What is the ‘Experience Generation’?

Observers note that the younger generation seems to be spending more on travel and experiences than on ultra-luxury brands.

I have a few theories on that, backed by a course in Management of Luxury Brands and Companies from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy (where a younger-generation Gucci got her business degree):

Luxury brands are as expensive, if not more expensive, than travel and other experiences. If your luxury item gets stolen, it could be gone for good. But the memories given by travel and experiences could not be stolen and could last a lifetime.

While it is true that a luxury brand could be resold or pawned, it only becomes an investment if it is, one, rare and well-taken care of and maintaining luxury stuff is also expensive. Two, if you are a somebody, say, a celebrity, and your name adds to the luxury product’s value.

Knockoffs of luxury brands are getting better, making it easier for people today to save money by buying fakes and spend more on experiences instead.

Due to digital age, today’s generation has become more discerning and educated on how to spot real versus fake. But the Internet also opened the floodgates for e-shopping copycats.

Experiences, however, are unique from one person to another, even if it is from the same show, food or travel destination.

As an answer to fakes and to counter losing customers to experiences, luxury brands now have been incorporating or selling experiences and not just products. Apart from free coffee, chocolates or champagne, some brands offer personalized butler and styling services. Some have also transformed their stores into interactive spaces — complete with “Instagram-worthy” walls and AI (Artificial Intelligence) art.

In Italy, for example, there are Gucci, Armani, Fendi, Prada and Ferragamo museums in Milan, Rome and Florence that you could add to your itinerary and where you could experience the fashion without buying luxury goods.

Buying a luxury item abroad, however, is more advisable than buying at a local store because not only it is cheaper minus taxes and tariffs; you can also score a very rare find as a travel memorabilia or souvenir that could appreciate over time. One of my shopping havens is Dubai, where there are great outlet stores for European brands, most especially Balmain. I was able to score there a unique Fendi and Versace “Fendace” collaboration baseball hat-scarf in one — the only piece at the store — and one of the last designs of Donatella Versace before she retired.

There are now more and inexpensive flights, enabling one to book a flight to anywhere, anytime. Unlike a luxury item like a Birkin, which you have to book years in advance. That trend has been replaced by booking a table in a premier restaurant in advance because for foodies like young actor Brent Manalo, eating is an experience.

“Me, I love spending on food. Today, if I have the time, I get to travel more because I really run after experiences. I like spending more on experiences,” Brent said as a response to my question at a group interview at the recent Maya Black launch in Makati City.

“Honestly, Maya Black is really for my generation, because in my generation, it’s cards and cashless, really. Very convenient,” attested the Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Collab Edition housemate.

At the launch, Maya introduced Black, “to elevate the credit card experience because this is the experience generation,” said Mags Surtida, the company’s head of credit cards business.

According to her, their brand is the country’s number one digital bank with millions of monthly active users. “We are the most popular banking app in the Philippines, be it traditional banks or digital banks. And we are proud to represent the Philippines as one of the world’s best banks, as recognized by Forbes for three years in a row.”

The large majority of their customers, she said, are in their 20s and 30s, “and we know them pretty well.”

“Travel is the number one personal goal… followed by concerts… They travel almost 30 percent more than the previous generations. They spent 66 percent more than 2024, and they are driving the growth for international travel by 27 percent, and half of them said they are willing to spend more than 50 percent of their budget on vacation,” she explained.

According to her, the “Experience Generation” “always makes a countdown of their next travel experience, of their next great adventure.”

The new credit card’s endorsers, Jericho Rosales, Julia Barretto and Maris Racal, though coming from different generations by birth date, count themselves as a part of “Experience Generation.”

For Jericho, nothing beats the experience of watching the movies in theaters. It could even be a help for the younger generation’s frequent worries about their mental health.

“Most days, even I know, a lot of kids feel alone even though we have social media and stuff. And being in a cinema makes you feel like you’re actually and the comforting feeling in cinema is so alive! And if you have your friends and your family with you and you watched something, it’s a great feeling that I I love it and you want to feel that palpable energy when you’re watching cinema, right?” he said.

Julia agreed, and for her, it is much better if cinema and travel are combined.

“You just keep falling in love with Japan each time you visit, so perspective just gets better and better. But more than anything, I’m so grateful, especially when you’re given the opportunity to work and also travel at the same time because you get to do what you love to do, which is to be on set and then you also get to do another thing that you love to do, which is to travel, so it was really a wonderful experience and just the isolation of just being there with the whole entire production. It was nice… It’s fun, aside from the fact that it’s a free travel,” she gushed.

For Racal, the greatest deal maker that made her say “yes” to being an endorser is the access to most airport lounges anywhere in the world, especially since she sometimes sleeps in lounges while waiting for her flight.

“I feel like it suits my very spontaneous lifestyle, and I would just like to circle back on the topic about traveling. I actually love to travel. I don’t know why, but I love to travel. I love the process of it. I love the packing part and going to the airport alone,” said the serial solo traveler.

“I rarely have solid plans so it’s just whatever. OK, I’ll go to the city and I’ll stay here for five days and I don’t know what to do, so I might hop from one city to another…”

My best generational experience

Speaking of Maris and her latest movie, Sunshine, I used to be a “Sunshine” in my younger years — I grew up in a chauvinistic household where women’s voices and achievements were stifled, so I became an ultra-feminist. I was pro-choice, I believed in “my body, my choice.” I did not see anything wrong about sleeping around or doing anything a person likes with her or his body. It was none of my business.

But then, I met my soon-to-be husband, Nicolo. He had been saving a part of his school allowances to donate to charities like Pro-Life Philippines. After college, Nicolo and I became a part of that foundation and, from there, I learned to respect my body as the temple of the Holy Spirit. I learned that true woman empowerment means valuing your body as a sacred vessel and using it for love and not out of whim.

Working at Pro-Life Philippines might have planted the seeds, but you know what really made me pro-life? It is carrying and holding my own babies!

A girl can fall in love many times in her lifetime; but for me, the truest love I have ever experienced, and my other mom friends nodded to that, is being a mother and be loved back by a child. None of Sunshine’s medals and accolades as an athlete could ever replace the experience she lost for giving up that baby to abortion. It is she — not the baby — who lost the golden and priceless opportunity of experiencing the best and truest love that God could ever give on this earth and on this lifetime.

Although I am an “ate” and the eldest of six siblings, I used to not like kids. I used to tell myself that I would probably just have one kid for posterity. I love to shop, but I used to detest toy stores and the children’s section of department stores. But ever since becoming a mom, those are the first spots I go to now and spend my money in!

Because for me, there is no bigger joy than seeing your children happy. Every hard-earned penny spent on them is worth every blood and tear shed.

That is exactly what I told Anne Curtis, my age-mate and contemporary, in a casual interview back then. She loves kids and she saw me pregnant, but she was having qualms of having her own child—fearing that she might be too busy to take care of her baby, might have many career commitments that might go for naught if she gets pregnant, and also, a worry that her body would be “ruined” by pregnancy.

I told her I used to feel the same way and all that she felt were normal and valid. But I assured her that she is already an accomplished person and as such, she could always have her career and body back with all the money and fame she built all these years. But she might never have the opportunity again to become a mom, so I told her what I experience: Life does not stop just because you became a mom.

Of course, there are trials and struggles, but motherhood is more of an addition to my life rather than a burden. It has taught me to dream more, dream bigger, because every accomplishment becomes twice more satisfying if shared with my children: Travels become more enjoyable and meaningful — even children’s parks like Disneyland bring out your inner child and relive fondest childhood memories — if you see them through the joy in your child’s eyes.

I’m happy that Anne listened to all of these, because a month after our conversation, she got pregnant and even danced acrobatically in stilettos at It’s Showtime on her first trimester — proving that she could do it in real life — be both a mother and something more — what Sunshine cannot do in the fictitious film.

Now, you might say it could be easy for me to say all these because I have money and resources. I actually was a college working scholar. My husband and I used to share a burger for dinner. We would work until wee hours so we would have some salary — and if we were unable to catch the last train, we would sleep outside the train station and wait for the next trip because it was all we could afford.

We were so poor, but we worked our way up! Thank God, we have been to at least 20 countries together with our two kids — not from corruption or taxpayers’ money — just from pure hard work — and strategic allocation of our resources, of course!

Even if you are not a parent, you could also experience the best and truest love and live your life to the fullest by being a parent to others. Living your life with purpose by sharing your gifts for the betterment of your community is the best experience to have and to give — whatever generation you might be in.