Recently, I came across an article in *Business Travel India* titled **“Why Personalised Service Remains the True Luxury,”** written by Bob Suri, General Manager of Four Seasons Hotel Abu Dhabi. As someone who has spent more than two decades creating experiences for visitors to Sedona and Arizona’s Verde Valley, the article immediately resonated with me.
Not because it introduced some revolutionary new concept in hospitality, but because it put into words something I have believed for years:
**True luxury isn’t necessarily about giving people more. It is about understanding what they need, when they need it, and having the flexibility and experience to act on it.**
Suri makes an important distinction between *remembering* a guest and truly *understanding* them. Hotels today can store enormous amounts of information about their guests—favorite beverages, room preferences, birthdays, anniversaries, dietary requirements and travel history. All of that information can be useful. But as Suri points out, information alone is not personalization. It simply provides context. ([thebusinesstravelindia][1])
That idea could almost serve as a philosophy for what we have spent years building at **Wine Tours of Sedona**.
## We Don’t Want to Simply Know Our Guests. We Want to Understand Them.
When someone books a wine tour with us, there are obvious things we want to know.
Do you prefer red wine or white?
Are you celebrating an anniversary?
Is this your first trip to Sedona?
Do you consider yourself a serious wine enthusiast, or are you simply interested in having a wonderful afternoon?
Do you prefer intimate boutique vineyards or beautiful properties where you can sit outside and enjoy Arizona’s scenery?
Those questions are useful.
But the real personalization often begins after I pick you up.
A guest might tell me that she normally drinks Chardonnay, but while we’re talking I discover that what she’s really excited about is photographing the vineyards.
Someone may tell me he’s interested in wine, but twenty minutes later I realize he’s fascinated by Arizona history.
A couple may originally plan to visit several wineries, only to find themselves sitting beneath the cottonwoods at a beautiful vineyard overlooking Oak Creek thinking, *Why would we want to leave?*
That is where an itinerary stops being a schedule and starts becoming an experience.
And there is a big difference between the two.
## The Itinerary Should Serve the Guest—not the Other Way Around
One thing we have always emphasized at Wine Tours of Sedona is flexibility.
I believe strongly that your vacation should belong to **you**.
If you’re having an incredible time somewhere, my first thought shouldn’t be, *We have to leave because the itinerary says we’re supposed to be somewhere else.*
My first thought should be:
**Would leaving right now actually make their day better?**
Sometimes the answer is yes.
Sometimes the answer is absolutely not.
Perhaps you discovered a wine you love and want another glass.
Perhaps you’re sitting outside on a beautiful Arizona afternoon and nobody wants to move.
Perhaps you’ve started talking with a winemaker and you’re genuinely fascinated by the conversation.
Or perhaps the opposite happens.
Maybe a particular winery simply isn’t connecting with you. Maybe you’d rather have lunch. Maybe you’d like to see some of Sedona’s red rocks before returning to your hotel.
Why should you be trapped by an itinerary that was created before we even met you?
To me, that isn’t luxury.
Luxury is having choices.
Luxury is having someone knowledgeable enough to recognize those opportunities and flexible enough to do something about them.
## More Isn’t Always Better
Another point in Suri’s article that really struck me is his discussion of the assumption that more personalization—or simply *more of everything*—must automatically mean better luxury service.
It doesn’t.
Sometimes doing less is actually the more thoughtful thing to do. Suri describes great service as something that may be discreet or almost invisible. Luxury can simply mean making life easier: eliminating unnecessary waiting, avoiding needless ceremony and understanding what somebody wants without forcing them to ask repeatedly. ([thebusinesstravelindia][1])
I think this lesson is incredibly relevant to the tour industry.
It is easy to market experiences by counting things.
Three wineries.
Four tastings.
Five stops.
Seven hours.
More wine.
More food.
More activities.
But I’ve never believed that visiting five wineries automatically creates a better experience than visiting three extraordinary ones.
If you’re sitting somewhere you love, drinking wine you love, with people you care about, why should I rush you away simply so we can check another location off a list?
The number of stops doesn’t create the memory.
**The quality of the moments does.**
That philosophy has become increasingly important to me as Wine Tours of Sedona has evolved.
I don’t want our guests thinking, *Wow, we accomplished a lot today.*
I want them thinking:
**“That was one of the best days of our trip.”**
Those are two entirely different objectives.
## Sometimes the Most Important Things Guests Tell Us Aren’t on the Reservation Form
Suri refers to little pieces of information revealed during ordinary conversation as **“golden nuggets.”** They aren’t necessarily things someone deliberately puts into a customer profile. They emerge naturally. The challenge is recognizing them and understanding when they create an opportunity to do something meaningful. ([thebusinesstravelindia][1])
I love that concept because it describes exactly what happens on our tours.
People say things.
Sometimes very casually.
“This is our anniversary.”
“My wife has never been to Arizona.”
“My dad used to live here.”
“I love big, earthy red wines.”
“I’ve always wanted to see Cathedral Rock.”
“We’re actually thinking about moving to Sedona.”
“My friend planned this whole trip for my birthday.”
“We love dogs.”
“We haven’t eaten anything since breakfast.”
“We’re not really wine experts.”
Every one of those statements tells me something.
But the objective isn’t to collect information.
The objective is to **listen**.
Maybe the anniversary couple needs a particularly beautiful photograph together.
Maybe someone who has never visited Arizona would really appreciate a scenic detour.
Maybe the person who says they aren’t a wine expert needs reassurance that wine tasting isn’t a test and there is no “correct” answer.
Maybe the person who loves bold reds needs to know which Arizona wines might surprise them.
Maybe the group that hasn’t eaten since breakfast doesn’t need another tasting right now.
They need lunch.
That may sound incredibly simple.
But I think this is where genuine hospitality lives.
## Technology Can Help Us Remember. People Help Us Understand.
I use technology throughout my business.
Reservation systems help us stay organized. Customer relationship management tools help us communicate. Automation helps us answer questions. Artificial intelligence increasingly helps me accomplish office work faster and more efficiently.
I believe strongly in using technology when it makes the customer experience better.
But I also agree with Suri’s observation that technology eventually reaches a boundary.
A computer can tell me what someone preferred yesterday.
It cannot always tell me what that person needs today.
It cannot fully interpret a hesitation, a smile, a change in someone’s energy, a tired expression or the difference between guests who want their guide involved in the conversation and guests who simply want to enjoy time together. ([thebusinesstravelindia][1])
That still requires people.
It requires experience.
It requires emotional intelligence.
And it requires judgment.
I’ve always believed a great tour guide shouldn’t feel like someone reading from a script.
A great guide should know when to tell a story and when to stop talking.
When to educate and when to let people simply enjoy their wine.
When to recommend something and when to let the guest discover it for themselves.
When to keep moving and when to stay.
That human judgment is becoming increasingly valuable precisely because so much of travel is becoming automated.
## What Does Luxury Actually Mean?
The word **luxury** gets used constantly in travel.
Luxury hotels.
Luxury vehicles.
Luxury tours.
Luxury amenities.
And those things certainly have value.
But I think we’ve reached a point where the word needs a better definition.
For me, luxury means waking up on vacation and knowing somebody else has already thought about the details.
You don’t have to decide who is driving.
You don’t need to determine which wineries are worth visiting.
You aren’t staring at Google Maps trying to understand where Page Springs, Cornville, Cottonwood and Sedona are in relation to one another.
You aren’t constantly watching the clock.
You aren’t worrying about drinking and driving.
You aren’t trying to figure out where to have lunch.
You aren’t rushing because another unrelated group needs to move on.
Someone who knows the area is taking care of those things for you.
**You simply get to experience the day.**
That is luxury.
And perhaps even more importantly, luxury means being able to change your mind.
“We’d like to stay here longer.”
Absolutely.
“We’re ready for lunch.”
Let’s find somewhere great.
“We thought we wanted another winery, but we’d really like to see more of Sedona.”
Let’s go.
“This wine isn’t really for us.”
I have another place in mind.
When you’re traveling privately, your day can actually respond to you.
## Luxury Looks Different to Every Guest
This is another reason I believe personalization matters so much.
There is no universal definition of a perfect day.
For a couple celebrating an anniversary, luxury may mean quiet, privacy, scenery, incredible wine and photographs together.
For a group of friends, luxury may mean laughter, music, beautiful vineyards and not having to worry about who’s driving home.
For someone passionate about wine, luxury may mean learning about Arizona terroir, grape varieties, winemaking techniques and the emerging reputation of the Verde Valley.
For corporate groups, luxury may be something entirely different.
It may simply mean that **everything works**.
Transportation arrives when it is supposed to.
Reservations are handled.
Dietary needs have been considered.
Everyone knows where they’re going.
The person who planned the company retreat doesn’t have to spend the day solving problems.
That person actually gets to participate in the experience they worked so hard to organize.
And for families, luxury may mean knowing that nobody is going to make them feel rushed because somebody needs a restroom, gets hungry, wants to stop somewhere unexpected or simply needs a few more minutes.
Different people.
Different needs.
Different definitions of luxury.
Which is precisely why I don’t believe extraordinary hospitality can ever be completely standardized.
## Our Experience Isn’t Really About Wine
Wine is obviously an important part of what we do.
The Verde Valley’s vineyards are extraordinary.
Arizona’s wine industry continues to grow and gain recognition.
I love introducing people to these places, these wines and the people behind them.
But after doing this for more than twenty years, I’ve realized something.
**Our real product isn’t wine.**
People can visit a winery without us.
They can order a tasting flight themselves.
They can search online for restaurants.
They can create their own driving route.
What they are really trusting us with is something considerably more valuable:
**Their time.**
Most visitors only have a few days in Sedona.
They may have saved for months—or years—to take this vacation.
They may be celebrating something they will never celebrate again.
A 25th anniversary.
A 50th birthday.
A bachelorette weekend.
A retirement.
A family reunion.
A marriage proposal.
Or simply a rare weekend when two people finally get away together.
When someone gives us five hours of their vacation, I don’t take that lightly.
Our responsibility is not simply to transport them between wineries.
Our responsibility is to make those five hours worthy of the time they’ve entrusted to us.
## The Question I Want Us to Keep Asking
Toward the end of the article, Suri describes a simple question he asks his team:
**How can I make this guest’s stay more memorable?** ([thebusinesstravelindia][1])
I think there is a Wine Tours of Sedona version of that question that perfectly summarizes what I want our guides and our company to continually ask:
### **What can I do right now to make this guest’s day better?**
Sometimes the answer might be another winery.
Sometimes it’s lunch.
Sometimes it’s a scenic overlook.
Sometimes it’s another glass of wine.
Sometimes it’s sharing a story about Sedona.
Sometimes it’s changing the itinerary.
Sometimes it’s taking a great photograph.
And sometimes it’s knowing that the best thing we can do is step back and allow our guests to enjoy the moment.
That’s hospitality.
And to me, that is luxury.
After more than two decades of sharing Sedona and the Verde Valley with visitors from around the world, I continue to believe that the best tours aren’t the ones where everything happens exactly according to plan.
They’re the ones where we understand our guests well enough to recognize when the plan should change.
Because ultimately, I don’t want someone finishing a Wine Tours of Sedona experience saying:
**“They took us on a great tour.”**
I want them to feel:
### **“They created a day that felt like it was made just for us.”**
That is the standard I believe we should strive for.
That is what personalized service means to me.
And that is why Bob Suri’s article resonated with me so deeply.
—
**Inspired by:** Bob Suri, General Manager of Four Seasons Hotel Abu Dhabi, *“Why Personalised Service Remains the True Luxury,” Business Travel India*, August 20, 2026. ([thebusinesstravelindia][1])
[1]: https://thebusinesstravelindia.com/people/why-personalised-service-remains-true-luxury-4811.html “Why Personalised Service Remains the True Luxury”
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