Recommend October 2010 - (Page 12)

W editor’s notes Welcome to our semi-annual Spa & Luxury issue, a collection of some of the world’s best spa and luxury product. There’s probably no better indication of the growth of luxury travel than this year’s emphasis by Vacation.com on its own considerable collection of luxury product and its entrance into the luxury consortium ﬁeld. “If you look at our business in totality, we’ve always sold a lot of luxury and premium type of brands and if you step back and look at our offerings of preferred suppliers, you can clearly see we’re an active player in that role,” explains Steve Tracas, president and CEO of Vacation.com “So, I think it behooves our membership and ourselves to put a spotlight on this and talk about this part of our business. We haven’t always done that...it’s time we bring that to light because we do about $300 million annually in luxury sales.” Indeed, Vacation.com’s supplier list does read like a “Who’s Who” of luxury travel companies. Cruise lines such as Crystal Cruises, Cunard Line, Princess Cruises, Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Silversea Cruises and Viking River Cruises; airlines such as Bluestar Jets and Uniglobe’s Corporate Air Program; tour operators like Brian Moore International Tours and IsramWorld’s companies, all with customizable luxury vacation offerings; plus ﬁvestar hotel offerings like JW Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and a whole lot more. The broadening of its supplier base with luxury product suppliers has also resulted in drawing new member agents with expertise in luxury product sales. “I like to say that it’s just highlighting areas that we have expertise in that maybe haven’t been as forthcoming in the past. We always talk about our business products and now this just gives us a focus on luxury,” Tracas points out. “Other people might say, ‘I love Vacation.com’s conference, it’s one of the best going,’ or ‘I love their technology, but I didn’t realize they had that kind of luxury coverage, so they really do meet my needs more than my current afﬁliation does, or in more areas than my current supplier does.’ So it really does serve the purpose of bringing in more enhanced commissions and more enhanced revenues to our current base....” Vacation.com’s much daunted technology also enhances the opportunity for luxury sales with offerings like its Engagement program, a segmented direct mail program that allows agents to identify and target speciﬁc markets, a perfect tool for the luxury market. “It’s not only having the product,” Tracas emphasizes, “but it’s being able to reach out to the consumer at the right time and say this is the right program for you so they’ll call one of our members to make a booking.… And nobody does that better than Vacation.com.” Still other tools exclusive to Vacation.com such as Vacation Vignettes and its Culinary Collection ﬁt that luxury niche, as well. “There’s a tremendous amount of luxury product out there to meet the needs of that traveler,” says Tracas. “And the term you use all the time is value—getting a lot for the money you invest and when you have specialty programs like the Culinary Collection or you have Vacation Vignettes where they can get exclusive shore excursions, it tells the consumer that they can have a quality luxury product with added amenities that equates to value.” Extensive product training, too, is an integral part of the Vacation. com consortium operations, still another factor that endears them to the luxury suppliers. Tracas points out that, “They want our members to understand them, to learn about them and to sell them appropriately. So there’s a lot of training for our members and a lot of good results for our suppliers. I think that’s why we produce so much luxury product now.” In a recent Vacation.com survey of its luxury market segment, 56 percent of agents cited that intergenerational travel—including family reunions—provided the highest demand in 2010 travel, followed by culinary and wine travel at 40 percent. In the international market, 50 percent of agents surveyed named Western Europe, 44 percent cited the Mediterranean and 38 percent the Baltic, with having the highest demand in 2010. In the cruise segment, 50 percent of agents cited deep-water cruise lines such as Crystal Cruises, Silversea Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises as the most popular, with 25 percent naming river cruises. We also reached out to Vacation.com agents to get their comments on the destinations we covered this month and you’ll ﬁnd those comments throughout this month’s issue. next month We’re coming up with our Editors’ Hot Picks for 2011, citing the hottest products and destinations around the world. In keeping with that, we’re also looking at the growing popularity of medical tourism and the opportunities for pre/post-op travel and tour sales. Finally, there’s our special Israel Travel Planner, “100 Years of Green,” focusing on green and sustainable travel. In the meantime, have a great read.— Rick Shively agent speak Responses, opinions and comments are welcome at agentspeak@recommend.com. Recommend reserves the right to edit letters submitted to Agent Speak. singing to the choir Simply loved Cindy Clifford’s—of Gotta Go Cruises—“Agent Speak” article in the August 2010 issue regarding Celebrity and Royal Caribbean’s direct marketing to her clients. She is singing to the choir. We are so instrumental in directing our clients to the respective cruise lines. Do they really want to alienate us? Elisa K Ball Total Cruise & Travel Experts 12 october 2010 recommend.com http://www.Vacation.com http://www.Vacation.com http://www.Vacation.com http://www.Vacation.com http://www.Vacation.com http://www.Vacation.com http://www.recommend.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recommend October 2010

Editor's Notes/Agent Speak
Hotel Desk
Tour Talk
Luxurious India by Rail, Plane and Boat
The Heavenly Taj Hotels, Resorts & Palaces
Experiencing the High Life in Kenya
Savoring the North of England
Riviera Nayarit Travel Planner
Marival Residences & World Spa
Wildly Luxurious––High-End Vacations
The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman Does it Again
Guadeloupe
Five High-End Villa Stays
Compagnie du Ponant's Le Boreal
Palm Beach: Playground for the Rich and Famous
Hawks Cay Resort, Florida Keys
La Costa Resort and Spa, California

Recommend October 2010