08-09 ttg_lux_news 15/6/09 09:24 Page 8
News
agent of
luxury
Jonathan Rosenfeld
Director, SoHo Travel, London
What does every client want? The best hotel, the
best deal, the best room, the earth?
Well let me sum it up: they want a hotel
designed for tomorrow, built to be ready for
occupancy tonight but with rates from yesterday,
WIN A CHANCE TO SAMPLE
not forgetting a free upgrade with breakfast
thrown in... what a business!
TENERIFE’S FIVE-STAR SIDE
So why be in it? Simple, it’s the passion that
drives you, the fact that when a client calls you,
you are at best 99% of the time convinced the
I
n the second of our series of ttgluxury now has more five-star hotels than Barcelona. advice you are giving is correct and moreover
Experience trips for 2009, we are offering The trip will include two nights each at the suits the needs of the client.
eight agents the chance to join us for some island’s iconic Gran Hotel Bahia del Duque and One always hears of clients collecting
September sun in Tenerife. Ritz-Carlton’s Abama hotel. There will be a numerous brochures or, I hate to mention it,
The ttgluxury Experience allows premium chance to see other deluxe boutique hotels, go searching the net... although the best tales
travel advisors the chance to be indulged by whale watching and star gazing, and enjoy spa have the bunch of friends sat around drinking a
our hosts, Tenerife Tourism Corporation and treatments, gourmet dining and wine tasting.
Monarch Airlines, and to see a destination as The trip will also visit Mount Teide and its
‘I like to try and
luxury clients would, staying in some of the stunning national park, and Garachico, one of
finest hotels on the island. the island’s most beautiful and traditional towns.
propose something
The trips are designed to showcase the best The Tenerife ttgluxury Experience leaves
a destination has to offer, to enhance your on September 16 from Gatwick, flying with a little different’
product knowledge and give you key access to Monarch Airlines, and returns on September 20.
hosts who can really help grow your business. You must be available to travel on these dates if perfect red wine recently brought back from a
Thanks to our partners, we will take eight you want to enter the competition to win one of trip to Tuscany. That’s when the real decision
agents on the ttgluxury Experience to the the eight places on the trip. making kicks off...
Canarian island of Tenerife. The destination “You just have to stay where we stayed,”
has substantially enhanced its tourism product For more details and to enter, visit exclaims one. That is when, hopefully, the agent
in the luxury sector in the last few years and ttgluxury.com/tenerife gets a mention, before another guest (because
there is always one) throws in their two pennies’
worth, saying: “No, that used to be good,
although there is a new hotel next door and I
am very friendly with the general manager...”
ILTM UPBEAT ABOUT SHOW
Of course clients can book it all themselves
– the flight, the transfer, the right room at the
The annual International Luxury Travel Market is set to take place on December 7-10 right rate, and of course they don’t want to pay
and promises to be as popular as ever, say show organisers. up before they arrive. But what about us? For
ILTM said there was increased interest to exhibit from emerging destinations those travellers who do give us the chance to
such as Croatia, Lapland and Morocco. Key European destinations such as Greece, do business, this is when I really get going.
the UK, Spain and Italy are all signed up to exhibit again at the event in Cannes. Rather than sending reams of information
The Italian State Tourist Board said it had seen a high demand for space from the sheets or brochures, I would rather find out
top-end luxury providers in Italy keen to be present at the show, including elite where the client has been in the past (that’s if I
transportation companies and travel designers offering tailor-made itineraries for have never met them before). I like to try and
discovering Italy. propose something a little different, be it a
The way suppliers are responding to a particular restaurant or bar, or a certain piste in
market increasingly looking for life-enriching the Dolomites that leads down to a run along the
and highly personalised luxury travel will be edge of a mountain river...
the key theme, said ILTM. Speed-meetings, But we mustn’t forget the all-important hotel
introduced last year, will also be a focal point. request! This can be a minefield, but so long as
For the first time, ttgluxury will be an official you know your client, and more importantly the
media partner for the event. hotel (not that we can know them all), at least
you can speak with a degree of confidence. The
client is looking to us for our opinion – so long as
we have the facts and deliver the products and
services on time then maybe, just maybe, there
8
is still some longevity within our sector.
in the know
summer 09 ttgluxury.com
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