I’m presently attending TBEX Europe 2023 (a convention for journey bloggers and content material creators) in Kalamata, Greece, and have simply been on the Luxury Tourism Panel speaking about ‘Attracting the luxury traveller’, an occasion chaired by Anton Diaz with fellow panellists Shouq AlShirazi and Christos Balogiannis. For reference for anybody attending (and certainly anybody who wasn’t there however is !), the next weblog publish covers a few of the subjects we mentioned, and a few of the solutions I gave (and possibly even raises some factors that I didn’t get to make in our 50-minute panel!).
How do you attain luxurious travellers?
Before answering this query, we have to recognise there are numerous several types of luxurious traveller and it’s not essentially a ‘one size fits all’ reply to the query. There are many various sides to luxurious journey. It’s due to this fact necessary to know who your target market is, what they’re fascinated by, and what motivates them to journey.
But with that mentioned, in fact, there may be the mainstream conventional media – the nationwide press and luxurious journey print magazines: Conde Nast Traveller, Travel + Leisure, and so forth, in addition to different area of interest print publications (eg. Yachting, Golf Magazine) or extra excessive finish publications that you just won’t encounter a lot (eg. Elite Traveler which is usually accessible on personal jets).
Whilst print protection is nice, it gained’t come as a shock to people who I favour on-line advertising, and most print publications these days embrace on-line media additionally. I believe you may higher tailor your attain on-line, and get a lot better trackable worth. Your personal web site needs to be your first port of name in the case of reaching luxurious travellers however you may forged the web wider by the varied social media channels. I personally favour Facebook and Twitter for my readers, however something that’s visible (and helps with that preliminary eye-catching ‘hook’) and reaches your goal market ought to serve you effectively in the event you make investments time in your viewers.
If your personal web site or social channels usually are not that effectively established, or if you wish to look past the attain of your personal viewers, then collaborations with area of interest influencers whose focus in on excessive finish journey (and whose viewers consists of luxurious travellers) may be helpful and allow you to increase your attain to new potential prospects.
Using paid promoting channels, comparable to Google AdWords, to focus on luxurious vacationers who’re trying to find high-end experiences may be rewarding. The whole sale worth of a luxurious vacation is invariably excessive so it’s value experimenting on this space to seek out out what works for you.
Attending luxurious journey occasions must also not be neglected. There are a lot of them and, while they aren’t normally geared in direction of customers, they nonetheless present an excellent alternative to community inside the business and construct long-lasting relationships, study new issues and hold on top of things with modifications within the business.
Last however under no circumstances least, phrase of mouth – probably probably the most highly effective advertising instrument we’ve at our disposal – shouldn’t be under-estimated. Luxury travellers will typically depend on suggestions from family and friends, in addition to utilise on-line opinions to make journey selections, so it’s crucial within the luxurious journey business to surpass all expectations to be able to make sure you generate the best outcomes. Encouraging glad shoppers to share their optimistic experiences and testimonials on-line is sonething it’s also possible to do, nevertheless it must be carried out with sensitivity.
What sort of media content material most appeals to luxurious travellers?
I’d say it relies upon at what stage of the reserving journey they’re fascinated by. If they’re simply searching for inspiration, then the previous adage of ‘a picture says a thousand words’ is one which springs to thoughts. And I’ve even heard folks declare that if an image says a thousand phrases, then a video says a million (primarily based, I believe, on a one minute video shot at 30 frames per second which, in concept, would imply 1.8 million phrases, if one image is one thousand!). But you get the purpose… visible content material is vital to inspiring folks. And with luxurious journey, the standard of this visible content material is admittedly, actually necessary. That little snapshot or taster that you just give folks wants to offer an air of exclusivity in order for you it to attraction to luxurious travellers.
But while top quality images and brief movies are necessary for that preliminary ‘kerb appeal’ to seize the eye of luxurious travellers, I’d argue that longer kind content material (eg. articles, weblog posts, longer movies and so forth) is a vital step in direction of changing that preliminary curiosity right into a reserving.
Luxury travellers will invariably need extra element upon getting whet their urge for food for a visit. This longer kind content material may be in a storytelling kind or a extra informational fashion, and it needs to be borne in thoughts that what appeals will once more differ from one luxurious traveller to a different. Some may be fascinated by wellbeing and spas, others in tradition, others in purchasing, and so forth. In the case of A Luxury Travel Blog, lodging (not simply inns, but in addition excessive finish unique use properties), locations and meals all function very strongly.
What do luxurious travellers search for in a vacation spot?
Luxury vacationers are searching for distinctive, unique and personalised journey experiences, however once more there may be variations from one luxurious traveller to a different. Take someplace like Marbella in Andalusia, as an example – it’s a spot the place celebrities and luxurious travellers not solely search exclusivity, however in addition they prefer to be seen. It’s a kind of locations the place picture is every part and the place some – notably celebrities – will typically need to indulge within the glamour and extravagance of all of it, blissful to be seen within the metropolis’s key areas. Contrast that with close by Sotogrande which is equally unique, if no more so, however the place privateness is paramount, and other people don’t need to be seen. These are two very unique locations which might be very shut to at least one one other, that each attraction to luxurious travellers, however every to a really completely different sort of excessive finish traveller.
Similarly, the likes and dislikes of luxurious travellers will differ in different elements. Whilst some may crave a busy and vibrant metropolis expertise, others may go for one thing that’s extra off the crushed path, maybe a vacation spot wealthy in pure scenic magnificence that enables them to attach with nature and benefit from the outside.
Some issues that luxurious travellers search shall be frequent to all, nevertheless – issues like luxurious lodging and facilities, excessive finish gastronomy, security and safety, and – maybe most of all – impeccable service.
What do luxurious travellers need to keep away from?
It goes with out saying that luxurious travellers will need to keep away from poor service and high quality. They need to keep away from something that falls in need of their expectations, comparable to below-par lodging, meals or service. They additionally need to keep away from pointless inconvenience and trouble. Long queues, delays and poor service usually are not the area of the posh traveller. Luxury travellers will invariably be blissful to pay a premium to make sure a greater total expertise.
In brief, luxurious travellers will need to keep away from what everybody else is doing. That means they have a tendency to keep away from crowds and mass tourism, in favour of a extra tailor-made and personalised expertise. They additionally are inclined to keep away from locations that may be thought-about unsafe, whether or not that be because of political instability, excessive crime charges or another cause.
And while luxurious travellers typically don’t thoughts paying extra for a greater expertise, most are savvy sufficient to understand when they’re being unreasonably overcharged. The savvy luxurious traveller nonetheless needs to keep away from unreasonable prices and expects transparency and worth for his or her cash.
What has been the best content material you’ve seen to draw luxurious travellers?
I believe it’s necessary to emphasize that step one in attracting luxurious travellers is to get your product proper. Whether you’re a luxurious lodge, a luxurious tour operator, a personal jet dealer or a luxurious yacht constitution firm, an important factor you are able to do is try to achieve the best potential requirements and ranges of service. If you get this proper, then every part else tends to fall into place way more simply. With the best product, all of the laborious work is finished for you – the optimistic opinions are inclined to observe as long as requirements are maintained.
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I do know this from first-hand expertise – we personal a separate small enterprise that specialises in trip rental lodging the place we reside. At the second, it is only one luxurious riverside house, however we don’t take what we provide without any consideration. We are at all times striving to supply our visitors the very best expertise. Reviews are necessary to us – we’re presently 5/5 on each Airbnb and Tripadvisor, and 9.8 out of 10 on Booking (OK, in order that imperfection niggles a bit of!), however we by no means take this without any consideration. This 12 months we re-furbished the property to make sure we proceed to supply the best requirements – I consider you may by no means be complacent about your product and should at all times try for the easiest to fulfill the posh traveller.
Contrast this with a excessive finish restaurant on the Cote d’Azur that I used to be not too long ago requested to evaluation. Whilst it had a number of 5-star opinions, it additionally had a number of 1-star opinions and, once I delved deeper, frequent issues appeared to be one or two overly-aggressive workers, an inconsistent and poorly-communicated gown code (leading to folks being turned away on the door) and diners not being given adequate time to take pleasure in their meals, with the restaurant hurrying visitors up to be able to attempt to squeeze in a further sitting. Whilst some elements of the product on this occasion are clearly wonderful, it was evident that there are nonetheless a number of areas that require enchancment.
With the product proper, the duty actually turns into one in all consciousness constructing. I don’t suppose you must go for the ‘hard sell’ method in the case of luxurious journey. Soft promoting, by slowly constructing and producing consciousness, is all that’s required in case your product is a strong one which stands up for itself. Casting the web additional and gaining extra publicity to a wider viewers, with none laborious promote techniques, shall be rewarded with extra gross sales, notably as soon as on-line opinions and word-of-mouth gathers tempo.
An previous however nice instance of efficient content material that labored effectively when it comes to interesting to luxurious travellers was Tourism Queenland’s ‘The Best Job in the World’ marketing campaign. Incredibly, it was mentioned to generate 46,000 mainstream media tales, 230,000 mentions in blogs and vlogs, and even resulted in a BBC documentary, all of the whereas inspiring hundreds of thousands of individuals to fall in love with Hamilton Island, a vacation spot which has since attracted A-listers comparable to Oprah Winfrey, Taylor Swift and Leonardo DiCaprio.
What do you do in another way to draw luxurious travellers?
One of the issues that we do on A Luxury Travel Blog that could be a little completely different is that we permit particular person luxurious journey companies to have their very own house on the location, which they’ll use to share editorial content material as a way of producing consciousness for their very own providers. They don’t these accounts to instantly promote, however relatively to encourage would-be travellers and acquire a following within the course of.
A terrific instance of that is the account for Calvin Cottar, the Owner of Cottar’s Nineteen Twenties Safaris; Calvin makes use of A Luxury Travel Blog as a automobile to repeatedly share content material about safaris in Africa, notably Kenya the place he has his personal camp. He has written items on taking youngsters on a household safari to Kenya, packing suggestions to your first African safari and the place and when to witness the Great Wildebeest Migration, to offer just some examples.
Another instance is the account for Sandra Roig, Marketing Manager for AB Apartment Barcelona, a rental company providing greater than a thousand properties throughout town, some very luxurious. Rather that simply writing about rental properties (not so thrilling), Sandra gives genuinely helpful content material for guests to town, protecting every part from the perfect locations to have brunch, the place to lease luxurious vehicles, and the perfect Michelin-starred eating places in Barcelona. She has written a couple of hundred articles about Barcelona for A Luxury Travel Blog, and little question loved the success of many bookings just by offering intensive and helpful journey recommendation.
