Luxury Travel Advisor - September 2007 - (Page 6) EDITOR’S LETTER Selling the Experience A As luxury travel advisors, you need to be dramatists, capable of grabbing the attention of your audience. re you a good storyteller? That is to say, are you able to paint a picture of your last trip so vividly that those who listen are filled with rapt attention, anticipation and jealousy all at once because they weren’t there enjoying the same experiences? If you’re not adept at this, it’s time to start learning. As luxury travel advisors, you need to be dramatists, capable of grabbing the attention of your audience as you relay the drama of what it’s like to stand outside Edinburgh Castle as the entire city walks up the hill to witness the Tattoo, young girls clad in their family clan’s tartan walking arm in arm, deep in conversation, as they enter the fortress. Can you place your clients in the precise moment at which the sun rises over Machu Picchu, all the while telling them why it’s vital that they get up at 4 a.m. to make the experience a reality? Learn how to effectually build up to the moment of utter amazement, when the morning light gradually, then completely, floods the entire ancient city below. I wish I could paint a picture or two of the ventures I’ve enjoyed this summer, but, oddly enough, I’ve had several big trips fall through and I’ve been home a lot. At first, I was utterly beside myself—one of these trips was, after all, to Paris—but I have to admit, being able to sit on my back porch staring at my lush garden all summer long has been rather luxurious. I can’t recall the last time I had a real summer like this, and it’s been a delight. I did have the pleasure of attending the Departures magazine/Bombardier Flexjet “Runway to Runway” event in the Hamptons a few weeks ago, which debuted the all-new Bombardier Challenger 605 and Learjet 60 XR. I’m shown here testing out one of the new products, and I have to say, it was quite comfortable. The rise of private jet travel has been an interesting phenomenon for luxury travel advisors, because now, clients are able to travel at will. For you, that means being able to secure the best suite or villa for them at a moment’s notice, a challenge that makes your relationships with general managers at the top hotels throughout the world absolutely vital. By the way, readers often ask us what we look for in the agents who grace the covers of Luxury Travel Advisor. Among the many traits we seek is the art of giving back. Sho Dozono of Azumano Travel, an American Express agency, is a man to whom humanitarianism is second nature. I was working in Manhattan in the days that followed 9/11, and the feeling around town was dreadful, as you can imagine. None of us in the city looked each other in the eye as we walked down the street in those early days—it was just too painful to acknowledge what had happened. Two good memories from that time do come to mind, though. One was coming upon a USO Band, sent by the Army to play for us, as I was rushing out of Penn Station one morning. They were playing “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” and I started crying. The other was hearing about an enormous group of visitors from Portland, OR who had flown in to visit New York in a show of support. My spirit was so lifted when I saw them on the news; people still cared about New York. It was then that I realized the city’s future was still intact despite the tragedy it had just endured. That moment was all about Sho and his wife, Loen, who assembled the group and got them here in no time at all—talk about being in the moment. For more on this remarkable man, who’s also a master at the art of selling luxury travel, see page 70. RUTHANNE TERRERO, CTC Editorial Director rterrero@questex.com 6 LUXURY TRAVEL ADVISOR | September 2007
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