COVER STORY ADVISOR INSIGHT: All-Travel.com is no stranger <strong>to</strong> arranging over-the-<strong>to</strong>p land experiences for its clients. Senior Travel Consultant Bobbie Teitelbaum Abood shared with us what these entailed— from arranging catamaran charters <strong>to</strong> booking an entire resort. Abood says she finds that Mauna Kea Beach Hotel on the Big Island in Hawaii has a large repeat clientele. “Generations of families return year after year, and I have two families who add <strong>to</strong> this business. One of my clients brings his entire family: his four children, grandchildren and nannies. He books 10 <strong>to</strong> 12 rooms for each stay and holds two connecting rooms for himself. One is a sleeping room and the other a family gathering room that houses the spectacularly decorated Christmas tree I order from the local florist. “I usually confirm a private catamaran charter, hunting trips on the island, restaurant reservations, and several Hertz SUV rentals. Most years, they will fly a private plane. He has his own aircraft and pilot. Keith Groves, my main contact at Mauna Kea, is always available <strong>to</strong> assist me and my clients and <strong>to</strong> assure that all goes well with their reservations.” Another of Abood’s clients <strong>to</strong>ok his family <strong>to</strong> the Big Island for 14 days during the Christmas/New Year’s holiday. The Hapuna Suite at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, at approximately $7,000 per night, is one of Hawaii’s best-kept secrets, she says. “It is an ultra-exclusive 8,000-square-foot villa discreetly set on the manicured grounds of Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel at Mauna Kea Resort, overlooking one of the world’s best beaches,” Abood adds. “As guests of the Hapuna Suite, you are welcomed by private limousine and transported past emerald fairways, stately royal palms and the spectacular Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, through a private gate <strong>to</strong> your circular drive and porte cochere.” In another instance, a client booked all of the rooms at San Ysidro Ranch for two nights for his daughter’s wedding. All of his out-of-<strong>to</strong>wn guests were housed at San Ysidro Ranch at his expense. Total cost for buying out the 102 rooms? $180,000. 44 LUXURY TRAVEL ADVISOR | OCTOBER 2011 Much is accomplished via electronic marketing, but Maryanov and team also take out the time <strong>to</strong> speak <strong>to</strong> their advisors <strong>to</strong> find out exactly which promotions are working. “We spend the time <strong>to</strong> find out where we are not closing the sales and where we are almost immediately closing the sale so we understand what works. We also then give feedback <strong>to</strong> the vendor.” Maryanov also credits TRAMS: “It really forces us <strong>to</strong> s<strong>to</strong>p and look and listen <strong>to</strong> ourselves, <strong>to</strong> analyze our own businesses. It also gives us the opportunity <strong>to</strong> share best practices with owners and bring it all back <strong>to</strong> the agency.” These days, client retention is a huge issue for all travel advisors and Maryanov and his team work <strong>to</strong> maintain cus<strong>to</strong>mer loyalty by following up immediately after a trip is completed. This helps advisors find out new information about a destination or cruise line and determine where the client is thinking of going next. The All-Travel.com team also reaches out while the cus<strong>to</strong>mer is still on the trip; through ClientBase Plus, advisors receive ticklers <strong>to</strong> check with their cus<strong>to</strong>mers proactively <strong>to</strong> see if there is anything they can do <strong>to</strong> make a trip go better. Such communication enables the agency <strong>to</strong> fix little things that the client may not mention. Such matters could include a promised ship credit that for some reason wasn’t posted <strong>to</strong> a client’s account. That’s a problem that can easily be corrected with an e-mail <strong>to</strong> the person concerned at the cruise line, says Maryanov. “This solves specific issues but it also makes the client realize they are special <strong>to</strong> you.” The advisor can also check in <strong>to</strong> see how a client has enjoyed a private shore excursion and if they’d like another at a different port. All-Travel.com also has an internal one<strong>to</strong>-one marketing program where the staff spends time each week reaching out <strong>to</strong> past clients who have not booked over a period of time or haven’t been heard from. That information goes in<strong>to</strong> the database, and when new things come along that might interest them, the agent gets back in <strong>to</strong>uch. All of this is accomplished with 19 luxury travel advisors, five are homebased. “I think our other strength is longevity MARYANOV IS SHOWN in these pho<strong>to</strong>s at the Parker hotel in Palm Springs, the city in which he grew up. of our staff. Most of them have been with us for more than five years, many more than 10, and a handful at 15 plus,” says Maryanov, noting that Van Ness has been with him for 21 years. At the same time, All-Travel.com is about bringing new blood in<strong>to</strong> the industry and has two advisors who have been with them for less than a year. The two young men came through an ad for salespeople that was posted in Craigslist. “We hyped up the travel element of it, and it was interesting that the people that responded were male and under 35. We found two very good candidates; both had traveled in the past but had no industry experience,” says Maryanov. While Maryanov has always been all about managing the change that the travel advisor community has undergone, he still sees one element that is still the same. “This is still a people’s business 30 years later; I don’t see that changing. The Internet plays a key role, but so does personalization. The level of affluence doesn't matter—nobody wants <strong>to</strong> waste their free time when they are building special family memories.” There isn’t much that’s going <strong>to</strong> shake Maryanov’s confidence these days. “Remember, years ago, the industry said when the airlines got 800 numbers, ‘Oh, that’s the death of us, everyone will call the airlines direct.’ Then when the airlines started taking credit cards for booking, it was, ‘Oh, that’s the death of us, the client will go direct.’” For him, the mantra of success is simple enough: “One has got <strong>to</strong> find one’s niche and make sure it is delivering value,” he tells Luxury Travel Advisor. �
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