Thousands of travel advisors, hotel representatives, CEOs, tour companies, and destination promoters flocked to fabulous Las Vegas for the annual Virtuoso Travel Week. Santa Barbara Travel’s COO David de L’Arbre and advisors packed their bags and joined the masses to partake in seminars, networking, innovative technology demonstrations, and to learn about the newest luxury destinations, experiences and trends – including access to special events such as the Olympics, Dubai Expo and Wimbledon that our agency can offer to you, our clients.
Here are a few takes from some of our advisors’ experiences:
| David de L’Arbre: “I just returned from the extravaganza of Virtuoso Travel Week where over 6500 Virtuoso Travel Advisors gathered to celebrate the power of human connection through travel. The event highlights the global reach of luxury travel. Representatives of travel companies from around the world told their stories of exciting experiences, exotic places, and over-the-top resorts and hotels. The diversity of destinations ranged from Mongolia to Mauritius, the Galapagos to Antarctica, Bhutan to Norway and everything in between. It is a testament to the human spirit to learn through travel experiences. |
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Each year that I attend Virtuoso Travel Week I benefit from the personal connection with the general managers and sales managers who represent these amazing products and destinations. It helps me tremendously when we’re booking these destinations to have that connection with the people who can help craft our clients’ trips. We know the people on property who can make each of our clients a VIP during their stay.”
Advisors; Ron Meemanage, Tina Slimp and Kathy Reimer
“Kathleen Mitchell one of our newest independent contractors had her first taste of Virtuoso Travel Week. She found herself in awe and had a great experience at “Globetrotting”. Globetrotting is an event based on adventure travel, showcasing tour operators, cruise lines, tourism boards and hotels. Travel advisor Shawna Branchev also attended Globetrotting, “This is one of the most exhilarating, fast-paced events to start off the travel week! You’re assigned to a group and rotate from booth to booth; each decorated extensively with the supplier’s adventure related themes. I especially remember Tourism Vancouver’s booth which displayed a metropolitan style but also including an ivy leaf wall, tree stump stools and a city skyscraper backdrop on their mounted flat screen. Globetrotting is such a fabulous interactive way to truly introduce ourselves to suppliers.
Tina Slimp one of our most experienced leisure advisors mentioned that she values travel week immensely because of its global representation and variety in the travel marketplace. Each year that she attends there are always new resorts and innovating changes being made. One of her favorite new resorts she had the opportunity of learning about directly from the hotel’s managing director was a five star resort in Indonesia (keep your eyes peeled for a special feature on this hotel). The resort only allows ten lucky surfers per day to head out into the break. This way everyone can properly experience the magic of Indonesia’s famous waves.
Travel Week is important to our advisors to continue to maintain worldwide industry relationships, many that have grown into friendships, to ensure that Santa Barbara Travel’s clients are well taken care of.
Images Courtesy of Virtuoso Travel
