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Few television shows have had as profound an impact on the luxury travel industry as The White Lotus. Each new season sends viewers rushing to book the real-life hotels featured on screen, turning secluded resorts into must-visit destinations almost overnight.

But now, as the phenomenon of set-jetting — traveling in the footsteps of favorite movies and television shows — evolves from a harmless pop-culture obsession into one of the hospitality industry’s major growth drivers, experts warn that it could fundamentally change the very idea of a luxury getaway, according to Robb Report.

Jacqueline Sienna India, founder and CEO of luxury travel company Sienna Charles, sees the show’s influence as a symptom of much broader changes taking place in high-end tourism.

In her view, The White Lotus has become one of the forces behind the so-called “celebrification of travel” — a trend in which travelers are increasingly seeking out not authentic cultural experiences, but highly promoted destinations that have already become stars of social media.

The transformation of legendary hotels into spectacular Instagram backdrops, Jacqueline argues, is gradually eroding the exclusivity that once came simply from the reputation of such places.

“Wealth has turned into a zoo,” she says.

Jonathan Alder, founder and CEO of Jonathan’s Travels, also points to the show’s central paradox. According to him, The White Lotus inspires people to travel precisely because of its contradictions: viewers watch terrible people doing terrible things — and then still want to visit the very same places.

The French Riviera Instead of an Isolated Resort

That contradiction will take on a new dimension in the show’s fourth season.

Leaving behind its familiar formula of a self-contained resort world and following the conclusion of HBO’s official marketing partnership with Four Seasons, the series is moving its action to the French Riviera.

According to HBO, the new season will follow guests and hotel employees whose lives intersect over the course of a single week against the backdrop of the Cannes Film Festival.

This time, the story will not simply revolve around wealthy people trying to escape everyday life. The plot will involve two rival film crews arriving at the festival with different movies.

One will stay at the fictional White Lotus Cannes, portrayed by the legendary Hôtel Martinez on the Croisette. Its rivals will be based at White Lotus du Cap, represented by the ultra-exclusive Airelles Château de la Messardière in Saint-Tropez.

Filming will also take place in Monaco and Paris.

That relocation fundamentally changes the DNA of the series.

Executive producer David Bernad has said that the fourth season will explore “the life of an artist” and how fame and success can distort a person’s identity.

In previous seasons, characters were essentially trapped inside sprawling resort complexes, where the luxury hotel became a kind of gilded pressure cooker, intensifying conflicts among the guests.

Now the action moves onto one of the world’s most prestigious — and most high-pressure — stages: the Cannes Film Festival. The cast and crew have already been spotted near the Palais des Festivals.

“They’re turning the story from being about staying at a resort into a story about coming to a city for work,” Alder says.

And that is a crucial distinction. While Hawaii and Thailand in previous seasons were associated with laid-back escapes, Cannes revolves around premieres, negotiations, deals and an unrelenting battle for status.

Cannes as Tourists May Never See It

Yet the glossy, star-studded French Riviera portrayed by the series may have little in common with reality — particularly if you visit outside May.

“Cannes is a conference city, not a vacation city,” Alder says.

Major hotels, including the Carlton and Le Majestic Barrière, are heavily geared toward exhibitions, conferences and corporate events.

Outside the two-week frenzy of the Cannes Film Festival, a traveler expecting endless red carpets and celebrity encounters may discover a very different city — one that is, above all, business-oriented.

There is another illusion, too: geography.

In the series, the two hotels appear to be practically next door to one another, becoming the setting for a rivalry. In reality, Château de la Messardière sits high above Saint-Tropez and is roughly a three-hour drive from Cannes.

Alder expects the show to once again rely on a classic television trick, creating the impression that the two hotels are just minutes apart.

“Americans have no idea where these places are,” he jokes. “Most people will assume Saint-Tropez is right next to Cannes.”

And this is far from the first time The White Lotus has played with geography. In the second season, for example, viewers could easily have assumed that Sicily’s San Domenico Palace was located directly on the coast.

Winners and Losers of the New Season

Despite all the geographical liberties, appearing on The White Lotus can give a hotel extraordinary global exposure.

Stacy Fischer-Rosenthal, president of Fischer Travel and a member of Four Seasons’ advisory board, believes Airelles could be one of the biggest winners of the new season.

The French luxury hospitality group has just seven properties, meaning it has far more to gain from global attention than an international chain with hundreds of hotels.

Jacqueline Sienna India, however, takes a considerably less optimistic view.

She says that once the season airs, she would not recommend either of the two featured hotels to her clients. In her view, luxury brands risk trading a long-term aura of exclusivity for a short-term surge in popularity.

Instead of the obvious Saint-Tropez itineraries, she recommends exploring cultural centers such as Nice and properties including Hôtel du Couvent.

At the same time, the expert warns that smaller boutique hotel groups may simply lack the infrastructure needed to handle a sudden influx of tourists inspired by the show as efficiently as major international hotel chains can.

Luxury as the Final Barrier

“Saint-Tropez is a sexier, more atmospheric and glamorous destination,” Fischer-Rosenthal says. “It is perfectly aligned with the themes of The White Lotus: wealth, excess, romance and intrigue.”

According to her, the grounds of Les Airelles are so vast and impressive that spaces of this scale simply could not be recreated in Cannes, where there is not enough room.

At Hôtel Martinez, meanwhile, the mood surrounding the upcoming filming is described as one of “quiet excitement.” The Croisette landmark is deeply woven into the history of the festival, and its team clearly understands the value of that status.

There is, however, one factor that could protect these properties from becoming yet another set of tourist attractions: the price.

Fischer-Rosenthal takes the risk of a mass influx of viewers in a pragmatic way. In her view, ultra-luxury prices themselves act as a natural filter.

At the height of the summer season, room rates here regularly exceed €3,000 a night. Such prices create a kind of barrier, allowing the hotels to preserve their exclusivity even after appearing on television.

The White Lotus Sells a Dream, Not a Destination

And yet, as The White Lotus leaves behind isolated resorts and moves onto the open stage of the French Riviera, its greatest legacy may turn out to be cultural rather than commercial.

The series does not simply show viewers the Côte d’Azur.

It creates its own cinematic version of it — and millions of travelers may be willing to spend small fortunes trying to find that version in the real world.

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