Recommend February 2013 - (Page 50)

It Pays to Book Villas THE VILLA EXPERIENCE BY TRAVEL IMPRESSIONS In Jamaica, the BVI, and Antigua, clients can live like Eric Clapton. Left: Aquamare in the British Virgin Islands. This photo: Villa at Round Hill in Jamaica. C M Y CM MY ed wetschler CY Caribbean villa vacations may seem harder to book than hotel stays, if only because if you know ﬁve rooms in a 500-room resort, you know all 500 rooms, but that won’t work with villas. Granted, some are in developments where houses are more or less identical, but the majority are one-of-a-kind retreats, so it’s hard to memorize thousands of villa accommodations. Wimco. “Villa guests have a high repeat rental rate,” adds Maggie Pristera, marketing manager for Villas of Distinction. What’s more, says Robert Eastman, managing director of The Villa Experience, “this is a product for which having a travel agent makes all the difference.... Agents are an indispensable part of the villa booking process.” why villas? selling points Just the same, it pays—literally—to book villas. We’ll look at Jamaica, the British Virgin Islands, and Antigua, but the argument for villas is the same for any Caribbean island. “A villa vacation is an untapped component of the market and a lucrative niche that can be very proﬁtable,” says Sylvia Delvaille Jones, president of Villas and Apartments Abroad. “By partnering with a reputable and experienced villa supplier, it is also a sensational product to sell.” That’s because good villa suppliers make things easy by helping agents ﬁnd the right villa(s) for each client’s budget, preferred location, recreational interests, and size of group. Some suppliers, such as Travel Keys (aka Caribe Villas), The Villa Experience by Travel Impressions, and Villas of Distinction let travel agents incorporate their entire catalogs into the agents’ websites. The Villa Experience, Villas of Distinction, and several other companies (Wimco Villas may soon do this, too) also pay commissions on extras, such as additional staff, car rentals, and massages, in addition to commissions on the villas. Agents earn good will as well as income, because “villas keep clients very happy,” says Stiles Bennett, president and COO of Villas offer clients a sense of exclusivity and “that special VIP touch that will make them feel like celebrities,” says Eastman. Pristera points out that “there are no strangers in the next room or at poolside.” Bennett says, “You don’t have to compete with other guests for space.... Everyone can have their own space when they want quiet time, and then everyone can come together around their private pool, living room, deck or kitchen table.” For that and other reasons, he explains, “villas offer families with children opportunities to spend quality time together. They’re also popular with wedding parties, corporate groups, and groups of friends, particularly if they live in different geographic locations.” Villa guests have more freedom, too. “They cannot miss breakfast because they overslept, and there is no dress code,” says Jones. “This is true whether clients are a couple staying in a small, secluded cottage or a multi-generational family in a swanky estate with a pool, tennis court, gym, home theater, and a battalion of staffers.” Because the word “villa” covers a wide range of lodgings, clients need to be assured that they needn’t be Fortune 500 executives ➤ The Bailong Lift in Zhangjiajie. 50 february 2013 50-52 CB Villa.indd 50 CMY K recommend.com 1/22/13 11:26 AM http://www.recommend.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recommend February 2013

Editor's Notes/Agent Speak
Hotel Desk: Virgin Limited Edition
Tour Talk: GeoEx
Celebrity Reflection
Villa del Palmar Cancun Beach resort & Spa
Karisma's Gourmet Feast: Top-End Cuisine & Service
El Secreto, Ambergris Caye, Belize
Hamburg Travel Planner 2013
The Kenya Formula: Wild + Tribal + Luxe
Fiji-3 Luxe Resorts Reflect its Plush Side
Gansevoort Turks & Caicos
It Pays to Book Villas
High-End stays Stateside
The Angler's Boutique Resort, Miami Beach

Recommend February 2013