Travel Weekly - World of Luxury 2012

$500 per day might be more than enough.

Asked what defines this segment other than cost, some agents offered simple criteria, while others offered more nuanced answers. Destination or location was the most common criteria, cited by 25 percent of survey respondents who completed the open-answer question. With that in mind, Europe was far and away the most popular destination for luxury travel cited by responding agents. More than 80 percent indicated that Europe was among their clients’ top three regions for luxury travel (see pages 36-37 for more details). The mix of destinations beyond Europe was much more diverse among survey respondents.

Others cited the class of hotel accommodations or class of airline service as the tell-tale sign of the luxury traveler. For most agents, however, it was a mix of criteria that ranged from “length of trip” and “the amount of handholding required” to “quality of amenities,” “private tours and private entrances to museums” and the “past travel patterns.”

more value for the money Indeed, these types of personalized services are becoming increasingly important for luxury travelers and increasingly define the value of the travel experience for top-level clientele. All of the travel professionals interviewed agreed that this is a significant development in the luxury segment and one that has interestingly tracked with the downward turn in the economy.

“Even though luxury clients are traveling at about
the same rate, they do want more value for their
money,” says Bailey. “For this level of traveler, ser-
vice is the biggest thing. They don’t want to check
in, for example, they want to go right to their room.
They want to have their experience customized and
facilitated behind the scenes so that they are free
to enjoy it. That is
the ‘value’ element
for my clients,
and they demand
more of it now.”

Services for young luxury
travelers better be tech savvy.
If your agency doesn’t have text
message concierge services or a
presence on Facebook or Twitter,
it is less likely to gain traction
with this up-and-coming
group of travelers.
LESSONS
in LUXURY
“My clients are less
likely to do a ‘getaway’
trip that is just meant to
escape,” says Bouche. “They
are really looking to experience
something meaningful and they are looking to me
to be able to recommend experiences and provide
them with value in that way.”
Cohen agreed. “They want my help, but they are
also educating themselves about what they want,
and they have become more demanding about
getting the experience they envision,” she said,
adding that her luxury clients also want these ex-
periences with as many value adds as they can get.
“I had two doctors on a Crystal Cruise recently
and they were interested in all the on-board value-
added and prepaid amenities. They are certainly
willing to pay, but they want the value—they
won’t settle anymore.”