When did our tastes get so fancy? That’s the question of the day after a new survey revealed that millennials (that’s the cringe word for, well, us) are more likely to check into hotels with luxury services such as dry cleaning, massage or spa services or pet friendliness (er?) than older travellers. This is despite the fact that we have far less earning potential than our older counterparts.
Millennials are far more interested in having life-changing, shareable experiences than we are with purchasing and accruing possessions
But should we really be surprised? Anyone whose stumped up £40 for a taxi home on a Tuesday night, only to find that they then can’t get any cash out for lunch the next day will know, our priorities, in terms of how we spend money, have massively changed over the last few years.
It’s partly because, research shows that millennials are far more interested in having life-changing, shareable experiences (that amazing, instagrammable holiday in Thailand, those photogenic cocktails on the rooftop bar) than we are with purchasing and accruing possessions. Why do you think Secret Cinema’s so popular?
But it’s surely also got something to do with the fact we’re facing the possibility that we’ll never own our own property, be forced to work until we’re 70 and never pay off our ever-increasing student debts. Therefore, treating ourselves to some of life’s little luxuries is a good way to soften the blow, no? And if we really are Generation Rent then there’s hardly any point squirrelling all that money away in an ISA is there?
There’s been a shifting emphasis on how we live our lives, too. Our parents were buying houses, cars and prams when they were in their twenties, while we’re living an extended youth – marriage and babies are years away and we’re still stuck in entry-level jobs when we’re 26.
‘There’s absolutely no point in me trying to save up to buy a place,’ explains Georgiana, a 27-year-old interior designer. ‘The amount of money I’d need would mean living a miserable life in my tiny, dingy flat – and even then it would take me 30 years to afford a disgusting house. So I’d rather spend the little money I do have on treats.’
I bought an Agnès B skirt the other day, and ended up living off museli for a week.
Georgiana has found ways of making her salary stretch to to match her tastes. ‘I cycle everywhere, so I can afford facials, and I only ever spend £8 a week on food. But then I work out what other people in probably spend on their lunches, and use that money to buy clothes. I bought an Agnès B skirt the other day, and ended up living off museli for a week.'
According to Forbes.com, one of the reasons for this is the ever-increasing influence of celebrities – particularly reality TV stars. They reckon that we’re not trying to keep up with the Jones’s, we’re keeping up with the Kardashians. But we’re calling bullshit on that one. After all, are you more likely to book a holiday after looking at Kim Kardashian’s Instagram feed, or your mate’s amazing gap year photos? Exactly.
Psychologist Ben Voyyer agrees that social media makes us increasingly competitive about the type of experiences we have. ‘The use of social media has definitely made us more competitive – with ourselves, and with others. Facebook, Instagram, etc allow us to communicate and stage our lives in a way that traditional communication instruments did not. Twenty years ago, you would bring back your film pictures from holidays and there were little room to manoeuvre and change the impression it would give others. The two things that have changed are that we can now manipulate both the content – thanks to filters and instant effects – and the timeliness of the sharing of our images.’
I would rather spend all of my money on blow-out experiences because I feel like I get a lot more out of them than run-of-the-mill things
This is definitely something Lauren, a 26-year-old civil servant, understands well. She frequently runs out of cash before the last day of the month, which is down, in no small part, to her taste for expensive restaurants. ‘I would rather spend all of my money on blow-out experiences, because I feel like I get a lot more out of them than run-of-the-mill things like a trip to the pub round the corner. Apart from anything else, no-one cares if you tag yourself into your local when you’re drinking a pint. But if you’ve managed to get into the new Russell Normal restaurant before anyone else you get kudos.’
Tellingly, it’s when Lauren compares her spending behaviour to her mum’s that you really notice how the ground has shifted. ‘My mum constantly buys crap – everything is a bit shit and disposable. She’ll spend £5 on a T-shirt and then bin it a week later, whereas I’d rather spend money on one good-quality thing that lasts. But then she doesn’t run out of money and I do – all the time. We never talk about how much holidays cost, but I recently spent over a grand on a big trip to Sri Lanka, which would blow her mind – she only ever goes away in the caravan.’
But as we face another two weeks of eating cereal for dinner because we blew half of our wages on that weekend in Berlin, will flicking through our Instagram pictures be enough to sustain us? Almost certainly – that trip was AMAZING. And let’s face it – whoever goes to their deathbed wishing they’d spent less time on rooftop bars drinking whisky sours?
Follow Rebecca on Twitter @rebecca_hol
Picture: Rory DCS
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.