A few weeks shy of marking 10 years with global luxury travel network Virtuoso, Michael Londregan, Senior Vice President of Global Operations, has given an evaluation of how travel has evolved over that time.
Speaking exclusively with LATTErecently in Las Vegas about his imminent milestone with Virtuoso, Londregan said luxury travel has “changed significantly.”
Unsurprisingly, the COVID pandemic was viewed as a “major tipping point” for luxury consumers who Londregan says “now think about travel differently” compared to a few short years ago. Similarly, travel advisors and suppliers think more strategically about their businesses.
“The pandemic saw things change pretty dramatically,” Londregan explained.
“There’ll be people that planned to retire in another three or four years but chose to tap out early. And even thinking is like that now.”
“I think that generally, people went into the pandemic and suddenly a lot of the sensory stuff that distracts them was stripped away.”
“Things that had brought people happiness in the past have been replaced by experiences, such as going to the beach and riding the boogie board with the kids, or grabbing the kids and going to Africa. And in that huge experience set, there’s travel right in the middle, which meant people recalibrated their lives skewed towards experiences and travel. That really changed.
“When I talk to people now they are telling me not where they are going, but why they are going.”
Londregan used an example of a family taking their kids to India to teach their children about how appreciative they should be about their lives so their kids can reframe their level of entitlement.
Another example is families taking cruises because grandma and granddad weren’t able to see the kids during the pandemic. They are now jumping on a cruise for a family reunion.
“I think 2019 was the death of product-centric luxury. People saying this is luxury… feel it. It’s brass, it’s marble, diamond-encrusted, gold-tinted.
“That product-centric idea of luxury honestly died as the dominant factor four years ago.”
“And the new factor is personal luxury. If I want to find luxury it’s not what I tell you about anymore, I have to become an expert about you,” Londregan said.
“In 2019, it was a case of step 1) know the quality of all the products; step 2) tell your client about the best product; step 3) sell him the best product. It wasn’t very client-centric at all.”
“Whereas I think new luxury, 2023 and beyond is step 1) become an expert in your client; step 2) get a really good brief on how they want to feel; step 3) use your product knowledge and connections and look at the product portfolio available to give him some options.
Londregan said that being so client-centric what great for Virtuoso.
“What it means is the longer I get to know you, the more I understand you and the more likely I’m going to be able to give you luxury because luxury is a personal concept.”
