Latest news with #travelconsultancy
Condé Nast Traveler
02-07-2025
- Business
- Condé Nast Traveler
Airport Lounges Are Sexy Again—If You Can Get In
Let's be honest: A crowded airport lounge without a seat in sight is usually less appealing than an empty gate area. Over the past decade, an influx of travelers with club access has led to overcrowding, long waitlists, and a diminished (read: not luxurious) experience. However, a version of commercial air travel—often hidden from public view and inaccessible to even premium credit cardholders—has emerged. This more private, pre-flight experience is essential for the affluent business traveler, says Rob Karp, founder and CEO of travel consultancy firm MilesAhead. 'What we're seeing now is a correction: tiered access, differentiated spaces, and new incentives to spend or commit more to a particular airline,' Karp notes. Business travelers are looking to optimize time and minimize stress—and they're willing to pay for it. That means sitting down for a proper meal, taking a call in a quiet, uninterrupted setting, or even squeezing in a quick spa treatment before boarding. The 'lounge-within-a-lounge' concept is taking off at airports across the US, providing business travelers with reservable, private spaces ideal for high-level meetings. Alex Green Differentiated spaces In the US, newer lounges that require an international business-class ticket for access, like the network of Delta One Lounges or United Polaris Lounges, are delivering on that promise. Delta, for instance, offers an á la carte, bistro-like dining experience, soundproof phone booths, and even external monitors for focused work at each of its flagship business lounges. 'Each space is designed to balance comfort and luxury with practical efficiency,' says Claude Roussel, vice president of Delta Sky Club and lounge experience. For Aaron Kokoruz, a public relations executive who clocks nearly 100 flights per year, lounges like these are about crafting a moment of calm and comfort before boarding, regardless of whether you are hopping over to Omaha or flying halfway across the world. Kokoruz lists both the Qantas First Lounge at LAX (with a Neil Perry menu) and the Cathay Pacific First Lounge at London-Heathrow as personal favorites.
Travel Weekly
07-06-2025
- Business
- Travel Weekly
Are you booking or designing travel?
Richard Turen Looking back, I know that I would never have opened up a travel consultancy had I not worked the supplier side for quite a while. And I certainly would not dare write about our industry had I not walked both sides of the street. They are very different, even though they might be in the same neighborhood. I worked for one of the largest cruise lines, starting out on the West Coast. I visited travel agencies four days a week. I was a director of sales, and my job was to drum up business. But my reality was that our ships were starring in a little TV series called "The Love Boat" then, and they were sold out much of the time. I might have been a lousy salesperson, but no one knew it, and I was promoted to be vice president of the East Coast and the Midwest. Now I was responsible for 26 states; lots of agencies to visit. So starting on the West Coast and then taking on the East Coast and the Midwest, I was in and out of more agencies than I could count. During every visit, I was looking forward to discovering dozens of new business models. It would all be so stimulating. But it usually wasn't! There were precious few unique business models, and innovation was rare. Everything was sold on some sort of airline-owned CRM system. Airline sales made up just over 70% of a typical agency's sales. It was always the same scene. Two chairs in front of a desk with the client facing the back of the computer. And so it was for about four decades. Technology improved, and we noticed our clients searching online instead of seeking out a storefront. We were no longer booking robots; that could be done online. We started evolving into advisors. ASTA, an organization I feel has always had the collective backs of the membership it represents, caught on and went so far as to change its organization's name, with that last "A" now standing for "advisors" rather than "agents." We are now advisors -- sort of important to the families we serve. I see us as financial advisors, except our role is less about showing our clients how to grow their money and more about advising them on ways to dispense with some of it. Which leads me to an April article by Julie Bogen in the Washington Post. She explores the growth of the trend for agents to describe themselves as online travel "designers" who concentrate on creating truly personalized itineraries, travel troubleshooting and providing luxury perks. The article explains how contemporary consumers want to hire a "designer" instead of an "agent." The concept of a travel "agent" is now dated. Several successful designers are profiled in the piece, including one who created an itinerary with perks she felt would meet the needs of four prominent influencers. Sure enough, they liked the presentation, and it started being circulated on Instagram. Of course, a true travel designer has to be an FIT specialist, and some of you will surely feel that FITs are unusually time-consuming and less profitable than booking brochure programs. A travel office where every journey is custom-designed to meet the guest's profile may be fashionable, trendy, hip and always personalized, but I can't help but wonder what a travel design firm would need to charge guests in order to be profitable. I actually like the "designer" designation. I also like "travel architect" and "dream creator." It is possible that, at our best, we listen and then design what is best suited for the client instead of trying to sell them a program without taking into account their unique profile. But will we have to start spending more on our business attire if we start describing ourselves as designers? Will we need to be a bit more flamboyant? If we "flamboyantize" our industry in the months to come, I'm just not sure that my blue blazer will survive.
