Tantalising tips on how to live like a billionaire on a budget (2024)

Nestled on a soft white leather seat in the corner of a Gulfstream jet, or sleek yacht with a glass of perfectly chilled Dom Perignon in hand, a billionaire’s lifestyle bears little resemblance to most people’s daily grind.

And then there are their multiple houses, designer outfits, gobstopper-sized jewels, glitzy hotel suites and an ever-expanding art collection.

Yet the rest of us can have a piece or two of this luxury lifestyle. Here, CATHERINE OSTLER offers a nifty guide on how to swagger around like a billionaire, even when you’re on a rather more restricted budget.

Decked out: The yacht

Do you envy all those celebrities photographed swanning around the Med this summer?

Well you, too, can stay on one for less than £100 a night.

There is a one drawback, though: the boat won’t be going anywhere.

Websites such as bedsonboard.com list yachts for hire — like the lovely Southern Cross, that’s moored in Barcelona. Built in 1962 and lined with polished wood, it also boasts an on-deck Jacuzzi.

Or there’s a newer 30-metre super-yacht moored in La Spezia, between Pisa and Genoa in Italy, with two decks that you can wander around, drink in hand, pretending to passers-by in the marina that it’s your own.

Both are about £100 per person per night, depending on the date.

Join the jet-set: A private PLANE

Take advantage of a clever ruse where you can hop onto a so-called ‘empty leg’ of a flight — the plane’s trip home after a rich customer has been dropped off, or, alternatively, the journey to pick them up.

The downside is that there’s little flexibility on timings and locations because you are fitting in with someone else’s plans. And, of course, you have to plan your own return trip!

Adam Twidell of privatefly.com warns that such plans ‘can be subject to last-minute changes’.

But, he says: ‘If you are prepared to be flexible, book at the last minute and travel as a group, it can be a way to experience a private jet flight for a price closer to that usually seen on a standard airline ticket.’

You can either request specific locations, dates and times, or scroll through the list of empty legs available and just pick one that takes your fancy.

Gulfstreams, Cessnas and even helicopters are available, but sharing a mid-size plane with a group of friends can work out cheapest. For example, on June 29, there’s a flight from Luton to Paris Le Bourget with 13 seats at a total cost of £3,600 (if it wasn’t an ‘empty leg’ then it would be £8,450) — which works out at £277 a person. Another, for four people, on the previous day from Biggin Hill to Paris, works out at £375 a head.

By comparison, a British Airways business-class single ticket from London to Paris would cost £348. For shorter distances, Uber, the taxi app, is trialling a helicopter service in Brazil’s grid-locked city of Sao Paolo, which costs just £12 for a four-mile trip. If the idea takes off, then the same service could be introduced in London.

So suite: the grand hotel

If you are happy to go ‘off-peak’, book late or early, or buy a package (for example with museum entry or dinners included), VIP bargains can be found.

The top tip is to pick a Sunday night — the least busy day of the week — particularly if it’s a city or a country house hotel you’re visiting.

For example, on Sunday, July 3, you could stay at the five-star Bauer Hotel, set in a palazzo on the Grand Canal in Venice, with its own water dock and right by St Mark’s Square, for £107.50 each, including breakfast. (Charles and Camilla, and Brad and Angelina have all stayed there.)

Or there’s an Andalusian palace with a pool, Hotel Alfonso XIII in Seville — a favourite of actress Sophia Loren — for £115.50 the same night.

Dress code: Look the part

To copy the stars’ designer-wear, rental is the way to go.

Girls Meet Dress (girlsmeetdress.com) will send you a dress with next-day delivery.

You could, for instance, hire a Roland Mouret (like the blue one worn by the duch*ess of Cambridge the other day) for two nights for about 10 per cent of what it would cost to buy. There’s Mouret’s jade green Zonda satin dress for £89 (cost price £895) and a pink full-length Tinea crepe dress (right) for £189 (cost £1,895).

Chicbychoice.com has frocks by designers such as Alice Temperley. A gold co*cktail sequin dress retailing for £1,100 can be hired for £99, while a £2,434 black and white strapless Valentino floor-sweeper goes for £194.

You get the dresses for four days, so plan your social life carefully.

Loyalty pays: BA Gold Card

As a holder of one of these British Airways upmarket loyalty cards, you can find yourself pampered like a multi-millionaire.

To get one, you need to travel on four eligible flights and collect 1,500 ‘Tier’ points.

The simplest way of doing this quickly is to go business class return to Hawaii via the U.S. mainland, and then back the same way (about £1,300 for all four flights).

Then, armed with your gold card, you are entitled to free use of first-class lounges, you can enjoy free spa treatments and get room upgrades at the Mandarin Oriental.

Lunch time: the set course ruse

Millionaires haven’t got a monopoly on Michelin-star meals.

You can get two courses at lunchtime for £26 at London’s Savoy Grill, which is now under Gordon Ramsay, who has three Michelin stars.

Amid the polished wood and chandeliers in the Art Deco room, you will also be served a free bellini if you book online.

Typical menus are asparagus with walnut mayonnaise, followed by breaded veal.

Outside London, there are mouth-watering deals at such upmarket eateries as celebrity chef Tom Kerridge’s gastro-pub, The Hand and Flowers, in Marlow, Buckinghamshire — one of only 23 UK restaurants to have two Michelin stars.

There, the two-course set lunch is just £15. Sample dishes are smoked brisket of beef with English mustard, mash and ‘beer-pickled’ onion, followed by rhubarb fool with ginger sorbet and oat crumble.