The Luxury Business Model and the Construction of Desirability. Decoding the keys to high-end strategy with César Val.
The Dom 3 association organized a strategic encounter at Marbella Design featuring global luxury expert César Val and leading figures from the high-end sector.
The event received fundamental support from Alto Exclusive Design as the main sponsor, alongside Lutron, Illusion, Rugue, and Soma Arquitectos—firms all deeply committed to excellence on the Costa del Sol.
Marbella, March 25, 2026 – The Marbella Design & Art fair became the epicenter of the debate on the future of high-end living, thanks to the summit organized by the Dom 3 business association. The event brought together prominent leaders from the real estate, hospitality, and automotive sectors to analyze how luxury has evolved from a simple transaction into a tool for personal transformation and extraordinary value creation.
The Revolution of Desire: "Chickens vs. Peacocks". The session, hosted by Rocío Luque (Antena 3 Noticias), opened with a keynote speech by César Val, a renowned global expert in luxury strategy, who challenged traditional views from the start: "Luxury is not about positioning; it is about identity."
Val illustrated his vision through a zoological metaphor. While most businesses sell "chickens" (functional and necessary products), the luxury business model is about selling "peacocks" (highly desirable products that multiply their value). The expert warned that competing on functionality or square footage is a mistake, as true luxury aims for the pinnacle of human aspirations: the longing for transcendence and belonging.
To achieve this desirability, Val proposed three paths:
Singularity: Avoiding massification, which he defined as "Kryptonite to Superman."
Theatricality: Moving from product to creation, elevating every client interaction with small details or "delighters" that inspire love for the brand.
Inspiration: Moving away from brand egocentrism to focus on the client. His final advice was blunt: "Don’t invest in the brand; invest in stories so that your clients can tell them."
Luxury is Subjective: Designing the Invisible. Theory gave way to practice in a subsequent panel discussion, where local experts applied these concepts to the reality of Marbella. From an architectural perspective, Pablo Villarroel (Villarroel Arquitectos) and Manuel Burgos (Manuel Burgos Arquitectos and Vice President of DOM3) agreed on the extreme subjectivity of the sector. "Luxury is a transparent entity; we must have the ability to truly understand what luxury means to our specific client," Villarroel noted.
Burgos added that the key to modern architecture lies in spatial generosity and creating a "fluid life," focusing on the client: "Luxury is not a property of the object, but of the gaze of the person who analyzes and values it."
The Illusion of Waiting and the Value of the Intangible. One of the major debates centered on how to sell something that does not yet exist, such as an off-plan villa or a limited-production car. Far from being a problem, the wait is managed as an asset. Alejandro Terroba, Marketing Director of Bentley Marbella, highlighted that "waiting times and scarcity are fundamental weapons for us." He explained that purchasing a high-end vehicle is based on the "brand liturgy" and nurturing a sense of belonging to an exclusive club during the manufacturing months.
In the hospitality sector, Julián Cabanillas, Director of Marbella Club Hotel, stressed that the physical product is secondary to emotion: "People don’t pay for gardens, space, or architecture. People pay for how it makes them feel."
The Future of Marbella: Moving Beyond "Tacky Luxury". The panel concluded by analyzing the historic moment the Costa del Sol is experiencing. Cabanillas pointed out that the pandemic has transformed the resident profile: "The world has changed, and there are people with a lot of time who didn't have time before." Remote work has allowed high-net-worth individuals to settle permanently in Marbella, skyrocketing demand and prices.
However, the speakers issued a unanimous warning: overcrowding and a lack of infrastructure are the greatest threats. "We will die of success if we don't work on this," warned Manuel Burgos.
As a closing note, César Val encouraged Marbella to consolidate its maturity, moving away from "tacky luxury" or "bling-bling" to establish itself as a "curated destination" with its own criteria—capable of offering unique, well-constructed value propositions that transcend passing trends.
