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Going back to basics
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With a session tomorrow covering the success factors of luxury travel businesses and how these vary in different regions of the globe, Gary Noakes gives an insight into the findings from a new report price, the higher the expected
ersonalisation with a “high-tech and high-touch” approach is the key element luxury clients want from a
travel provider, new research among specialists from across the globe has concluded.
The 2018 IE & Mastercard Premium Travel Barometer also identified key differences in expectations among clients from different geographical areas. Ninety premium travel experts and business owners were interviewed, of which just less than half were from Europe, 24% from Latin America and 13% from North America, with the remainder from across the globe. Experts rated the importance of each topic on a scale from 1 (not important) to 10 (extremely important). Top of the list for the second year was Personalisation, with a score of 8.6, up 0.1 percentage points on 2017; with concierge services, lifestyle managers, local experts and “go-to persons” thought to be vitally important for high-end clients. Personalisation narrowly beat Experience Design at 8.5, up 0.4 percentage points. Quality Management came third, followed by Recruitment and Training, with Food and Beverage/ Gastronomy Concepts in fifth position. All the top five categories scored eight points or more.
Trends and tactics The report says Personalisation faces “an ongoing key challenge of finding the right balance between high-tech and high-touch solutions”, one closely linked to another key finding: hiring, training and retaining the right staff.
The report adds: “As a general rule of thumb, the higher the travel
34 05.11.2018
Experts say high-end clients today cherish added value
personalisation, leading to travel professionals coming up with personalisation approaches for the most unlikely elements of the whole experience, e.g. personalised pre-travel inspiration books and napkins with embroidered initials.” Experience Design marks the growing trend towards the experiential over luxury hotels and services, the report says.
It adds: “Many high-end agencies do not rely on DMCs (or only to a limited degree) and stress that they only recommend what they have built and lived themselves. Often, they prefer to create experiences with non-tourism professionals with tremendous passion and knowledge in very specific fields, for example, nature, cultural heritage, food, arts, business and healing.” One issue, Connection with Family & Friends, climbed 11 places to ninth this year, a bigger jump than any other topic. The authors say sheer lack of time and the impersonal nature of digital communication are prompting a craving for more human interaction. Interviews with travel professionals
Research shows modern discerning travellers seek personalisation
from around the globe provided key insights into how the luxury market is changing, with one participant saying “large parts of the sector are still stuck in the product-centric 80s”.
Less is more
Gonzalo Gimeno, founder of Spain’s Elefant Travel, said it was a mistake to put destinations at the heart of the consulting process.
“Travel is much bigger than destinations,” he said. “It’s about what you live and experience, and often the place is of minor importance. Also many mistake the concept of luxury for finding the extraordinary. The (ultra) high net worth individuals we have as customers are merely looking for added value, the kind they cherish.” Steffen Boehnke, a director of Tui’s Airtours brand in Germany, said this was also true in Germanic Europe: “Experiences are less and less about superlatives, but rather about back to basics, to nature, to oneself, to be with loved ones.” However, he added: “The “classic” luxury approach remains important, too, though, usually attracting more mature travellers
like the ‘empty nesters’.”
China is an important luxury market and experts said it had begun to show distinct differences among age and geographical groups. “Wealthy Chinese are generally younger than their Western counterparts and more active,” said Roy Graff, EMEA managing director of China travel marketing specialist Dragon Trail Interactive, who will speak at WTM London.
“They are heavily influenced by personal recommendations by their network on social media and are looking for unique experiences that enhance their status, but more in terms of what they can record and share on social media, and not in buying recognised brands, which is what their parents used to use to indicate their status.”
Jennifer Zhang, chief executive of China specialist Asialink – Ctrip in Spain, also warned it was a mistake to consider Chinese travellers as a generic group, with the 60 million Chinese living abroad having a different outlook.
“These are mainly people from the top four or five Chinese metropolitan areas such as Beijing. They have totally different needs and wants than more conservative rich travellers from second or third-tier cities such as Chengdu. This impacts the use of digital tools, preferred destinations, food and interests,” she said.
■ Luxury travel business success factors in comparison: East meets West is on tomorrow (November 6), 1.30-2.30pm, Asia Inspiration Zone (AS1070). Tourism consultant Jorn Gieschen will moderate the session, and you can download the report via
tiny.cc/iepremiumtravelbarometer
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