotels are de rigueur, what is next? The new super hotels, such as those in Dubai and the US which charge up to £20,000 a night provide a playground for the super rich, and these new hotels are just as exclusive as luxury hotels were in their beginnings.