Gallery: Aspire Leaders of Luxury
Travel Weekly’s sister title Aspire brought together 275 delegates for its Leaders of Luxury Conference at the Royal Geographical Society in London. Juliet Dennis reports
Google chief advises luxury brands to offer web booking
Luxury brands need to be ready for a growing market of holidaymakers booking online rather than at a high street travel agent.
Currently, luxury customers tend to research online and book in store, and are less seasonal in terms of when they look for holidays, according to Ruairidh Roberts (pictured below), Google’s senior industry head of travel.
He cited figures from Bain & Company which showed 85% of the growth of the luxury market in 2017 was fuelled by a younger, aspirational audience of holidaymakers in their 20s and 30s.
“They would like the option to book online, and if you keep directing them to the store, there will be a growing audience who want to do everything online, and will go to a competitor,” he warned.
Roberts said there had been a 20% growth in ‘luxury’ searches on Google in 2017 compared with the previous year, with 62% of retail searches for luxury products being made on mobile.
However, he said most purchases took place in a shop in 2017.
“Every customer I work with uses digital as a route to purchase: 75% of luxury purchases are influenced by digital but 91% of luxury purchases take place in store,” he added.
Roberts quoted a Mintel Luxury Travel Report from 2016 that found 64% of luxury holidaymakers preferred a package where everything was included, compared with 35% booking accommodation and travel separately, while 1% had no preference.
“Luxury means not having to do everything themselves,” he said. “The majority steer clear of booking all the aspects themselves.”
Activities and facilities such as spa treatments and access to a private pool or beach were far more important to the luxury traveller than transport to their holiday, the report found.
Spa and beauty treatments were important to 29% of respondents; 27% said private pools were essential; 24% chose access to a private beach from seafront accommodation; and 21% cited gourmet standard dining. Business-class air travel was important to 16%.
This backs up the trend for experiences in the luxury sector, Roberts said. He added: “The whole of the luxury market is being driven by experiences. It used to be destination, then price. These days, the experience is leading in growth, and destination is less important.”
‘Luxury travel to be like sex robots: ever-more intimate’
Technology for the travel industry will become more ‘human-like’ as consumers become more open to dealing with robots in all aspects of their lives – even sex.
Consumer psychologist Dr Paul Marsden, of digital communications agency Syzygy, told delegates sex robots were a good metaphor for the future of technology in travel as they are “intimate, personal and humanised”.
His analogy was based on the findings of a survey by his agency of 6,000 people in the US, UK and Germany, 34% of whom said they would trial a sex robot.
The figure was lower for UK respondents at 29%, comprising 40% of men and 20% of women. Marsden said: “Artificial intelligence [AI] has the potential to transform luxury travel.
“We found people were open to digital being more part of their lives, and their sexual lives. There is interest in this technology and openness to sex robots.
“The future of social media is intimate, personal and humanised. This is what I mean when I say the future is sex robots. The future of luxury travel is sex robots – it is intimate, personal and humanised.”
He urged the industry to look beyond Instagram and Facebook and think about artificial intelligence as a way of communicating and meeting holidaymakers’ needs.
The travel sector is already using AI “to an extent”, added Marsden, citing a hotel in Japan staffed by robots and Amazon’s new Alexa Skills for hotel guests to use as an ‘in-room concierge’.
Syzygy’s survey showed most respondents wanted their concierge to have a female voice, be emotionally intelligent and have a sense of humour. Conscientiousness was the most‑wanted personality trait.
Marsden added: “The future is about experiences, but it’s also about how we make the extraordinary accessible.
“As a luxury industry, we need to make friends with robots. We need to get into bed with them – metaphorically.”
‘Don’t judge clients just on their looks’
Travel agents should not ‘pigeonhole’ clients based on what they look like when they walk in the door, the boss of The Travel Bureau has warned.
Jeanne Lally, director of the Newcastle-based agency, said luxury travel could no longer be easily defined by brands, products or appearances.
Similarly, she said there was not ‘one type’ of client in the luxury sector.
“To pigeonhole customers is dangerous,” she said. “Luxury now is not just about brands. The definition of the luxury customer now is very different. Being frank, it’s about budget.”
Carrier managing director Mark Duguid said his view of what luxury travel meant had changed since he took up his role in April 2017.
“I have relaxed my view of inextricably linking luxury to product,” he said.
“It’s too easy to get tied up on [hotel] suites. I am happy for a customer to define luxury.” Filip Boyen, chief executive of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, added: “Everyone’s expectation of luxury is different.”
‘Building a social media profile will pay off in future’
Luxury travel companies must invest in social media to build their future brand profile, according to digital trends expert Sara McCorquodale.
“Social media isn’t a flash in the pan,” she said.
“This is something you have to invest in in a genuine way so that in 10 years’ time you have amassed 50,000 to 100,000 people who adore your brand.”
McCorquodale, founder and chief executive of Corq, an online platform of digital ‘influencers’ that gives insight on social trends, said businesses should experiment to find out what works best for their brand. She urged them to invest in online videos, publish content, share others’ posts and create groups to invite consumer questions.
McCorquodale suggested Facebook and Instagram would work best for travel brands.
“Facebook will give you the largest choice of people seeing your brand,” she said. “There is a broader and older audience.
“If you’re aiming for the top 1% [of luxury spenders], they probably don’t use Instagram – but their children and PAs are using it. If you need to streamline, give up Twitter.”
Rather than telling one story across platforms, she suggested looking at what works on each.
Booking values rise in ‘positive but not amazing’ market this year
The luxury market has grown despite being “more sensitive to Brexit” than mainstream holiday sales.
Ruairidh Roberts, Google’s senior industry head of travel, said luxury holiday queries were up year on year although the market had been “seriously affected” by Brexit, as holidaymakers waited for the pound to regain value before booking.
He said: “The luxury market is more sensitive to the negative impacts of Brexit. The ‘leave’ result temporarily put them off booking a holiday.
“Last year we had a dip, so it makes sense. This year has been promising but there is room for improvement. It’s positive but not amazing.”
The Travel Bureau director Jeanne Lally said her agency had seen higher average spend this year and a change in the destination mix, with more packages including cruises.
Carrier managing director Mark Duguid reported strong early bookings and double-digit growth in average booking values this year.
Gallery: Aspire Leaders of Luxury