Cris David, President-Insight Vacations Canada
Have you heard about Luxury Gold yet? If not, it’s only a matter of time until it crosses your radar because this deluxe touring brand by Insight Vacations is steadily gaining traction. Having just launched itineraries in Southeast Asia and Australasia, Luxury Gold is expanding its presence worldwide, offering luxury product in some of the most exotic destinations. In this edition of Friday Five, Cris David, President-Insight Vacations Canada tells us what the brand stands for, how it differs from Insight, and the top selling points for agents to use to close the sale.
1. Tell us about Luxury Gold in a nutshell.
Luxury Gold was launched officially in 2016, but was the culmination of a pilot program that began two years earlier to introduce a deluxe touring brand under the Insight Vacations banner. Insight Vacations is part of the family-owned Travel Corporation and the Tollman family has specialized in high-end hospitality and luxury travel for close to 100 years. The Travel Corporation group of companies includes several brands that epitomize the ethos of luxury and style, which has been the Tollman family hallmark for four generations, most notably Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection and the unique 17-property boutique hospitality company Red Carnation Hotels.
As the core business of the Travel Corporation is escorted touring, embodied by iconic brands such as Trafalgar, Contiki and Insight, there was a strong feeling within the company that the family legacy of luxury and service should be extended to the touring category, with the addition of a Luxury touring product. As Insight Vacations is positioned as a Premium brand with a reputation for quality expressed by its tagline “The Art of Touring in Style”, it made perfect sense to create and launch the new luxury touring product under the Insight flag. After two years of a luxury program being featured as an extension of Insight Vacations, in 2016 Luxury Gold was launched as a stand-alone brand to clarify its unique identity in the eyes of travel agents and consumers.
2. What are the main differences between an Insight Vacations tour and a Luxury Gold tour?
There are three main things that differentiate a Luxury Gold tour from an Insight Vacations Premium tour. Firstly, the Luxury Gold itineraries have been designed to feature an array of Exclusive VIP Experiences that provide guests with truly unique opportunities not available to the general public. For example, Luxury Gold guests experience private, out-of-hours visits to iconic attractions such as the Doge’s Palace in Venice and Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, both of which they enter after public visiting hours for an intimate, private tour with a local historian.
The second major difference with Luxury Gold is the accommodation – an unmatched collection of five-star, deluxe and boutique hotels handpicked for their exceptional ratings, service, location, comfort and character. One example is the Milestone in London, ranked the top hotel in the U.K. in Tripadvisor’s Traveller’s Choice Awards.
The third aspect of a Luxury Gold itinerary that is truly outstanding is the cuisine. A great deal of care and effort has gone into ensuring that Luxury Gold guests have the best possible culinary experience of the destination they’re visiting. To this end all Luxury Gold tours in Europe include meals in Michelin-starred restaurants showcasing the skills of the most celebrated local chefs. As well as haute cuisine, Luxury Gold guests also sample the best authentic local fare lovingly prepared in authentic family-run bistros and enjoy hands on cookery master classes with local chefs to learn the secrets of regional signature dishes. Not to mention excellent local wines served with meals on every journey!
3. Luxury Gold now travels to Australia, New Zealand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. Why these destinations? And what’s the criteria when selecting new luxury destinations?
Luxury Gold is now truly a worldwide collection featuring more than 30 itineraries on six continents. With its emphasis on unique, authentic encounters, magnificent cuisine and superlative accommodation, the newly introduced destinations of Southeast Asia and Australasia provide perfect environments to deliver the Luxury Gold experience to guests.
The Australia product provides a unique take on the idea of Luxury Travel, providing a sumptuous and high-end safari experience in the outback, but never straying from the core values of comfort, service, memorable experiences and outstanding cuisine. We have found that Luxury Gold guests are very partial to more exotic destinations like Peru and Southeast Asia. The unique sights, flavours and landscapes of Indochina and South America have tremendous appeal for those seeking new experiences, especially when they can count on the guaranteed quality, luxury, comfort and full concierge service provided on a Luxury Gold vacation.
4. Of the four new destinations, which would you suggest for a client who’s looking for the ultimate luxury experience?
I would suggest visiting Peru on the ‘Treasures of the Incas’ itinerary. This exceptional tour has proven extremely popular in Canada, and with good reason. The incredible history, magnificent landscapes, wonderful people, colourful traditions and world-class cuisine of Peru are given maximum exposure on this wonderful tour. Luxury Gold’s ‘Treasures of the Incas’ is one of the only itineraries on the market that stays two nights at Macchu Picchu, giving guests the opportunity to soak up the atmosphere and of this magical locale from their base at the stunning Inkaterra Macchu Picchu hotel. Guests will dine in some of the finest restaurants in Peru, celebrated as the world’s top culinary travel destination, and they’ll experience traditional meals prepared using the ancient methods of the Incas as well. In Cusco they’ll be introduced to the ancient Peruvian art of weaving by the traditional weavers at an inspiring artisan-enterprise collective supported by The Travel Corporation’s TreadRight Foundation.
5. What are the top 3 selling features of Luxury Gold that agents can use to close the deal?
1) Guests will receive outstanding personalized attention from the Traveling Concierge accompanying their tour. Aside from ensuring that the tour runs like clockwork, he or she will be on hand to smooth the way, open doors and make any special arrangements the guest desires.
2) The average group size on a Luxury Gold tour is 28, guaranteeing a lively group dynamic with the company of like-minded travellers to share the experience with whilst enabling the Traveling Concierge to anticipate the needs of all guests and provide attentive personalized service. In addition, small group departures are available to Europe, with a maximum of 24 guests, and Australiasia and Southeast Asia tours operate with a maximum of 20 and 26 guests, respectively.
3) The other deciding factors for Luxury Gold are as described above: VIP Exclusive Experiences and out-of-hours private visits, outstanding hotels and exceptional cuisine.
