As millennials and Gen Z enter their prime earning years, we’re entering a high-dollar, low transaction, high experience society.

Heavy staff used to signify wealth and status. That’s no longer the world we live in. Millennials are an asset-light generation, and have different expectations.

And so at Oasi, we craft premium, staff-light, enriching experiences for the Modern Traveler. Intimacy and familiarity are the cornerstones of what we’re building.

The Modern Traveler seeks uniqueness and novelty. They travel to experience authentic connections—to the self, their partners, and nature.

How do you meet this need? Design for ultra-intimate experience to maximize a sense of connection.

Look at the life-changing experiences that people value the most, and you’ll find that they’re universally staff-light. Think Burning Man, hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, or surfing in Bali.

Transactions kill intimacy.

The presence of hotel staff kills a sense of intimacy and familiarity because it signifies the presence of a transaction. The dynamic of professional staff introduces the downside of making interactions less familiar, less connected, and more synthetic.

No matter how professional the staff is, it’s not an authentic connection. It’s hard to bond with your butler, and no one gets excited about strangers asking how you're doing.

Each of these moments of unfamiliarity reminds you that you’re experiencing a transaction. Added up over the course of your stay, these micro-transactional pings kill intimacy and familiarity.

Airbnb, especially in its early days, provides travelers with an authentic experience because it removes the presence of a transaction.

The recent backlash against Airbnb for high cleaning fees and lists of tasks to perform upon checkout is also a testament to this idea. Travelers have gotten used to the low-transaction nature of Airbnb, but these recent quality degradations bring in the transactional nature of a hotel.

Traditional Luxury versus Modern Hospitality

Traditional luxury hotels are staff-heavy.

From their point of view, it makes sense. Their goal is to commodify the luxury experience.

Commodified luxury can be provided through a high staff ratio, where staff exist to massage and handhold the transaction.

No one is excited to hear the knock of housekeeping staff on their door. The Modern Traveler would rather tidy their room themself than be interrupted by housekeeping staff knocking on their door daily.

When they travel, they want to get lost in their own world for 2 days and have a transformative experience.

No one stays at the Four Seasons and leaves saying “that was a transformative experience”.

Guests leave Onera saying their experience was transformative, because we’ve built an experience that allows for people to connect with themselves, their partners, and nature without interruption.

There’s no front desk with a tedious check-in process. There’s no housekeeping staff knocking on the door each morning. There’s no sign to put up on your door when you leave.

The overall effect is that we’ve crafted one of the most authentic experiences that a stay can provide.