French know-how, heritage, and traditions are the essence of luxury. This expertise is acknowledged globally – nearly 85% of all French luxury goods are exported. But, with the rise of new markets such as China and Russia, is France still the world’s top reference for luxury?

A global survey on the perception of German luxury arrived at the word “perfection”. But HSBC’s Luxury Goods report lists only one German company, and German’s traditionally prefer to buy designer goods from Italy, UK and France. Is German luxury really driven by function over form?

What is luxury? How does strategy in the luxury sector work? And what can it teach other brands? Marco Bevolo, one of the authors ofPremium by Design: how to understand, design and market high end products, provides a vision of the business of prestige, desire and seduction.

Chinese tourists are expected to make over 200 million trips by 2020; three times more than tourists from the US. But how are Chinese tastes affecting the world’s most expensive hotel rooms? What can hotels do to make these tourists feel welcome on their first trips abroad?