I’ve always loved learning something new. So for me, the best part of my job is attending different annual conferences, hearing many different smart executives and interesting guest speakers, and chatting with travel advisors who are following their passion with an amazing assortment of unique business models. This month, with back-to-back Signature Travel Network at the Venetian in Vegas and Dream Vacations/Cruise One on Celebrity Ascent in the Caribbean, I have so many stories to tell that I honestly don’t know where to start.
But I’ve been at this for a long time, and I know that when you have a column due and you’re feeling overwhelmed, you just choose a bite-sized piece and start typing. So I’m starting with an interview I did with Signature’s guru of all things luxury, Ignacio Mazza, and some take-aways the Signature conference.
You’ll be happy to hear that Mazza believes the true luxury market—the top 5% of American households—continues to be very resilient. Pushed along its merry way by a record stock market and soaring home values, its demand for travel remains strong—indeed, stronger than for other luxury goods. What’s starting to soften a little is the “aspirational luxury” market, made up of who are not in that top percentage but have been traveling as though they were. Youthful and aspiring to taste the good life, these travelers are under pressure to keep up this year, Mazza says.
For crystal-ball watching, Mazza always keeps an eye on the greater luxury market beyond travel. “Travel is a discretionary spend, like art, like a Louis Vuitton bag or an Yves St. Laurent scarf. And that world is having many headwinds this year,” he says. “For the first time in a while Gucci and Louis Vuitton are hurting this year and sales are down year over year. We have to be cautious; we live in a very cyclical business and there is uncertainty, with an unpredictable administration. We still have to stay vigilant.”
(Signature president Alex Sharpe echoed that thought, encouraging members to use this travel-happy period to “carve out time to be prepared” for future headwinds. And the following week, at the CruiseOne/Dream Vacations conference, Brad Tolkin, president and CEO of those franchises’ parent company World Travel Holdings, told me the same thing in our interview. Asked to choose a word he will focus on for next year, Tolkin chose “Prepared.”
“It’s been a great run and there’s every indication it’s going to continue,” he said. “We don’t see any speed bumps or cracks. But we want to look at different scenarios”—and of course we’ve learned from Covid how important it is to keep your eyes open—and to put away a little something for a rainy-day fund.
Tips for the Trade
With travel booming, though, arguably the hardest thing is finding inventory and avoiding the crowds. Eighty percent of travelers go to just 10% of the world’s destinations, Mazza noted—and there are so many other options to explore. Some of his suggestions are:
Peru. It’s having a moment, with the arrival of Abercrombie & Kent on the Amazon; Coquequirao, Cordillera Blanca and Colca Canyon, where condors soar overhead, plus the Belmond Andean Explorer train, “the most luxurious and fun train experience in the In the Western Hemisphere.”
Buenos Aires. Go to Teatro Colon, have a steak at Don Julio, then go to El Tigre to relax.
Berlin is going to be hot as it celebrates the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, during which the city was completely destroyed. Visit the Nikolai quarter, Tempelhof, Potsdam, and High Swing Berlin.
Or closer to home, try a taste of something French in Montreal. It’s one of the most creative cities in the world, home to Cirque du Soleil and the largest jazz festival, with a great passion for food.
Travel advisors also need to continue to sharpen their skills—to travel themselves and to attend conferences. “There are so many new products, new destinations, new itineraries that it’s important to stay on top of things,” Mazza says. “And it’s important to keep your connections updated, because the pace of change is unbelievable, and you need to stay current with the personal relationships that drive this business.”
It’s also important to keep a step ahead of your luxury customers by reading the travel news. You don’t have to read every word in every trade publication (other than my column, of course), but scan the headlines and be aware of what’s in the air. “When your clients say they have been reading about X, you have to say yes, I read about that too.”
Then think and act like a financial planner, Mazza says. No one walks into their planner’s office and says, “I want buy this.” You sit down and get to know each other and have a discussion about what’s right for you—and travel advisors need to do the same with their customers. “We have to have a long-term plan for our clients, a continuum, and meet with them periodically even when they are not traveling,” Mazza says.
As part of that discussion, love your clients enough to say “no, this trendy hotel you heard about is not for you. I know you will be miserable there.”
Signature News at the Conference
A record-breaking total of 1,858 advisors and guests and 843 preferred partners attended the conference this year, including 745 first-timers. In all, the Signature network comprises 209 member agencies (with an average $17.8 million and median $5.2 million in sales), who served more than 1.7 million travelers in 2024. Revenue is up 15% over last year—and a whopping 92% of it goes through preferred partners, who paid a total $453.8 million in commissions to Signature agencies. The Signature Cruise Pro cruise booking engine alone processed approximately 10,000 bookings a month during wave season.
For its members, Signature sent out 4.5 million direct mail pieces, 1.7 million publications and 65 million emails this year. With 117 new hotel and resort partners, it now has a total of 1,316 partners in that segment, including 607 suites and villa partners. The cruise program has two new partners, Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection and Sea Cloud, for a total of 37.
As far as technology, a new version of Hotel Connection launched a few weeks ago, and there has been a huge increase in demand for the TOBY AI artificial intelligence platform, for which Signature offers five free seats per agency. In the works is an AI tool for cruise quotes that will guide advisors through the itinerary and ship choices, using AI but allowing the advisor to add information about a specific client, so it can help choose—and offer talking points to share with clients about why this is the best choice. That product is in development now with beta testing being done by a selected group of Signature agencies (no launch date scheduled at this time). This AI-driven storytelling platform will be followed by a similar tool for hotels. Additionally, in January, Signature will launch a new AI tool for cruise quotes. This easy-to-use tool for generating suggested messaging will allow advisors to select their preferred tone, focus on particular areas of interests (activities, culinary, etc.) and will be trained exclusively on the unique content hosted for that sailing within SigNet, including exclusive amenities, promotions and more. This new AI for cruise quotes tool is in testing now and will be launched in January, followed by a similar tool for hotel quotes.
Signature also offers digital messaging through Kipsu so advisors can communicate with clients via SMS, Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp; it keeps a record of all your communications and offers a secure form for collecting credit cards. In Q1 2025 it will add a secure way to store passport information. There’s also lots of online training, and Client Connection syncs with all CRMs, allowing Signature to send both print and emails to your clients directly on your behalf.
In the end, said Mazza, “this is a great year. But life is always good for travel advisors. Even in the darkest hour we are the luckiest people in the world. We get to make other people’s dreams – and our own dreams, of selling something that makes our clients richer – come true.”
We all have a lot to be grateful for this Thanksgiving! Hope you had a happy holiday, at home or far away.
Cheryl’s 40-year career in journalism is bookended by roles in the travel industry, including Executive Editor of Business Travel News in the 1990s, and recently, Editor in Chief of Travel Market Report and admin of Cheryl Rosen’s Group for Travel Professionals, a news and support group on Facebook. As an independent contractor since retiring from the 9-to-5 to travel more, she has written regular articles about the life and business of travel agents for Luxury Travel Advisor, Travel Agent, and Insider Travel Report. She also writes and edits for professional publications in the financial services, business, and technology sectors.