Jon Morgan, co-founder of enterprise consulting agency, Enterprise Smarter, was mentoring a Gen Z entrepreneur when he seen one thing unusual about her life and the one she portrayed on-line.
His 23-year-old mentee had spent 1½ years crafting a luxurious journey persona — one which instructed she was residing a $500,000-a-year life-style, he mentioned. In actuality, her annual expenditure was nearer to $12,000, he mentioned.
“She would e-book $200 day passes at unique seaside golf equipment in Miami [and] take 400 pictures in six hours,” Morgan informed CNBC Journey.
Then she would publish the pictures over a span of eight weeks to present the impression that she incessantly stayed in luxurious resorts.
For some, posting duplicitous journey pictures isn’t just about consideration, it is a money-making enterprise.
Klaus Vedfelt | Digitalvision | Getty Pictures
That was not all. Morgan mentioned she would strike up conversations with concierges at luxurious resorts, providing them cash in alternate for letting her into the resort.
“For $50 suggestions, they’d let her entry rooftop swimming pools and lobbies at 4 Seasons properties for 30-minute photograph classes,” he mentioned.
The phantasm labored. Her Instagram account grew to 85,000 followers, who had been drawn in by her seemingly extravagant life-style, he mentioned.
However the aim was not simply affect — it was revenue.
“She considered her faux luxurious content material as enterprise funding, ultimately touchdown model partnerships price $180,000 yearly,” mentioned Morgan.
Her fabricated picture on social media had morphed right into a money-making machine.
Luxurious funded by debt
As a substitute of documenting the entire journey, they spotlight solely essentially the most ‘Instagrammable’ moments.
Mohd Rizwan
Director at Travelosei
American property supervisor Daniel Rivera mentioned he skilled this with certainly one of his tenants.
The 24-year-old tenant posted pictures of a $400 per night time Airbnb rental in Miami, regardless of being three weeks late on her $1,800 month-to-month hire, mentioned Rivera.
“She later admitted she cut up that luxurious rental with six pals for only one night time to get the proper poolside photographs,” he mentioned. “The pictures made it seem like a week-long luxurious trip.”
Rivera mentioned the housing purposes he obtained from Gen Zs typically reveal particulars on how they afford their existence.
“Throughout tenant screenings, I’ve seen 30% extra purposes exhibiting latest private mortgage inquiries, typically labeled as “trip funding” of their monetary histories,” he mentioned, including that they typically have excessive debt-to-income ratios and maxed-out bank cards.
A thread on Reddit requested how Gen Zs pay for his or her frequent travels, particularly those that journey of their late teenagers and early 20s.
A Reddit publish printed in March 2025.
Supply: CNBC
One consumer commented on their choice to make use of debt to fund their holidays.
“Was it financially irresponsible? Sure. Did most individuals inform me I used to be losing my cash and that I needs to be saving my cash? Sure. Would I do it once more? 1000%,” the consumer wrote. “You prioritize what you need in your life and cope with the implications.”
False framing
Different Gen Zs use loopholes to pay for journeys with out disclosing them on social media.
Rivera talked about different tenants who house-sit in rich neighborhoods in New Jersey, like Montclair and Quick Hills. Although they had been there for a job, the tenants took images which gave the impression that they lived there, he mentioned.
Mohd Rizwan, a director on the New Delhi-based luxurious journey firm Travelosei, mentioned he too has seen a shift in how youthful generations body their holidays on-line.
“As a substitute of documenting the entire journey, they spotlight solely essentially the most ‘Instagrammable’ moments” which makes the journey appear extra extravagant than it’s,” he mentioned.
