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Jamie holiday
According to a group of agency owners who spoke during last week’s Virtuoso Travel Week press conference, luxury travelers today are not panicking about the cost of travel.
The live conference in Las Vegas is also featured.
“Clients don’t even ask for expenses in some cases,” said Anthony Goldman, joint managing director of the Goldman Group in Australia.
Goldman said there is a desire to travel and a new sense of urgency due to travel disruptions caused by the pandemic.
from the window seat; In Virtuoso, the microcosm of industrial activity
Beth Washington, founder of the Washington-based Getaway Guild, agreed that top luxury travelers “are not looking at the increased inflation.”
“I see a lot more sticker shock in the aspiring traveler,” Washington said. Maybe they got into the luxury travel market before the pandemic hit. What I now consider to be my price shocked customers.
But, even if that group of customers is experiencing some sticker shock, most of the pushback is word of mouth, and they end up booking regardless.
“I think that goes with the current need and the need for travel and getting out of the pandemic,” Washington said.
Sticker shock is also occurring among repeat customers who previously experienced a different travel product, said Susan Bowman, vice-president of marketing and industry relations at Canada Transat.
A customer who has rented a villa for years may be shocked to find that renting a villa today is 40% more expensive than it used to be. Prices may be higher because of labor costs, but Bowman said it’s difficult to explain the steep increase to consumers.
That, combined with car rentals, is driving up travel costs. Bowman says customers will soon need an $11,000 van. They took it because they couldn’t find anything else, but “it’s not sustainable,” she said.
However, Virtuoso’s surveys have found evidence that agency owners’ optimism has been increasing since January, when the spread of Covid-19 began to decline.
While the verdict is still out on whether the current environment is the new normal or a travel bubble, having price-conscious luxury customers isn’t a bad problem.
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