One thing the very rich avoid at all costs is Christmas in Britain. The most magical time of year is miserable when not spent aboard a superyacht in the Caribbean or partying on a beach in the Maldives. With omicron circling, however, escaping Britain’s overcast skies has become a matter of extreme urgency – not just for Christmas, but until any potential lockdown is over. “They do not care what they have to spend,” explains luxury travel consultant Julia Perowne, founder of Perowne International. “Britain’s billionaires are scrambling to book villas, chalets and yachts with five-star facilities. The problem is, they can’t get in anywhere.”
Most have fled already, which is why, even with all the money in the world, you can’t book a serviced villa in the Caribbean until Easter. Eden Roc in St Barths, where staffed properties cost from £386,000 per week, is gearing up for its best season on record, as is Harbour Island in the Bahamas. The same goes for yachts – charter companies, sensing a bumper winter, moved their whole fleets to the Caribbean this autumn where the super wealthy are paying up to £600,000 per week to spend Christmas on Covid-secure vessels with spas, Michelin-standard chefs and watersports instructors.
“Rather than having to create the joy, we can simply enjoy,” explains the mother of a family chartering a 165ft motor yacht in the Caribbean through Northrop & Johnson. “My husband and I feel like kids again as the crew deck the halls; we’re reconnecting with the rest of the family in privacy without worrying about any of the holiday prep.” On charters with Cecil Wright and Partners, guests can choose to spend Christmas Day on board with turkey and a tree, or at their own private club set up by the crew on a deserted beach. “It can be themed for the children – Pirates of the Caribbean is proving popular,” says Lucinda Rosen, a broker for Cecil Wright & Partners.
Mexico is top choice for those who missed out on the Caribbean; Perowne’s billionaire friends are booking into resorts such as Esencia on the Riviera Maya for the next two months. Meanwhile, in Europe, Scandinavia is the destination of choice, particularly now France has locked us out; at super luxury resorts such as the £1700-a-night Loggers Lodge, billionaires can engage in gnarly outdoor adventure before returning to their Covid-secure cabin, complete with chef, wood-fired sauna and al fresco hot tub.
“Lapland is going to be so cool – we’ll be taken around by huskies in a heated pod,” enthuses one entrepreneur who is flying to Swedish Lapland with her husband and three children on Christmas Eve. “The thousands I’ve spent on merino thermals for the kids will probably turn out to be a waste of money.”
Meanwhile in Switzerland, Ski Verbier Exclusive is organising Covid-friendly ski holidays, where guests are whisked off heliskiing each day or on gentle ski tours with a decadent picnic hamper, thus avoiding ski lifts entirely. “I’m not missing out on my Christmas ski fix but equally I’m not going near a crowded mountain restaurant,” maintains one luxury property developer who is jetting to Switzerland next week. Those who were off to Courchevel in France, have rerouted to luxury chalets costing up to €225,000 per week in Lech in Austria, which is now out of lockdown, albeit with apres-ski cancelled.
