Price no deterrent for luxury market say Virtuoso members
Luxury clients are “price insensitive” following the pandemic, but agents must focus on extending booking lead times, according to a panel of Virtuoso member agents from the UK, the USA, Australia and Canada.
The members were speaking during a session at the global luxury network’s Travel Week event in Las Vegas, which is taking place from until 19 August.
They agreed that despite prices rising post pandemic, price wasn’t a deterrent for the luxury market. James Turner, chief executive of the UK’s 360 Private Travel, said luxury travellers appeared to be “price insensitive”, as clients strove to spend time with their families and enjoy the experiences they were unable to do during the pandemic.
Antony Goldman, joint managing director of Australia’s Goldman Group, agreed, explaining: “Clients aren’t even asking about cost in some cases…we are used to dealing with high net worth clients, but all of a sudden clients are coming out of the woodwork that are spending more than we ever thought they’d spend on travel.”
The agents concurred that the key message to convey to customers was the need to plan further ahead due to the lack of late availability. Turner explained: “To make that booking window bigger, that’s our challenge…let’s try and get back to planning earlier.”
The group highlighted the impact of infrastructure and staffing problems, but Turner said handling these issues could be an opportunity for agents to showcase their expertise. “Managing [challenges] comes down to our skill, which is an opportunity,” he said.
The panel all cited an influx of new clients post-pandemic, many of whom previously didn’t use a travel agent, with Goldman adding: “You’d be nuts not to use a travel advisor in these times.”
However the group also said it was wise for agents to be more selective about which clients they work with. They all stressed that bookings are taking their teams longer to complete, due to increased hold times with suppliers and more communication with clients.
The panel noted that multi-generational and family trips were becoming more popular, alongside longer durations, with some clients opting to work while away in order to extend their trip. Turner also highlighted the popularity of the Maldives with UK clients during and since the pandemic, which he described as “a habit that has stayed with people”.
He also cited an increase in clients keen to book Sri Lanka, despite the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office advising against all but essential travel to the country.
He explained: “We still have clients that want to book, even though there’s some technicalities about whether we actually legitimately sell that to a consumer. But they still want to do it because they have not been able to, and that’s been on their list.”
Goldman added that many Australian customers wanted to book ski breaks in Japan, despite regulations only allowing tourists to enter the country on package tours. “The risk appetite has increased with some of our clients,” he said. “They are happy to book these places, knowing that they may not even go and then they pay for a backup trip to be planned,” he added.
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