ELITE TRAVEL TRENDS
ELITE TRAVEL TRENDS VIRTUOSO TRAVEL WEEK NEW FRONTIERS FOR LUXURY TRAVEL Virtuoso sees record growth, with higher than ever attendance at annual Travel Week in Las Vegas The 29 th annual Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas, held in August, saw 7% growth in attendance, a recordbreaking 5,670 travel professionals from 103 countries gathered at Bellagio Resort & Casino, ARIA Resort & Casino and Vdara Hotel & Spa, engaging in an incredible number of one-to-one meetings – over 327,000 of them, equaling more than 1.5 million minutes -- or 2.9 years. The objective: to foster human connections between members and partners that lead to outstanding traveller experiences. During the event, Virtuoso announced several updates on its network growth plus agency and advisor programmes: NETWORK GROWTH The network has reached a new record with 16,000 affiliated travel advisors. Virtuoso now includes over Matthew Upchurch on the stage for the opening ceremony at Virtuoso Travel Week 2017 800 agency locations in more than 45 countries. This growth extends across all global regions, with more than 1,000 advisors added since January 2017. Virtuoso advisor travel sales exceed US.2bn per year, an increase of 37% from the previous year. Virtuoso’s powerful brand is the engine that fuels this impressive growth, enabling the network and its agencies to attract new advisors. In 2017 alone, Virtuoso has received 1,902 advisor inquiries and referred 408 advisors to member agencies. To educate newcomers to the field, the Virtuoso Difference event, held at Virtuoso Travel Week, immersed 75 attendees for a day in the value of joining the network. The event inspired a high conversion rate to Virtuoso membership. THE 2017 VIRTUOSO BEST OF THE BEST CATEGORIES AND WINNERS ARE: Hotel of the Year Palazzo Seneca, Norcia, Italy Best Achievement in Design Six Senses Douro Valley, Lamego, Portugal Best Dining Experience La Terrazza – Hotel Eden Rome, Rome, Italy Best Bar Bar Hemingway – Ritz Paris, Paris, France Best Family Program The Ritz-Carlton, Naples, Naples, Florida, U.S. Best Wellness Program Canyon Ranch, Tucson, Arizona, U.S. Best Virtuoso Experience Andaz Mayakoba Resort Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen, Mexico Best Virtuoso Newcomer Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown, New York, New York, Sustainable Tourism Leadership Cavallo Point – the Lodge at Golden Gate, Sausalito, California, U.S. Best Virtuoso Hotel Ambassador Kees Hogetoorn – Grand Hotel Amsterdam, an Accor Hotel Hotelier of the Year Susanne Hatje – Mandarin Oriental, New York, New York, New York, U.S. Meanwhile, during the Travel Week, Crystal Air Cruises’ fully customised, luxuriously appointed new Boeing 777, was christened Crystal Skye at an event at McCarran International Airport overseen by Virtuoso CEO Matthew Upchurch
Hotel & Tourism SMARTreport #36 2017 Autumn Edition 17 Guido Graf Travel Designer, Deluxetargets GOING HOME AFTER TRAVEL WEEK, SOME PEOPLE MEASURE THE TOWER OF BUSINESS CARDS THEY HAVE, AND IT CAN BE UP TO 40CM HIGH! BEHIND THE SCENES WITH A VIRTUOSO ADVISOR Guido Graf – Travel Designer – Deluxetargets – Switzerland – takes Cleverdis editor-in-chief Richard Barnes “under his wing” at Virtuoso Travel Week “Shadowing” Guido Graf for a full morning of meetings during Virtuoso Travel Week was a unique opportunity to see the internal workings of this legendary hotdating session. We asked when the Virtuoso “love story” first started. Eight or nine years ago at ILTM in Cannes, I first met with Matthew Upchurch (eds: Virtuoso CEO) and then five years ago, I asked him why Virtuoso wasn’t coming into Europe. He told me it was difficult, because there are so many different countries, with different laws and different mentalities… quite unlike the US. However, he did have a vision of global expansion, and three years ago, he said “OK, we’re ready, let’s do it!”, and we started with five founding members here – I was one of them. We are going step-by-step – it’s not at the same level as the US, because it needs time, also because of the different countries and supplier contracts people have in each country. Another thing that is different here is the fact that everything’s completely tour operator driven. We need to convince clients that it’s more about the experience. It’s not about going on a working tour in Tokyo for example; it’s about opening the back doors, giving people the impression of what the real mentality is of the Japanese people. I sat in with you on the Virtuoso speed dating. That was amazing. What key value do you get from this? In my case, it’s more like catching up with friends. I’ve worked for over ten years to One of the several halls at the Bellagio and Aria hotels hosting Virtuoso one-onone speed dating sessions build up this network, so my approach is very different to someone who is here the first time. Yes, it’s normal that people come here to sell their property. In order to do this, they need to give you as much information as possible in a short space of time. I like these four-minute appointments. For me, this is enough to introduce yourself, get the connection, get a short impression of what the other has to offer, and decide “Yes, that’s for me,” or “No, I don’t really have any clients for that,” and to ask two or three questions. I also have the chance, if something has been going wrong, to tell the people face to face. You have the possibility to have 70 meetings in one day. Going home after travel week, some people measure the tower of business cards they have, and it can be up to 40cm high!
