Under the Hood: The Growing Cost of Chasing Luxury

By Tim Carl

May 17, 2025

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The Spotlight

Welcome to “Under the Hood,” our exclusive Saturday series for Napa Valley Features paid subscribers. Today we examine what appears to be a modest rebound in hotel occupancy across Napa County in March— and why it may be masking a deeper erosion in pricing power, profitability and long-term economic assumptions.

We’re also diving into the latest data from our readers’ polls and providing insights from our economic dashboard, covering local Napa Valley, U.S. and global markets.

In addition, we feature "What We Are Reading," a section with a handpicked list of recent articles that provides a variety of viewpoints on issues important to our community and beyond.

“What We Are Reading” quotes of the day:

“Peace be with you.” – from Pope Leo XIV in "Robert Prevost of the United States is named Pope Leo XIV," Associated Press.

“We spent about four years on this – we’ve tasted everything that’s out on the market, and we find that the still wines are not that good.” – from Laura Catena, in "Zero alcohol outpacing low abv wines," The Drinks Business.

“Extreme events won’t affect everyone … but people are experiencing everyday effects every day.” – from Jennifer Carman in "The everyday ways climate change is already making our lives worse," New Scientist.

“By effectively saying the social cost of carbon should be treated as zero, this policy arbitrarily and capriciously ignores the science and economics of climate change.” – from Robert E. Kopp in "What’s the Cost to Society of Pollution? Trump Says Zero," The New York Times.

“The troubled housing market can’t seem to get back on track.” – from Nicole Friedman in "The Spring Home Sales Season Is Shaping Up to Be a Dud," The Wall Street Journal.

“ [A Deutsch Family Wine and Spirits executive] used a third-party vendor to bribe distributor employees with thousands of dollars in prepaid Visa and American Express gift cards; a $6,750 Panerai watch; a Bentley car rental; tickets to spring training baseball games; custom suits; $2,370 concert tickets; and more.” – from Esther Mobley in "California wine executives plead guilty to $360,000 bribery scheme," San Francisco Chronicle.

“In our own day, the church offers everyone the treasury of its social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor.” – from Pope Leo XIV in "Pope Leo XIV lays out vision of papacy and identifies AI as a main challenge for humanity," Associated Press.

“Homeownership appears to be further out of reach for non-homeowners in the U.S.” – from Jeffrey M. Jones in "Housing Market Perceptions Dampen Homebuying Intentions," Gallup.