I went to pay my taxes at the village hall recently, and as I waited in line, a little girl of about seven was dancing around the lobby in a one-piece bathing suit. She was smiling at me, spinning and leaping, and just so, so happy. I assume her unmitigated joy was fueled by the simple truth that it was summer, she was seven, and swimming was somewhere on her agenda for the day. It occurred to me at that moment that that untethered, carefree mindset is what many travelers want to experience on their vacations: happiness, a swimsuit and not a care in the world for what the rest of the day will bring, as long as it’s really fun.
It made me wonder: Are we complicating the basic leisure trip with too many add-ons and details when, in reality, clients want things simple and enjoyable? Perhaps, but the actual reality is that the simplest, most enjoyable trips appear that way to the client because the luxury travel advisor has done so much work on the back end. They’ve gotten their clients to their destinations in one piece, more or less. They’ve booked them in a hotel that evokes joy and whose public spaces provide an elegant stage for each client to reinvent themselves in the most stylish manner. A good vacation will make a person feel like anything is possible and that life still retains amazing possibilities, regardless of one’s age or economic status. An amazing trip will restore a sense of calm to one’s psyche, proving that living well is possible, despite all of the hurdles that come barreling one’s way while at home.
To get the client to this point, the luxury travel advisor will have to have vetted a number of destinations and hotels for them. They will have to have said, “No, that hotel is not for you, I cannot send you there,” when the client has come in raving about their next door neighbor’s vacation. The luxury travel advisor will have insisted (ever so politely, in a tone that’s masked with kindness) that the clients upgrade to a suite rather than having their entire family sleep in one room. The advisor will also have had to deal with the airline portion of the trip, even if the client has insisted on booking it themselves: they’ve had to remind the client to actually make the flight bookings or they’ve taken the task on themselves and gotten everyone in decent seats, near each other. The advisor has also possibly set their alarm for 3 a.m. to be sure that hotel transfer in Rome is coming off as scheduled, or maybe they’ve stayed up all night in anticipation of their top client’s arrival at a far-flung destination where things can go awry at the drop of a hat.
Let’s give some credit to the hotels themselves. I once met someone who had worked at reception for a luxury resort. She told me that above all, the golden rule was that nothing bad could ever happen in the hotel’s lobby. Any challenging interaction had to be managed and controlled at all costs so other guests wouldn’t witness any negativity. How’s that for a challenge? Then there’s the flow of the guest experience, the need to ensure check-in goes smoothly and that the accommodations are as promised and that the guests’ immediate need for food and rest after a long trip are met seamlessly.
Let’s give our hotel suppliers, and our tour operators and DMCs, and, yes, even the airlines when things go well, a dose of credit for creating some really amazing experiences. And, of course, the luxury travel advisor gets the highest reward for coordinating their worlds of knowledge and possibilities to make their clients feel all the unbridled joy of a stress-free vacation, to feel like a seven-year-old going to the beach day after day in a summer that seems like it will never end.
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