Luxury Travel Advisor - May 2008 - (Page 62)

COVER STORY pool eating my matzah; it' s the best first night of Passover ever.' º ª This is the ace in the hole, why people come to me,º Rapp says. ª When people need something special, that' s where I come in.º Rapp can tell you what the best hotels are in almost any city in the world, what the best rooms are at that hotel, and he invariably knows the general manager at each hotel on a personal level, which can come in all too handy. ª What' s great are the relationships,º he says. ª It' s who you know. I can call the GM and say ` I know you' re sold out, but if there is an opening, consider my clients.' Luxury to me is recognition. Our clients want to feel special.º His clients today are also more astute and savvy, which makes his and his agents' job that much more formidable. ª It' s harder because they are more discerning,º Rapp says. ª The major thing that separates the luxury agent from the regular agent is the actual experience. In the old days, clients would ask, ` Do you know this property?' Now they ask, ` When were you there?' That' s a big change. The new brand of luxury traveler has worked hard for their money and they want to make sure they' re getting value. So you can' t fool them.º Rapp says that listening has to be an attribute that a luxury travel advisor must fine tune to really ª take yourself out of your likes and dislikes and try and see what the clients are looking for.º The luxury, he says, is the easy part. ª The luxury comes in knowing the properties and how to set up the trip,º he says. ª For example, opening up a castle before hours for a client, or even telling them that the rose gardens at Bagatelle in Paris are in bloom; we try and get the best for the client to make the experience special. You have to look at it as though you are going for first time. We want them to walk into a hotel and have them say, ` This is exactly what I wanted.' º As one of Altour' s elder statesmen, Rapp has become a mentor for many of the agency' s fledgling agents, who have yet to experience the world in the same manner he has (Rapp has quite literally been to the ends of the earth and back, just not Antarctica, yet). He is only too happy to speak with any agent at any of Altour' s offices or help an agent' s client plan out a trip (these days he mostly leaves the quotidian tasks to other agents and concentrates on speaking to hoteliers and overseeing Altour' s by-invite-only hotel program, Altour Collection, which comprises hotels that offer clients special benefits and recognition). Rapp' s reputation also garners many invites from around the world, which he usually bequeaths to more junior agents. ª Travel certainly is important to being a good seller,º he says, and while he chooses to pass on some trips, he still holds on to the more exotic hops. Rapp still travels almost a week per month and he admits that all the travel over the years has left him a bit jaded. ª I was once shown THE MAN WHO STARTED IT ALL Altour is now in its 17th year of operation, having embraced the advent of new technology. It' s a strategy that the company' s founder, Alexandre Chemla, employed from the get go: to run his travel agency, not on the agency model, but on a business model. His decision to do so has paid off in spades, as Altour continually improves its growth each year through its 19 offices in markets other than New York, such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas, London and Paris. Chemla, a native of France, was an executive with Club Med prior to starting Altour and says his decision to branch out and begin his own agency was a bit daunting and precarious at the time. ªI a m an entrepreneur by nature, Chemla says. ª Starting º my own business, while risky, was a natural for me. My vision was to bring together the very best people I could find, provide them with exceptional resources and see what we could do together. º Since then, Chemla has seen the industry go through quite an evolution, one that ultimately helped to accelerate Altour' s growth. ªT he industry has grown up, he says. ª It has become º global and highly dependent on technology to facilitate exceptional client service and we recognized that need. º Of course, customer service and innovative programming are equally important to Altour' s success. It has successfully launched a family of brand extensions in Altour Air, Altour Classic Cruise and Travel, Altour Limousine, Altour Travel Master, Altour Incentive Management, Altour Management Technology 60 LUXURY TRAVEL ADVISOR | May 2008 MARTIN RAPP AND ALEXANDRE CHEMLA share a moment at one of Altour' s holiday parties. and the Altour Collection of hotels. Though the Internet and new technology have benefited Altour, Chemla is steadfast in his belief that a travel agency is only as good as its staff and that personal interfacing is still what sells travel. ª There will always be a place for travel agency services, Chemla says. ª You cannot sell experience through º the Internet. There are travelers who want to know not only the best places to stay, but also what specific room to request, the name of the concierge and other inside information that grows out of personal relationships. º

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Luxury Travel Advisor - May 2008

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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