How Much the Human Connection Still Matters

With no economic jitters in sight, a record-breaking number of luxury-focused travel advisors and suppliers gathered in Las Vegas last week for the 31st annual Virtuoso Travel Week. Calling its event the travel industry’s answer to Fashion Week, the Virtuoso consortium estimates that $420 million in travel sales are generated during the nearly 280,000 one-to-one meetings that take place during the week.

The use of technology, particularly Virtuoso’s new Wanderlist travel planning tool as a means to gain insight into the emotional psyche of clients, surfaced as a theme. At the same time, Virtuoso Chairman and CEO Matthew Upchurch and Airbnb strategic advisor Chip Conley emphasized during the opening session that tech innovations complement but do not override the human element in business.

“Travel advisors have everything a machine does not — a machine will never be as good as your intellect,” Conley said. “Travel advisors have moved to a place where they are life experience guides. You guide people to have a better life.”

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— Maria Lenhart, Travel Advisor Editor

Featured Stories

High-Touch and High-Tech Find Common Ground With Travel Advisors: Virtuoso CEO: Virtuoso Travel Week drew record attendance to the annual event it likens to Fashion Week. While heavily touting the consortium’s new Wanderlist travel planning tool, it also emphasized the human touch.

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Hospitality

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Digital

Sabre Dares U.S. Justice Department to Sue It Over Farelogix Deal: The travel technology giant said last Wednesday it would go ahead with its planned $360 million acquisition on August 21. If the U.S. federal attorneys aren’t happy about it, they can sue, Sabre said. No travel tech company has used, and threatened in public to use, its lawyers as much as Sabre in the past decade.

Business Travel

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Skift Travel Advisor Editor Maria Lenhart [[email protected]] curates the Skift Travel Advisor Innovation Report. Skift emails the newsletter every Tuesday. Have a story idea? Or a juicy news tip? Want to share a memo? Send her an email.