In 2023, the Aston Martin Formula 1 team announced its multiyear partnership with Velocity Black, a bespoke luxury concierge service. Founded in 2014 and acquired by Capital One in 2023, the digital membership club and concierge service harnesses both the power of technology with artificial intelligence and its on-the-ground city experts in core cities such as London, New York, Miami, Dubai and Stockholm for its high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) for access to events and lifestyle experiences.

While the company declined to disclose its number of members, Velocity Black said it’s more focused on providing its highly engaged members with services. Velocity Black’s membership fees are a $900 initiation fee, with annual membership at $3,100 — there’s currently a waitlist to join.

Its website and app boast a slew of once-in-a-lifetime experiences such as “Dinner at the Pyramids,” “Train With Ninjas in Japan,” and “Grammy’s Pre-Party” for the luxury consumer who is no longer looking to buy or service a product; they’re seeking out the whole experience.

A 2024 McKinsey report found that 35 percent of the luxury travel market is dominated by travelers whose net worth ranges from $100,000 to $1 million. And most notably, HNWI are leaning on travel agent experts, seeking out privacy/exclusivity and traveling to “exotic destinations.”

Six months ago, Sylvain Langrand — who previously was the global vice president of digital product and innovation at Burberry — joined as chief executive officer. Here, Langrand spoke to WWD during the Miami Grand Prix about the luxury consumer, the latest lifestyle and travel trends, using tech to create a personalized experience and more.

WWD: What is Velocity Black?

Sylvain Langrand: Velocity Black is a unique luxury concierge. We provide our members with amazing experiences and give them access to things and experiences they didn’t know they could access. We provide our members incredible experiences centered around travel, dining, luxury goods and tickets/events.

WWD: What makes Velocity Black stand out from other concierge services?

S.L.: We have a proprietary platform to ensure we deliver a real, bespoke experience to every member. We rely on simple text-based, asynchronous communication. Unlike our competitors, you don’t need to spend a lot of time with us on the phone or repeat the context of specific needs to plan your trip.

Everything we do is digitally centralized. Our members send us a text and we prepare a proposal in real time and send it to them. They reply with a quick text on what they like, don’t like and customize as we go.

We have seamless, easy communication and engagement, making our members highly engaged with our app. On average, our member engages more than four times a week on the app. We’ve gotten incredible feedback and satisfaction with retention and referrals to other members.

The other element that stands out is that we are proactive, not reactive, with our members. We know them well; what they like and what they’ve done in the past. We share a personalized feed of activities, interests and ideas of things they may do. We reach out to them with access to special events and create a custom itinerary that fits them.

WWD: How is the company using technology to create a personalized experience for your members?

S.L.: We have incredible experts in every vertical of travel, dining, experiences and luxury goods. And we have a set of dedicated experts in cities such as New York, Miami and London. In our core cities, we have people who have an incredible network who know what’s happening in the city, what restaurants are opening, what’s trending and what our members are looking for access.

When a member engages with us, they engage with a real human. But to service all of our members, we leverage technology and AI on the back-end to facilitate that exchange and allow us to be available 24/7 and answer any requests. We use technology and AI to seamlessly summarize an experience and help build a person’s profile. We want to be at the forefront of technology. But it’s to empower our human experts and create a white-glove service for our members.

WWD: How do you see consumers nowadays looking for unique experiences?

S.L.: Across categories, including dining, we see a shift in our consumers from getting access to something or products — even if it’s a table at a restaurant — and now looking for once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

Rather than saying they want to go to Italy, many requests are “what is memorable?” The experiences vary greatly across our members. It can be Instagram-worthy; it can be sports-related. We get requests around sustainability or going to places that are not touristy. Maybe more off the beaten path and a little more original for people to get a real experience of being in Kenya or the middle of Asia.

WWD: How does your background working in the luxury fashion industry inform you about what consumers are looking to spend on in travel and the overall luxury market?

S.L.: When I was at Burberry, I focused on the customer and understanding the luxury customer, the trends and their needs. I was in charge of building a digital platform to serve them better. At Burberry, we saw the shift from the luxury industry from buying a good to seeking an experience. Even if it’s in-store with a private shopping experience or attending some of the brand activations worldwide during the different seasons.

We spent a lot of time understanding the customer and how to better address the customer’s desire to live an experience. It’s why I was so excited about what Velocity Black can deliver for our members, because we are all about creating memorable moments more than delivering a good.

We take that philosophy and implement it at a much larger scale. Whether it’s buying a product or having a dining reservation or a full end-to-end trip, we’re looking to have something that will create a memory and differentiate it for our members from going to a store and buying it.

WWD: Tell us about your partnership with Aston Martin. How has it evolved over the years?

S.L.: Aston Martin is a fantastic partner of ours because they’re a luxury car manufacturer and they think about luxury in everything they do, including on their Formula 1 team. Their Paddock Club is polished. It’s more of a luxury experience or a salon than a lot of the other Formula 1 lounges.

Even when you visit a garage, how do we make it a more bespoke and luxury experience where you feel like you’re almost alone in the garage with somebody who can tell you everything about what’s happening? How do we create those experiences on and off the track with members? We do a lot of off-track activations where people can meet a driver, try a new car or do a hot lap with a professional driver.

We do a factory tour in the United Kingdom where people can understand the behind-the-scenes of what it is to build a Formula 1 team — and the level of technology and expertise required behind it. As we see interest from our members about creating memories and with the sport, we partner with Aston Martin to not only provide access but in a luxurious, bespoke way for our members.

WWD: Why do you think the Miami Grand Prix and attending Formula 1 races are of interest to your members?

S.L.: What makes Miami so special to us is that it’s more than the race. Our members are looking for an emotional experience. It’s a celebrity gathering and the place to be in the sports world in spring.

With Aston Martin, we create all those different experiences to engage with attendees over a long week. The partnership with Aston Martin allows our members to experience a race differently. You have access to the team, the Paddock Club, the team garage and the pit walks. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at understanding how impressive the whole experience is.

With Aston Martin and other partners such as Sports Illustrated, we’re creating member events with multiple activities throughout the weekend for our members to have an incredible time at these weekends.

WWD: What are some of the other major consumer behavior trends the company sees within luxury lifestyle and travel?

S.L.: We’ve seen a shift from ownership to experience. We’re trying to do something intentional, authentic, value-driven and memorable. A memory they can bring with them and share. This is especially true for younger generations. We see that as we share content across our app, these special moments are more interesting.

We had access to concert tickets in Paris for Lenny Kravitz for our members and we gave them access to incredible seats at his home concert in Paris. But we also organized a full day around him and where he lives in the 16th arrondissement. Seeing his favorite painter in his favorite museum, having dinner in his favorite restaurant near where he lives in Paris. And then we attended the concert to ensure members have an incredible experience.

Another major trend we see is spontaneous and last-minute travel. Whether it’s dining or travel, a short time frame about wanting to go away for a week, this upcoming weekend or in a couple of weeks. Members need some help to organize everything end-to-end on their behalf to ensure they have an experience that they would expect.

WWD: How do you see Velocity Black evolving?

S.L.: It’s a continuous improvement of personalization in terms of how we understand every one of our members to deliver something bespoke for them and ahead of their request. If you have a family and we know you always travel during Easter break, how can we be more proactive in sharing what’s hot or trending with itineraries for families to help prepare them for a future Easter break.

More than access or being in a fantastic VIP lounge, other partners or members in the luxury spaces, we work closely with our partners to create something that’s uniquely Velocity Black and specific for our members.

Aston Martin is our core partner in trying to build something bespoke. But we’re looking at other activations, whether it’s the Super Bowl, the World Cup or any other core sports cultural moments. We just had a party for the Met Gala and fashion week. Across all the different activations and trips we organize, we’re working closely with our partners to do something special for our members.