Booking a hotel for a big birthday or anniversary usually means sharing the moment with strangers in a crowded restaurant. A growing trend in luxury travel argues there's a better way: renting an entire villa and letting the celebration unfold on your own terms.

Specialist operator CV Villas has leaned into this with its ABOVE collection — a hand-picked range of high-end properties chosen for dramatic settings, privacy and the kind of space that suits groups. The pitch is simple: a villa isn't just accommodation, it becomes the venue. Infinity pools, wrap-around terraces and large alfresco dining areas replace restaurant tables, while a concierge team handles the logistics — private boat days, surprise dinners, wine tastings, spa treatments, even round-the-clock babysitting. Many five-star properties come with butlers, and in-villa chefs can cook multi-course meals around your group's tastes and dietary needs, which solves the usual headache of catering for a crowd.

Four properties showcase the range. In Bordeaux, Maison Emilion is a six-bedroom hilltop house surrounded by working vineyards, with a heated pool, an included wine-tasting experience and the medieval village of Saint-Émilion a short walk away. On Corfu, Oleander is a five-bedroom villa perched above Avlaki Bay near Kassiopi, with an infinity pool looking across the Ionian Sea to Albania's Ceraunian Mountains — and chef service included in peak season.

For big or multigenerational groups, Spirit of Son Fuster in Mallorca is a 14th-century manor near the UNESCO-listed Serra de Tramuntana that sleeps twenty across ten bedrooms. It comes with an on-site spa and hammam, a private cinema room and a cellar of local wines. And in Puglia, Masseria Giardini is a 1750 farmhouse ringed by olive groves, its gardens designed by Chelsea Flower Show winners Urquhart & Hunt. Ten bedrooms feature stone domed roofs and hand-carved stone baths, with views over the Canale Di Pirro valley.

Why it matters: splitting a villa between friends or family often works out competitively with hotel rooms, while giving you a private base for the whole trip. If you're marking a milestone — or just want to holiday as a group without compromise — these properties show what's on offer, from wine country France to the heel of Italy.

The Independent Travel