It’s only now in the 21st century that we’re able to slot the words ‘luxury’ and ‘retirement’ into the same sentence. And it’s only in the current decade of the century that luxury retirement villages are truly making their insurgence on the market.
They’re successfully catering to the pensioner-populus tired of traditional games of bowls and weekly meetings of the University of the Third Age – and they’re doing a fine job at providing a demandingly high quality of life. From dining on five-star fine-cuisine to daily games of golf and oriental massages, it’s all there to be had in the new age of cushy retirement living.
Of course, with all things 5-star, there’s advertising that you’re the best and then there’s actually achieving that rating. You’re unlikely to get glamorous celebrities staying at the 3¼-star ‘best hotel in town’. So, the golden ticket to attracting the ritzy one-percenters for a life lived out in luxury is a 5-star hospitality rating. The following amenities will go a long way in ensuring that.
Essential lifestyle amenities for new-age, luxury retirement villages:
Watch this video to get a picture of modern, 5-star retirement life
Video: Arte Retirement Resort’s luxury lifestyle
1. Fine Dining
Don’t think ‘canteen’, think ‘restaurant’. That’s right, luxury retirement villages have 5-star dining facilities catering to the gourmet needs of high-end residents. And they’re becoming attractive places for top chefs to apply their trade. That sounds like a recipe for a good life.
2. Full Spa
Move over sauna, enter your new-age cousin – the full spa, fit with just enough masseuses and beauticians to ensure residents look and feel young and fresh for the rest of their lives. Pampering is a top-priority for residents with their minds set on a life of longevity – and so it should be.
3. Golf
Arguably the most widely played sport in the retiree demographic, golf is high on the list of essential activities for luxury retirement villages to provide for its residents. From mashie courses to the full links (some even have golf simulators), high end retirement communities are becoming more like in-house country clubs.
4. Room service
Most would synonimise turn-down services, hot towels and breakfast-in-bed with a honeymoon suite, but in luxury retirement communities, pampering room service comes standard. Except it’s less of a housekeeping service and more of your permanent caretaker coming to make sure you’re starting your day in the most sprightly way.
5. Gym
Personal trainers, a saltwater swimming pool, yoga, pilates and zumba classes, water aerobics: a fully-functioning gym with enough activities to be the neighbourhood Virgin Active is most definitely on the list of essential lifestyle amenities to keep luxury retirement village residents happy and healthy.
New-age luxury retirement villages cater to a variety of needs and tastes
Watch: The Wall Street Journal reviews high-end retirement communities
Video: Lifestyle amenities of the luxury retirement sort
While these are some of the common fancy amenities in luxury retirement villages across the world, each will have most certainly have its own appeal. Some retirees will be attracted to a country-living estate with exquisite sprawling gardens fit for French royalty. Others will prefer the more trendy modern apartments with a concierge and heated indoor infinity-pool.
Whatever the scope and sprawl of these rapidly evolving communities, they pose a new challenge to retirement village property maintenance. Village managers looking for retirement village maintenance suppliers will now be looking for contractors who are readily able to handle the huge demands of luxury amenity upkeep.
Make sure that your maintenance supplier has a proven track record of successful projects at luxury retirement villages – it’s a different game to regular retirement village maintenance and they will need to be playing at the top level.
Download our guide to 21st century retirement villages to get an idea of the maintenance standards required.
Image credit: Presidio Home care