US$5,220 to learn Spanish in a week? The rise of luxury immersion courses
Source: Facebook/@Fluenz

Seven-course dinner with wines at the chef’s table at a world-renowned restaurant. A suite in a boutique hotel. Private driver. Butler service. Talks by two of Mexico’s leading literary and cultural figures. Yoga and mindfulness sessions.

No, this isn’t a wellness retreat. It’s a week-long language immersion course offered by digital language learning platform Fluenz to learn Spanish right in Mexico City.

For a high price, you can forgo the drab foreign language classes at the YMCA or trying to stay motivated to finish the free courses on DuoLingo. Services like Fluenz offer the best of both worlds – learning a new language and a luxury getaway – to help improve your fluency (if you can afford it).


Founded by entrepreneur Sonia Gil, Fluenz started with a digital platform for adults to learn Mandarin, Spanish, and French. In 2017, they turned it into an immersion program complete with high-intensity,  one-on-one sessions tailored to each individual set in a stylishly renovated colonial mansion in the prestigious Polanco district. Each program is limited to 10 participants at a time.

Necee Regis wrote of her experience in Robb Report: “‘There’s no sense in disregarding the language you are coming from’, Gil explained to me in a pre-arrival telephone call. ‘There’s a grammatical structure in the brain. The question is how to translate efficiently.’ That personal call, and meticulous attention to details, are what make the experience not only successful but also unforgettable.”

Another student, Los Angeles-based interior designer Mark Cutler told Forbes: “What sets Fluenz and the immersion apart is that the program is not only designed for native English-language speakers like me, but that the instruction is so highly-customized that no two experiences are the same and each builds on your skills, no matter where you start. I have been three times now and each time the program felt like it was built just for me.”

Fluenz isn’t the only player in this new niche area. For a 15-hours French lesson by qualified professor in a château at the South of France, which also offers add-on activities like spa pampering, or wine-and-oyster pairing, there’s Lingualand.


Want to hit the slopes at a luxury ski resort, drink champagne and eat canapés in a hot tub? The Alpine French School offers just that with intensive language classes (15 hours per week) with a stay at the luxury Chalet Guytaune located in Morzine.

Language Luxury offers similar services, though longer (from one to three months), at locations including Paris, Rome, Porto, and San Sebastian. In between the two-hour private classes in French, Italian, Portuguese, or Spanish, personal concierges are on hand to help you practice conversations through “cultural immersion” activities in the host city. You will, of course, be staying at four- and five-star-equivalent villas and flats.

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