Headquarter Happenings: Virtuoso Celebrates 36th Travel Week Amid Record Luxury Demand
by Daniel McCarthy
The 36th annual Virtuoso Travel Week, which Virtuoso calls “the Fashion Week of Luxury travel,” wrapped up today in Las Vegas.
The biggest takeaway? Luxury travel remains strong. In fact, luxury travel has not stopped growing. And while things are changing when it comes to destinations or client inclinations, high-net worth and ultra-high-net worth travelers have still not satiated their appetite to travel.
Travel Week changes
There were a few changes to this year’s Travel Week. Attendees no longer have assigned appointments in the afternoon—every appointment is now matched so that the advisor and partner choose to meet with each other. There are also more flexible afternoons during the week that allow advisors to choose to do something else aside from partner meetings.
This year also featured a brand-new hotel showcase for people who want to meet and connect with Virtuoso’s preferred hotel partners.
Maybe most significantly, for the first time this year, partners and advisors had to apply and get approval to attend Travel Week, with Virtuoso building a mix of attendees across sales levels, years of experience, and other factors.
“The idea is that the people who are here are curated, they definitely wanted to be here. That ranges from top producers and a mix of people who are new to the industry,” David Kolner, Virtuoso’s Executive Vice President, said.
The health of the network, the health of the industry
Virtuoso now has more than 20,000 advisors in 58 countries around the world, with nearly half of the members outside of the U.S., significant growth that has still yet to satisfy the need for more luxury travel advisors—according to the numbers, Virtuoso has seen a 76% increase in people seeking one of its advisors this year.
In terms of how the current network is doing, sales are up 211% over the same period in 2019, and 14% over the same period in 2023. It has growth across every sector, too, something that’s not atypical for Virtuoso. However, what does stand out is which sector is leading—the first half of 2024 saw increases of 18.4% in cruise, 8.1% in hotels, and 12.7% in tours.
“Cruise is coming into its own,” Misty Belles, VP of Global Public Relations said.
Another standout is what Virtuoso is seeing later this year, specifically its fall and festive numbers. According to the data, compared to 2023, sales are up 27% and bookings are up 23% for the fall season. Sales for the festive season are up 29% while bookings are up 32% compared to 2023.
“I think fall is the new summer,” Belles said.
Those numbers are up even with November’s presidential election in the U.S., a period where “conventional wisdom is travel goes down,” Belles said. But the “truth is that it does just a little bit, but it doesn’t go away.”
In terms of which destinations are trending, Italy, France, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Spain, Saint Barthelemy, Portugal, Canada, and Japan top the list for fall travel. For the festive season, Mexico, Hawaii, Anguilla, Costa Rica, and Saint Barthelemy are the most sought-after, with Saint Lucia, the Dominican Republic, and Grenada trending, all with double- and triple-digit percentage increases.
Advisor development
Even with Virtuoso’s sales numbers increasing, its advisors are still finding time to train and move their skills forward.
“I believe that Virtuoso travel advisors are the best in the world, but that doesn’t happen by accident,” Kolner added.
According to Kolner, Virtuoso’s 20,000 advisors completed over 60,000 courses so far this year, meaning every advisor, on average, has completed three, optional professional development classes.
Those classes can include the Virtuoso Certified Travel Advisor (VCTA) course, which, while under the radar, captures a lot of Virtuoso’s new-to-industry advisors who need to get trained on how to really sell travel. They can also include Virtuoso Advance, which, launched in 2023, brings members together for three days of learning and career advancement.
Connecting consumers with advisors, air program
Virtuoso has seen a 79% increase in consumers using its Find My Advisor button on its website, which allows consumers to come in, type in who they are and what they are looking for, and get options for advisors that fit their profile.
The group is also expanding its So, Virtuoso campaign, which was launched last year as a global consumer-facing marketing campaign with the goal of attracting the right high-value client to the network.
Helen McCabe-Young, Virtuoso’s SVP of Marketing, told TMR that the campaign is going to expand to highlight partners, too, and not just members. This year alone produced 900,000 engagements for Virtuoso.
Ultimately, all of Virtuoso’s consumer marketing efforts are aimed at “elevating the brand while elevating the members,” she said.
For air, Kolner told press that the air travel market for advisors is still “crazy” and that Virtuoso relaunched its air program this year around the world. According to Kolner, there are two ways Virtuoso attacks air.
One is through contracts that Virtuoso holds with airlines directly to negotiate exclusively, sometimes in business class directly. The second is allowing preferred partners to supply air and do ticketing.
“A lot of advisors don’t feel comfortable selling air anymore. So this service provides a liaison to the advisors who don’t feel comfortable,” he said.
Sustainability goals
Sustainability has always been front-of-mind for Virtuoso, and this year’s Travel Week highlighted continuing efforts to use the network’s impact for good. One of the themes this week was a focus on a more encompassing definition of sustainability, one that included traveling to off-the-beaten-path destinations or traveling during shoulder season.
Those destinations include Slovenia, Portugal, and Croatia, all of which are emerging as attractive “alternative” options of Virtuoso clients. It also includes that boost in fall travel, mentioned previously.
All-in-all, sales for Virtuoso’s sustainable partners were at $700 million in 2023.
