Luxury Travel Advisor - May 2008 - (Page 58)

COVER STORY The Professor Martin Rapp is Altour' s ace in the hole. P ast the vestibule and through a bank of windows at Altour' s 15th-floor Manhattan office is one of the finer east-facing views of New York City. Just below sits famed Rockefeller Center and its popular ice-skating rink, and cut out just beyond is a sliver of stone walkway known as Rockefeller' s promenade, now populated by specialty vendors from Movado to L' Occitane. But 17 years ago, the business that stood in the latter purveyor' s place did not dispense lotions or tonics; it handed out travel literature and vacation tips. From 1982 to 1999, the Traveller' s Bookstore was a Rockefeller fixture, visited by city denizens and international travelers alike, not just for its breadth of travel books, but for the sage advice its staff doled out (and without service fees!). One of its principals was Martin Rapp, whose fondness for travel was forged at an early age, in large part thanks to his grandparents. ª Travel' s always been in my blood,º says Rapp, adding that he still gets excited over taking the shuttle from New York to Washington, D.C. ª I remember trips, going down roads and remembering signsÐho w long a trip took. I wasn' t looking to be an agent early on, but just a traveler.º Working at the bookstore served as a catalyst for Rapp, who now occupies a lofty perch at luxury travel specialist Altour, just a stone' s throw from his old haunt, as the senior vice president of leisure sales. ª I' m a firm believer that everything turns out for the best,º Rapp says. ª I was in publishing my whole life, and at the bookstore we really acted as informal agents. People would come in and we' d advise them. I really had no intention of being a travel agent.º That changed when the bookstore was sold in 1999 due, in part, to the advent of competition from larger book chains, such as Barnes & Noble, and Internet sellers. Luckily, for Rapp, he was already well regarded as a man with a knack for knowing travel and understanding its patterns. His notoriety landed him a position with Linden Travel in New York. ª The owner [Barbara Gallay] told me I knew more about travel than most of her agents,º he says. But it was a birthday party Rapp helped plan while still working at the bookstore that ultimately sealed his path to stardom. That party was for Alexandre Chemla, a former Club Med executive, who founded Altour in 1991. Chemla had to have him. ª When I first joined, people said, ` You' re leaving to go where, to who?' And I said, ` Mark my words, you will know soon enough,' º Rapp recalls. When Rapp joined Altour, the company employed only six people, but he knew Chemla was on to something. ª What I real- ALTOUR Headquarters: New York, NY Number of Locations: 19; East Coast, West Coast, London and Paris President/CEO: Alexandre Chemla Number of Employees: Over 700 worldwide Annual Revenue: $530 million Affiliations: Signature Website: www.altour.com ized was that Alex was a businessman and looked at it like a business. That was what convinced me,º Rapp says. ª He doesn' t stick his hands into everything. He chooses the best people and lets them do what they do best.º Employing a laissez-faire approach has turned Altour into a multi-million-dollar agency that now has 19 offices worldwide. Altour' s headquarters in New York could be mistaken for a high-end financial establishment if it weren' t known that, inside, luxury travel was the ware. Selling luxury is about selling a lifestyle, and working within a sharp space promotes that. ª This office is very different,º Rapp says. ª We set out to create a different atmosphere, one that was sophisticated and adult.º Rapp, who is soft spoken and displays a tendency to fidget with his tie in the same movement one employs when tossing dice, is at the center of Altour' s success. ª Few people know the world and understand travel as Martin does,º says Chemla of Rapp. ª As Altour' s ` Professor,' he shares his knowledge of the world and his understanding of what goes into a wonderful travel experience with our agents and with our clients.º Rapp' s acumen has propelled him toward the top of the luxury travel-selling heap with a remarkable client roster to back itÐf unny lady Joan Rivers to name one. ª She calls me and tells me she is going to India during Passover,º Rapp imparts. ª She says to me, ` Can you find me a synagogue?' Now, southern India I could do, but in northern India, sure enough, there are none. Well, she was staying at an Oberoi, and I Fed-Ex' d her a box of matzah. She calls me and says, ` I' m in my BY DAVID EISEN 58 LUXURY TRAVEL ADVISOR | May 2008 http://www.altour.com

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Luxury Travel Advisor - May 2008 Contents Publisher's Letter Editor's Letter Park City Riviera Maya Italian Castles Rotorua China Villa Retreats The Ritz-Carlton, Powerscourt Rancho Bernardo Port Ghalib Dead Sea Spas Silversea The Professor The Pulse Jetset Report Sightings Source List

Luxury Travel Advisor - May 2008

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