Faster, higher, stronger: luxury clientele are in top shape. The world already has nearly 80 million very well-to-do people more than one third of which live in the United States, 32 million (+10%), 21 million in Europe (+4%), 14 million in the Asia-Pacific region (+8%), 7 million Latin America (+6%) and just one million in Africa- Middle East, the continent with the strongest growth (+14%). And the higher we go in the spheres of wealth, the more the rate of growth accelerates. The number of millionaires (Ultra High Net Worth Individuals), with a fortune of at least 30 million dollars, grew by 16.8% in 2006 according to a report by Merrill Lynch and Cap Gemini. At the top of this pyramid, Forbes’ annual ranking counts 946 billionaires in 2007, including 178 new members. This increasingly open club has a global fortune of 2,500 billion euros, meaning growth by 625 billion over 2006.And to satisfy this demanding clientele, hotels rival in terms of ingeniousness to offer ever more luxurious, trendy or intimate products. But today, properties belonging to chains must now compete with a new flourishing offer resulting from the appearance of new specialized actors at villas or private clubs, city apartments or very upscale leisure residences with hotel services or even ultra-exclusive hotels that are the preserve of a wealthy elite.If we look more closely, this ranking reveals a new world condition: wealth is no longer the privilege of the Old World and the American continent: the new members include 19 Russians, 14 Indians and 13 Chinese. In the list of billionaires, Russia is on the heels of Germany. With Lakshmi Mittal in the lead, India has largely surpassed Japan, with China following closely behind. And the two tenors of this ranking, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, are gradually being...