Luxury Agents Say Bookings Are Steady

Luxury Agents Say Bookings Are Steady
Fri Oct 10 2008, by Jessica McMenamin

In the face of the ongoing credit crisis, now said to be causing a recession, travel agents report normal leisure sales in their top of the market sectors as luxury clients are continuing to travel and book vacations.
(Google last week reported that its travel queries remain strong. Page 34. Official Airline Guide reported big cutbacks in US flights and capacity for the fourth quarter. Page 4.)

However, agents are cautious about the long-term outlook and note that the effects of the Wall Street meltdown could kick in several months down the line since bookings for fall and holiday travel have already been made.

"My perspective is that the top of the market is still going well," said Bob Malmberg, president of Malmberg Travel, an agency in the Virtuoso network based in Boston, that caters to an upper echelon clientele.

"Our gross numbers remain the same, even though our transactions are lower."

Clients of Garber Travel, another Boston-area agency, are booking early, according to Nancy Greenfield, director of leisure sales.

"We still have luxury travelers booking and booking strong, far into 2009," said Greenfield. "We just booked a family for Christmas in 2009, an Italy and Greece vacation in July 2009 and a high-end Regent cruise in October of 2009."

Altour, another top of the market agency, reports its high-end American travelers are not staying home either. They are instead responding to the economic market by booking earlier, thereby locking in better prices and taking a new interest in all-inclusive resorts.

Bob Watson, managing director of Protravel, another Virtuoso agency, told Travel Trade, "Affluent clients are almost embarrassed to talk about how they can afford a trip because most of the general public can not." He added, "It's as though they're too ashamed to take joy in the fact they're about to go on a luxurious trip."

For most top of the market agencies, the general consensus is to wait and see how the economy unfolds after the election in November.

"Our agencies are not really concerned," Kathryn Mazza-Burney, executive vice president of sales and service at Travelsavers told Travel Trade in a group discussion with her colleagues about the market. "I don't feel a real sense of urgency."

Travelsavers agents are, however, seeing that their clients are being cautious about spending. Even though they're getting the best of best, they want to make sure they're not overspending.

Nicole Mazza, executive vice president of marketing for Travelsavers, told Travel Trade, "The affluent traveler is still booking within the luxury market, yet they're perhaps not booking that penthouse."

She added, "They're taking the suite instead. High-end travelers are looking for more value for their dollar."

Malmberg also sees his clients questioning where their money is going.

"For example, one client of mine who typically leases a private G5 nonstop jet across the county, decided to opt for a smaller jet, that costs $60,000 less and stops half-way to refuel instead of her normal nonstop flight," Malmberg said.

Amid the caution and questioning, agents say their luxury clients are not not canceling their vacations.

"I haven't seen the defection of travelers yet. I think the next four weeks are going to be in flux," said Watson.

"It's really difficult to say what's going to happen and only when the elections occur and the economy levels off again, we'll see a major change and dent, if at all, in the top of the market. It's just so difficult to say because bookings are already in place for the next few months."

Like Watson, Jim Mazza, COO of Travelsavers' parent American Marketing Group, agreed, "We're not really going to see anything major until after the holidays, because most bookings are already in place up until Christmas," said Mazza.

"Anything that's been planned is still going forward, 30, 60, 90 days out. After January 1, then we'll maybe see the effects from happened in the economy last week and in September."