Headquarter Happenings: Virtuoso’s Vegas Return Marks Emotional Return to In-Person Conferencing

Almost 18 months out from the start of a pandemic that will “change the face of travel for the next 20 years,” attendees of Virtuoso Travel Week once again convened at the Bellagio in Las Vegas last week, for five days of networking, inspiration, and more. 

Coming off of a largely conference-free 2020, this year’s Virtuoso Travel Week not only marked the start of a new era of travel, but also a return to in-person meetings that meant a lot for both the Virtuoso team and attendees.

“It’s been amazing the number of people who have just said, ‘wow how energizing’ and how much they’ve really appreciated this,” said Matthew Upchurch, chief executive officer at Virtuoso. 

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Upchurch mentioned just how emotional it was to see not only advisors and suppliers but also Bellagio staff members who have seen his family grow over the years, in person. 

“For me, it has been very emotional. My children have literally been raised by some of these employees. I told the Bellagio staff prior to this that as happy as you are to see us, we are as happy to see you,” he added. 

While there was an outpouring of emotion to finally be in-person, deciding to have attendees live in Las Vegas came with extra precautions and extra work for the meetings team. The task of keeping attendees safe included a vaccination requirement for all attendees, three on-site COVID testing options for those who needed it, mask requirements per Las Vegas law, and a color-coded wrist band system that alerted other attendees to an individual’s comfort level. 

For those who couldn’t make it either for health reasons or simply because many international borders remain closed, Virtuoso also hosted virtual attendees, which is something Upchurch and the team expect to be part of their events moving forward, whether COVID is still impacting travel or not. 

Bullish signs for the industry and Virtuoso
Heavy pent-up demand is driving a return to travel, even though the recovery continues to be uneven with some stops and starts. 

According to the WTTC, 2019 international spending was $1.7 trillion, a number that fell by nearly 70% in 2020. But there are some signs of recovery. 

After being down almost 83% in January, travel bookings for 2021 were down just 45% for June, a big jump over the past few months. 

Refund rates have also stabilized—Virtuoso research showed that in Q2 of 2021, the refund rates were just 8%, a little higher than the 2019 average of 5%, but a big increase of the Q2 2020 rates of 48% and the 2020 Q3 rate of 25%. 

In terms of recent travel, hotels continue to be the big winner, with hotel booking up 122% over 2020 and higher than 2019. Cruise bookings, up 20% from 2020, and tour bookings, up 34%, are still down from 2019 levels but have some positive momentum, according to Virtuoso stats. 

Overall, 77% of Virtuoso advisors said that Q3 bookings have either increased or significantly increased compared to Q1, another bullish sign. 

In terms of the number of agencies, Virtuoso’s network “has remained incredibly stable during this time,” said Misty Belles, the head of PR for Virtuoso. While the network saw some drop off during COVID, it was already added 26 new member agencies just since January

Wanderlist 
Wanderlist is one of the highlights of Virtuoso’s most recent member offerings. 

A consumer-facing program, Wanderlist allows consumers to create a roadmap for their own vacation futures that Virtuoso advisors can use to plan their next trips and communicate.

Think Pinterest but for planning vacations, with actual itineraries available to be added to the list and a connection to a real-life travel professional that can make dreams and visions a reality. 

“It gives them the opportunity to dream and express themselves and for us to be able to go to partners and say this is what people want to do,” Belles told TMR. It’s both a way to capture leads and to get data on what consumers want. 

Wanderlist has already provided a pipeline of future travel worth over $110 million for the 3,000-plus Virtuoso members who use the program. In total, over 200 Virtuoso experiences have been added by consumers. 

For this year, Virtuoso has updated a number of features for Wanderlist. Consumers can now save ideas to Wanderlist through Virtuoso.com, which is now fully integrated with the tool. They can also invite clients who then invite friends to add to that collaboration. 

Other program updates 
Outside of Travel Week, Virtuoso’s events team is also planning a big rest of 2021 and 2022. 

The team has built a program of four types of events for 2022—Virtuoso On-Tour program, Virtuoso Connects, Virtuoso Travel Pop-Ups, and the return of Travel Week, which is already been planned. 

During COVID, Virtuoso also made a number of adjustments to help its members pivot during the pandemic. One was its BeWise Travel Guide, a tool that allows agents to go on Virtuoso’s website and learn about travel restrictions based on passport and destination. 

Another was Virtuoso Collaboration Teams, which David Kolner, senior vice president of strategy, said was one of “the most important things we did during the pandemic.” 

The Teams allowed members to meet online through Zoom and talk about business. 

“What was not exactly a hard idea to come up with because of the general ethos of the organization,” Upchurch added. “The ethos we engendered is there is more to be gained by working with others. There’s plenty to go around and I can help you and you can help me.” 

Another new rate program, Virtuoso Hotel Offers, allows hotel partners to load exclusive packages and rates into the GDS. So far, the program, which is actively managed in the GDS with an additional rate code, has 80 participants.

Virtuoso has also restarted its Reviews and Recommendations program for its members, which is exclusive to its network. According to Helen McCabe-Young, who was named senior vice president of marketing at Virtuoso in February after joining the network in July 2020, that is the “number one thing that consumers look at” when searching for advisors. 

It is a completely automated system for advisors with the average review at about 99% for members and 94% for preferred suppliers. 

Outside of those programs, Virtuoso also took this year to update its logo, with a couple of light touches that it hopes gives it “a little bit of fresh elegance,” McCabe-Young said. The changes are fairly subtle but they “send the signal that we’re moving forward into a new world.”