NEW YORK – It was only a matter of time before quiet luxury hit the travel world. Reflecting a chic tendency towards the inconspicuous, it had already shown up nearly everywhere else, from fashion and furniture to sports cars and skincare.

Enter the unlisted suite, the secret accommodation that can be booked only by those who know it exists. Not only does it shun the customary online booking engine, but it also evades public awareness. These suites are wiped from hotel websites and missing from search results – all but phantoms in the highly visible, over-Instagrammed universe of luxury stays.

Pricing is available only by direct inquiry and you must really dig to see a photograph, or a description, in any published format. In the past year, they have sprouted by the dozens.

Take Villa de France, the new Jacques Grange-designed five-bedroom suite at Cheval Blanc in Saint Barts. It is a palatial retreat so discreetly nestled in the resort’s flora, it is nearly impossible to spot in real life. It is also nearly impossible to find online. Snoop and scroll through the hotel’s accommodation page deeply enough and you might come across a few details that confirm it exists, including mentions of the villa’s private spa and two infinity pools, but prospective guests get nary a clue about securing it for a night.

Those resourceful enough to call or e-mail the hotel can try their luck with one of Cheval Blanc’s reservation ambassadors. After a vetting process that has distinct parallels to buying an unlisted Birkin bag from Hermes, these representatives will determine whether the €30,000 (S$44,400)-a-night villa is available.

Ms Christelle Hilpron, general manager of Cheval Blanc in Saint Barts, confirms the reason for the secrecy. “Complete privacy,” she says.

With a chef’s kitchen, a 10-person dining table, private spa and fitness centre, and direct access to Flamands Beach, the villa makes it possible to avoid interaction with the resort’s other guests. 

“It also allows us to fully understand their needs, preferences and expectation,” adds Ms Hilpron.

Other accommodation is even more elusive.

The Newt in Somerset, in Bruton, England, is home to an exquisite collection of rooms and suites filled with Georgian antiques, crackling fireplaces and oversize bathtubs. None is more private than Gate Lodge, a two-bedroom cottage that was quietly added to the 405ha estate’s grounds in 2022.

It comes with plenty of extras – an open-plan kitchen, a dedicated golf buggy and bicycles – but its secretive status is what is most tempting to in-the-know guests. The US$2,600 (S$3,500)-a-night accommodation is absent from the hotel’s website and can be booked only by calling the Newt’s reservation line.

Mr Jack Ezon, founder of the boutique travel firm Embark Beyond, says such rumoured accommodation carry a cachet equivalent to the unlisted phone numbers of the 1990s. It is more tempting than hard-to-get dinner reservations or clubs you cannot get into, given that the hideaways are virtually unknown.

In a world where everything is photographed, posted and reposted ad nauseam, there is something irresistible about going incognito, even if you are not a celebrity hiding from paparazzi.

“More and more clients want the unattainable,” says Mr Ezon, adding that many of his monied clients are concerned less with privacy and safety than going “somewhere that is not already plastered over Instagram – a place that no one has heard of or has access to”.

The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado, keeps secret accommodation that is like a resort inside a resort inside a resort. It is part of the little-known Cloud Camp, a cluster of mountaintop rooms and suites roughly 20 minutes from the Broadmoor’s main building.

The secluded, all-inclusive Fire Tower Suite is a two-storey, one-bedroom cabin that occupies a former fire tower, with a private hot tub set among the treetops. It starts at US$1,167 a night and can be booked only by phone.

The unlisted trend has hit the high seas too – a door marked “Staff Only” aboard Windstar’s Wind Surf cruise ship leads to a clandestine, one-bedroom Officer’s Suite, the only accommodation on the captain’s bridge deck. Rates vary according to sailing itineraries, and bookings can be made by phone.

For Bushcamp, a high-end safari operator in Zambia, going unlisted was less about creating the air of luxury and more about beta testing a new idea, says founder Andy Hogg. In 2022, he decided to upcycle a pair of large shipping containers that had been used for furniture deliveries, refitting them with large windows, spacious en-suite bathrooms and expansive living quarters.

Now, the former industrial containers are private homes at the entrance of South Luangwa National Park. Each comes with a private kitchen, alfresco dining area and accommodation for up to four guests in a more flexible and private safari stay, compared with the stringent – and often communal – camp experience.

Mr Hogg says keeping the accommodation hush-hush allows his team to continuously “finesse the offering, test how guests use the space and continue to innovate”.

Going unlisted is not always the best strategy, as the Mandarin Oriental, New York proved in 2022, when its 3,000 sq ft Suite 5000, long shrouded in mystery for its secretive status, suddenly appeared on the hotel’s website. It immediately saw a 31 per cent increase in bookings compared with 2019.

Still, says Ms Danielle Choi, the hotel’s director of marketing and commerce, the majority of reservations for the suite continue to come through direct contact, rather than through the site.

“In the rare case that a reservation is made online, our guest relations team immediately connects with guests to customise their stay,” she adds.

The personal touch was what inspired Ms Amanda Zaslow, co-owner of the Villa at Saugerties in New York’s Hudson Valley, to take her hotel almost entirely offline. None of the property’s guest rooms can be booked without calling or e-mailing; indeed, its website is just a splash page with contact information at the bottom.

“People sometimes call and say, ‘Did you know your website isn’t working?’” Ms Zaslow says with a laugh. “And I say, ‘Actually, it’s working exactly as intended’.”

Her motives are less about quiet luxury or exclusivity and more about providing a special experience, whether it is making sure a guest’s preferred refreshments are on hand or surprising them with a favourite bottle of wine – a gesture that can be made only by forging one-on-one relationships.

“A lot of guests think it’s really cool that they have to work a little harder to find us,” she says. “But it also gives us an opportunity to create a more curated stay for every person who walks through our doors.” BLOOMBERG