On Location: “It hasn’t slowed down”: Luxury advisors talk trends at Virtuoso Travel Week

The post-pandemic travel boom may be ending in some areas of the travel industry, but it all depends on who you ask.

Speaking at a panel discussion at Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas on Monday, Vancouver’s Cathy Holler, president and CEO of Momenti Travel, said her business is still benefitting from the post-COVID momentum, doubling its sales over last year.

“All of our business is referral, and our referrals continue to grow,” Holler told a conference room full of journalists at the Aria, one of four hotels hosting Virtuoso’s week-long mega-event, where more than 4,700 luxury travel pros and media (including PAX) from 97 countries are rubbing shoulders this week.

Joining Holler on the panel at Vegas’ Aria Resort was Sydney, Australia’s Roland Howlett, director of Frontier Travel, London, U.K-based Carolyn Addison, head of product at Black Tomato, and U.S.-based Fernando Gonzalez, CEO and co-owner of New York City's First in Service (F1S), which has advisors in Canada.

Holler said her boutique agency, which serves Canadian, U.S. and other international clients, specializing in Africa and other exotic trips, is seeing a lot of high-end, last-minute bookings (with some long-term planning too).  

“It hasn’t slowed down,” she said.

“It’s all about experiences”

Holler’s progress aligns with Virtuoso’s own trending data. As previously reported, the luxury consortium’s business this year is already seeing a 14.3 per cent increase in global sales over 2023. 

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Sales are also pacing 211 per cent over 2019’s levels (which, according to Tourism Economics, is higher than the leisure travel industry at large, which sits at 126 per cent over 2019).

In other words, business is good in the world of luxury travel. But why?  

Gonzalez said F1S first doubled its pre-pandemic numbers last year. “And half-way through this year, we’re already seeing double growth,” he told the room.

First in Service’s multiple verticals helped achieve this, Gonzalez explained. The agency covers different aspects of premium travel, such as corporate, entertainment, productions, meetings and events. It also operates in the U.S., Canada, Latin America and Europe.

“What’s interesting is that all of these verticals are growing and moving towards experiences, even on the travel management side. It’s all about experiences. Leisure is what’s on everyone’s mind,” Gonzalez said.

At the same time, travel has never been more expensive – especially when it comes to hotel rates. According to Virtuoso’s own data, the average daily rates (ADRs) in popular leisure destinations, such as the Caribbean and Mexico, and further away in places like Morocco, have seen increases.  

Is this deterring high-net worth individuals from travelling? Not in Gonzalez’ world. “We aren’t seeing it,” he said.

Sticker shock moments

Of course, it all depends on the market. Holler said there is still some “sticker shock” among some of her clientele when it comes to hotel rates.

“Italy is one that comes up often,” she said. “They’re surprised at the price point. They’ll say, ‘I was there ten years ago and it was nothing like that.’”

In cases like this, Holler may find herself booking 5-star clients at a 4-star hotel instead. “We’ve seen a lot of shifting,” she said. “They’ll still go, but they’ll lower their expectations.”

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Sometimes, after some contemplation, customers just accept the price and move on.

“I’ve had some clients come back to me to say how something is way overpriced, but then as we have discussions about the experience and what their emotional attachment is to the trip, they’ll actually get it over it,” Holler said.

That’s not to say price tags don’t matter. Gonzalez noted that his affluent clients, post-pandemic, are open to spending the money. They just want to know why they’re spending it.

“They’re looking for the value,” he said.

Where are travellers going?

Prior to Monday’s advisor panel, Virtuoso shared a detailed overview of where luxury Canadian travellers are going this year, naming the U.S., Italy, France, Japan and places within Canada as top choices.

Offering an on-the-ground perspective, Holler noted how she never had a request for Sardinia, until this year, when she received three.

As for Africa, her speciality, Zambia is “coming up on the radar,” she shared.

“It’s never been high profile, but when you look at Botswana – it was so expensive – and East Africa, Zambia, in the North America market, seems to be popping up,” she said.

Travellers are also expressing a desire to slow down and “look at destinations more deeply than they have ever before,” Holler said.

“A typical Canadian safari was once two nights, two nights, two nights… now it’s four nights,” she said. “There’s a desire to engage with the culture, a cause around sustainability, or community or conservation. It’s now coming up in the conversation.”

“When we talk about the human connection people want when they travel, it’s really starting to happen.”

For F1S’s clients in Canada and the United States, the Caribbean and Mexico has “shifted quite a bit,” Gonzalez add, saying how the two regions are softening in demand.

"Some of our partners are asking us to be more creative,” he said.

The biggest shift Gonzalez has seen at F1S is in group travel. “There’s a desire to get executives together, gather your top clients, the multi-gen, that is the biggest shift we’ve seen.”

F1S’s cruise sales are also having a moment. “We sold virtually no cruises prior to the pandemic and that is now the fastest growing area of our business,” Gonzalez said. “It has to do with travelling with friends, in larger groups. Cruise lends itself to a wonderful experience where you be closer and have better exchanges.”

The abundance of choice in luxury cruising also helps. “Every major luxury player out there is launching either a yacht, boat or some sort of high-end experience,” he said.

AI is “a huge opportunity”

The role of artificial intelligence in travel is another hot topic that has come up at Virtuoso Travel Week.

Virtuoso’s long-held position is that of the company’s CEO, Matthew Upchurch, who has repeatedly told his network to "automate the predictable so you can humanize the exceptional."

Gonzalez said that for F1S, AI “is a huge opportunity.”

“We need the assistance, we need to enhance our processes and centralize our databases so our advisors can lean into that and do what they do…I think it’s going to be a huge help for us.”

Insta-version vs. reality

Monday’s panel was also asked about which travel trends they’d like to see go away.

On that topic, Black Tomato’s Addison lamented how Instagram has changed the way people interact with places.

She cited Chefchaouen, a blue city in Morocco, as an example. The city, with its indigo walls and azure staircases, is a hot spot for taking photos for Instagram.

But in Addison’s experience, she finds that once clients go there, they wish they hadn’t bothered.

“We’re all guilty of it,” she said. “This chasing the Insta-[version] of a place versus the reality of a place and what an experience is going to be.”

"That would be a great trend to go away.”

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