A travel writer reflects on experiencing a lavish dessert buffet featuring 32 desserts by renowned pastry chef Cedric Grolet at an upscale hotel in Venice, Italy. The writer contrasts this extravagant offering with the financial pressures many travelers face due to rising costs, noting that bookings for ultra-luxury hotels have increased by 37% in 2026 according to Virtuoso, while ordinary travelers tighten their budgets. The piece explores themes of excess and sustainability within luxury travel.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-05,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Marie Antoinette didn’t actually say, “let them eat cake.”
asserted
them → say → cake
It was propaganda spread by her enemies to show how out of touch she was with the everyday lives of French citizens.
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she → spread → citizens
I couldn’t help but think of the sad French queen as I stood, plate in hand, perusing the lunch buffet at one of Venice’s grandest hotels, Airelles Palladio Venice, on a recent trip to Italy.
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I → help → Italy
Let me eat cake, I thought.
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I → let → cake
Laid out on the marble sideboard were 32 desserts, curated by celebrity French pastry chef Cedric Grolet, whose patisseries in Le Meurice Hotel and Paris Opera regularly see lines outside that run around the block.
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that → lay → block
Grolet also has a chocolate shop with chocolate walls and giant Wonka-esque pods of chocolate hanging from chocolate branches.
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Grolet → have → branches
His Instagram feed is full of outrageous videos of him folding rivers of chocolate into vats of cream and making custard with thousands of vanilla beans.
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him → fold → beans
He is especially known for his cakes shaped like giant peanuts or fruits such as mangoes and lemons.
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He → know → mangoes
The 32-dessert buffet featured several of them, as well as bowls of creme brulee and tiramisu, tiers of doughnuts and meringues, and platters of cakes, tarts and babas.
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buffet → feature → cakes
While I did feel like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s Augustus Gloop when grazing the buffet – it was impossible not to try a little taste of many of the dishes – I also felt a bit like Marie Antoinette in her bubble of privilege.
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I → feel → privilege
Who needs a choice of 32 desserts?
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Who → need → desserts
For most travellers, budgets are getting tighter due to cost of living pressures.
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budgets → get → pressures
For the rich, it’s excess all areas.
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it → ’ → rich
They’re spending more than ever on travel and luxury brands woo them with increasing extravagances.
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brands → spend → extravagances
Airelles Palladio’s 32 desserts by the world’s hottest baker is an expression of ultra-luxury, even if you don’t have a sweet tooth.
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you → have → tooth
According to Virtuoso, the association of luxury travel agents that tracks the behaviour of high net worth customers, 2026 has seen a 37 per cent increase in bookings for hotels that charge more than $US1500 ($2163) a night and sales of luxury hotels are up by almost 21 per cent.
With the divide between the wealthy and the just-getting-by increasing, we’re probably in a “let them eat cake” moment of travel.
uncertain
them → accord → travel
The rich eat lots of cakes, while the rest of us exist for the day on a cup of coffee and a croissant.
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rest → eat → coffee
But I have nothing against cake.
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I → have → cake
As I cracked the shell on the Cedric Grolet lemon cake to discover an oozing sorbet-jelly inside, I admired the craftsmanship.
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I → crack → craftsmanship
But I also thought about waste.
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I → think → waste
According to Virtuoso again, 74 per cent of luxury travellers are willing to pay more for certified sustainable hotels and operators.
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cent → accord → hotels
They’re supposedly more interested in privacy and exceptional service than bling.
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They → ’re → bling
It’s resource intensive.
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It → ’ → ?
The International Council on Clean Transportation says that private jet flights that departed US airports in 2023 accounted for more than 55 per cent of all private jet greenhouse gas emissions that year.
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that → say → emissions
Their excess, we pay for it.
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we → pay → it
Traveller reported recently that spending on luxury cruises was soaring at eye-watering rates.
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spending → report → rates
Top suites sell out quickly, even at $159,050 a person on Regent Seven Seas Prestige.
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suites → sell → Prestige
The exclusive use of popular Kokomo Island in Fiji, for instance, costs about $210,000 a night with a minimum three-night stay.
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use → cost → stay
Hoteliers tell me that there are many guests who don’t blink at these prices.
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who → tell → prices
So long as the hotel exceeds expectations, they’ll pay for it.
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they → exceed → it
Amenities such as in-room gyms, 24-carat iPads, private recording studios and a Rolls-Royce on tap become baseline.
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Amenities → become → tap
Hotels, cruise lines, resorts need to think up increasingly novel lures for the pampered.
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Hotels → need → pampered
I’m not seeing much restraint in the ultra-luxury world.
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I → see → world
I’m going to eat my cakes when I can because it’s back to a croissant in a paper bag next trip.
The writer was a guest of Airelles Palladio Venice.
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writer → go → Venice
The Aporia
