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Luxury Journeys

Innovation – The Key to our Past, our Present, and our Future

October 26, 2020 by Luxury Gold No Comments

BY GAVIN TOLLMAN

CEO of Trafalgar, Costsaver, and Brendan Vacations

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore! Dream! Discover!”

– Mark Twain

No business makes it through a century without constant innovation, and that is especially true in the world of travel. The drive to innovate must be endless, which is why I keep an old roll of film front and center on my desk. This serves as a constant reminder to me – while Kodak made the best film, they failed to innovate as times changed, and ten years after the invention of digital cameras they went bankrupt.

As part of the third generation of this family business, I have learned a great deal about innovation from my grandfather, my uncle, and my father, who have brought together TTC’s amazing family of brands. Another constant source of inspiration for me is the late Steve Jobs, whose attitude and vision is summed up in the quote in my office here in Geneva:

“Some people say give the customers what they want, but that’s not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they’re going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, ‘If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would’ve told me a faster horse.’ People don’t know what they want until you show it to them. That’s why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.”

True innovation, I believe, takes listening, team work, and courage. My job is to listen to our guests, to my team, and to people I trust – both for what is said and what remains unsaid, for the challenge of an innovator is to give people what they want even even before they know it. When it comes to turning dreams into reality, teamwork is absolutely essential. I am incredibly fortunate to work with an extraordinary group of individuals, in all facets of our business, who never focus on can’t but rather on the why and the how it takes to get things done. As for courage, as everyone on my team knows, I believe we must dream big and take bold steps in order to push beyond existing boundaries and change the world.

You can see how all these elements came together in the story behind Be My Guest, one of Trafalgar’s signature programs. Back in 2009, travel meant ticking off the highlights of a destination, seeing the sights, and tasting the local foods. While Trafalgar was the market leader then, as it is now, and travelers were certainly enjoying their holidays, we knew we wanted to take it to a richer, deeper level. We began by asking the big question: Why do we travel? While there are many reasons, the most important seemed to be in order to grow, to learn, and to connect. And what better way to do this anywhere you go than through the eyes of a local? How could our travelers be invited into their houses, to break bread with them, hear their stories over a bottle of wine, and truly experience the world they live in as they see it?

Of course, many at first thought this was a crazy idea. After all, as an individual traveler you would hardly be inclined to knock on a random door and invite yourself in for a meal. But “crazy idea” is often a starting point for innovation, and when I mentioned this to my team one of our Travel Directors smiled and said “You know, I have a couple of aunts who live in Sorrento….”

And so, in May of 2009, we found ourselves climbing up winding cobblestone up a hill to the Espositos sisters’ lemon farm, where we were welcomed with open arms and a feast from their garden.

garderer

Though their English was minimal, they offered us the kind of hospitality that goes beyond language – along with homemade limoncello and pasta pomodoro from tomatoes they’d plucked from their garden that morning. We came away full and delighted – and all we could think as we left was how much our guests would love this.

This is how Be My Guest was born.

It was an instant hit, providing exactly the sort of authentic experiences travelers craved, whether they knew it or not. Sadly, the Esposito sisters have since passed on, but the spirit of hospitality they embodied thrives. The program has grown rapidly, as we’ve found hosts all over the world. There’s a tremendous variety, some incorporating music, wine, or olive oil tasting. It’s always something sensory – and we always finish it off with a meal, typically cooked onsite by the family. Be My Guest experiences are now included on every Trafalgar vacation. Depending on the destination, guests might marvel at Andalusian horse riders performing at a rural Portuguese stud farm or visit the Provence home of Poppy Salinger, whose late husband Pierre served as advisor to both John and Robert Kennedy. Travelers to Alberta, Canada, will visit and dine at the Guinn Family Ranch in the spectacular Kananaskis Valley, with pristine views of the Rockies, alpine meadows, and wildlife, while visitors to Alaska can learn first hand about dog sledding from musher David Monson. It would be hard to pick a favorite, as each Be My Guest experience is one of a kind, but a few that spring to mind are…

… foraging with Oonagh on Liscannor Bay on the Wild Irish Way in County Clare, Ireland.
She’ll lead guests through the place she knows so well to discover flowers and delicacies that will be transformed into an Irish feast.

…….in England’s Lake District, where you’ll travel to Hesket Newmarket to meet “Farmer John” as he’s known by locals, in the village where he’s lived his whole life. He’ll show you his farm and introduce you to his dogs – and then his wife, Christine, a brilliant hostess and cook, will welcome you for an amazing spread of cream tea, sandwiches and a jaw-dropping dessert spread.

…..on a farm outside of Dubrovnik, Croatia, where you’ll meet Anton Muhoberac and his family, including his son who will play accordion for you as you cook over an outdoor fire, eat figs, drink the local travarica and dance to traditional music.

…..and at Grove 41 in Paso Robles, California, where Karen will guide you through her olive groves and the oil making process – along with tasting – then tell you her story over an alfresco lunch with local wines.

While our travelers are enjoying these rich experiences, they are also doing good, supporting over 100 local families around the world – all of whom look forward to the return of our travelers as we recover from this pandemic.

For another great TTC innovation, there’s our Brendan Vacations, (which operate in Ireland, Scotland and Great Britain) Chauffer Driven vacations, where we merged our knowledge of touring the British Isles with escorted independent travel. By partnering with Pat Keogh’s chauffer car business, we are able to offer travelers fully customizable hand-crafted vacations bringing together a professional chauffeur and the finest of accommodations.

Another innovation for Trafalgar was in how we tell about what we do. We knew we offered the finest travel experiences available – and so did our guests. We wanted to let them tell the story in real time. We also wanted to make sure their reviews came through with 100% transparency, which is why in 2014 we were the first travel company to post reviews through Feefo.

Now, six years on, we have a 4.7/5 global rating, and have been awarded Feefo’s Platinum status – their highest ranking. The desire to showcase what we did also had a powerful unintended consequence of letting us see how our trips were performing in real time. Our operating teams monitor their Feefo reviews and adjust on the fly, allowing for continual improvement and instant innovation.

Looking back, I remember how much anxiety this caused before going live, as the founder of Feefo later told me. Having never taken on a travel company, he was wary of negative reviews – obviously, he had never traveled with us. “You can’t put this genie back in the bottle,” he had said.

We wouldn’t want to, and we are proud that we were the ones who brought that genie out first.

Of course, any guided holiday company is only as good as their Travel Directors. Ours have always been great, but the spirit of innovation is about constant, relentless improvement. Thus, working alongside our sister TTC companies Insight Vacations and Luxury Gold, we hired the best in the business, a woman who had been head of training for Virgin Atlantic. Then we designed, from scratch, a rigorous, in-depth, multi-tiered experiential training program that would really place the travel directors into the guests’ shoes. The results have been fantastic, and one of the factors that has led to over 50% return rate of our guests.

In travel, personalization is everything, and our innovations in this area have been bolstered by the values of TTC. You can see this in our new phone system that supports all of us, Genesys. While I say “phone,” it is much more, as it will transform the ways all of TTC’s companies interact with travelers, including text, chat, and so on. Using data, we are able to connect our present and future guests with just the right sales consultants, so we are able to answer faster, deliver easy callbacks, and utilize natural voice responses instead of complicated and annoying click through systems. We know that in today’s world of instant contact, high touch points and personalization, this is the next step in us innovating into the future. And yes, we are available 24/7, 365, because that’s when our guests need us.

This drive to personalization has also led to My Travel Portal, which supports every guided vacation brand at TTC – for us, it is My Trafalgar, My Costsaver, and My Brendan Vacations. Available to guests as soon as they’ve booked, they can actively engage with their Travel Director, and tell them anything they may need to know – dietary requirements, physical limitations, birthdays, anniversaries they’re celebrating, things they like, as well offering a place to securely add passport and other contact details, all making for a seamless experience.

In addition to being helpful for the traveler, My Travel Portal lets your Travel Director begin to craft a personalized experience for guests, working behind the scenes, long before the journey begins. This includes special experiences you might like based on your interests, so we can surprise and delight you along the way, exceeding your expectations. I was once on a Trafalgar trip where the Travel Director surprised one of our American guests. He knew that the guest’s father had come from a small town in Italy, and the Travel Director not only surprised him with a visit to that town, but to the very house where his father had been born. Now that is special.

While there are innovations that surprise and delight, there are those born of necessity – especially now. These days, some of the most exciting innovations at TTC are in the realm of traveler wellbeing. Of course, the health and wellbeing of our travelers has always been our top priority, but right at the start of the pandemic, we quickly realized the magnitude of the affect this was about to have on our industry. We would have to bring it to another level. Our chairman, Mr. Stanley Tollman, who has just turned ninety, is sharp as a tack and always leads from the front, called myself and my cousin, Brett, CEO of TTC, back in May this year –

“Our Travel Directors need to focus on delivering exceptional travel experiences,” he said, “and our Drivers need to focus on the task at hand when we travel again. We need a third pair of hands on our trips to take care of all the wellbeing needs of the guests and reassure them.”

Thus, the concept of a Wellbeing Director was born. As you prepare for travel in 2021, Trafalgar, Insight Vacations, and Luxury Gold trips in all regions (apart from Australia, New Zealand and Japan) will have a Wellbeing Director. They will ensure spacing on coaches and keep supplies available and stocked, and call ahead to destinations and liaise with suppliers and hotels to ensure that our stringent protocols are followed, to name just a few of the tasks entrusted to them on the road, with you every step of the way to answer questions and address concerns. (Please watch our new video on this innovative, unique new on tour position, to understand more.)

Another amazing innovation at TTC involves hygiene at Red Carnation Hotels and all ships owned and operated by Uniworld. It’s called Premium Purity, and while we have come to it as a response to COVID-19, it is a fantastic and completely effective approach to cleaning that will serve us long after this pandemic is over. It is both 100% non-toxic and chemical free, removing viruses, bacteria, and microbes with no toxic residue, so it’s healthier for you, for our staff, and our planet.

This leads me to one more area of innovation, which is perhaps the most important, as it affects all of us and this magnificent planet on which we live. As TTC celebrates the success of our first century and the beginning of our second, we are acutely aware of how our travels impact the world. Travel can – and must – be a force for good. This belief shapes everything we do at TTC. It also drives TreadRight, the foundation we founded to ensure that travel has a positive impact on Planet, People, and Wildlife.
We invite you to visit their website to learn the amazing projects they do, many of which we visit and support on our itineraries. Also, if you have not yet taken the TreadRight Pledge to Make Travel Matter, we invite you to join us in doing so. (We also just launched a five year sustainability strategy last month, How We Tread Right, which establishes a detailed, trackable plan for us to be carbon neutral across our entire company before 2030.)

As we prepare to resume travel, we are aware that we are at a crucial time in our history. Many of the ways in which things have been done in the past are simply not sustainable, and must change. Again, it’s worth recalling what Steve Jobs said: “Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity – not a threat.”

As a member of the Tollman family, the head of these three brands, and part of the TTC family as a whole, I am grateful for that opportunity.

Sincerely,

Gavin Tollman

CEO of Trafalgar, Costsaver, and Brendan Vacations

 

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Luxury Journeys

Tales From Our Travelers

September 24, 2020 by Luxury Gold No Comments
BY BRETT TOLLMAN

We set off on our travels with dreams, and return with memories that last a lifetime.

Now, as we near the end of what would have been the 2020 travel season, we have all been through a year like no other. While the global pandemic has resulted in so many delayed travel plans and trips, it has not stopped us from recalling the magic of our past travels – nor dreaming about where we will go in the future.

Over these past months we have heard from many guests who have been flipping through their scrapbooks and photos, reliving those memories, recalling places they’ve visited and people they’ve met through their travels with TTCs brands. That inspired us, in turn, to look through letters, emails, shared comments and postings that have come through on social media, from our guests sharing the stories of their journeys.

This month, in honor of World Tourism Day on September 27 and TTC’s 100th anniversary, we thought it fitting to share a few of those stories from several of the brands (those not included in our September video – please have a look directly below this post if you’ve not seen it yet) – tales and pictures that remind us why we do what we do.

Much as we have missed you this year, we very much look forward to serving you in the coming year – and for generations to come.

Sincerely,

Brett Tollman
Chief Executive – TTC

Our time in Tanzania in the bush and on game drives was spectacular! We saw all five of the big game animals: African elephant, leopard, lion, Cape buffalo, and Black rhinoceros. Witnessed the wildebeest migration along with herds of zebra, elephants and impalas. Our driver Salim was amazing as he traversed nearly impossible roads because of the rain. He was knowledgeable about flora and fauna as well as spotting animals in the wild. He could identify any creature be it winged or footed.

Because of COVID-19 our visit to Victoria Falls was cancelled due to closed boarders and cancelled return flights. We are most grateful to Meggan and her team at African Travel, Inc., John and Erick, Salim, Mohamed, and Leopard Tours for securing our flights and transfers and getting us to the airport in time!

Erick went above and beyond, staying at the hotel and sleeping in his car to be sure he learned of any flight changes in a timely manner. We couldn’t possibly say enough to thank all who made sure we arrived home safely – thank you all!

– Cathy and Fred

From Brendan Vacations – #MyBrendanStory

Adventurous hikes and perfect views. You’ve got to go the Great Glen Way.

– Stephen 

One of my happiest days yet… Ireland is a country I’ve always dreamt of visiting and I’ve completely fallen for.
– Biankka 

The Celtic Isles of Ireland and Scotland are home to centuries of myths and legends, and all who visit here write a chapter in our story. What will yours be?

– Brendan Vacations

I have always longed to travel to India but travel on my own terms and see the real India, exploring the paths less traveled. Being a solo traveler, I was a bit apprehensive, but I was so delighted to find Adventure World Travel. Your team listened and gave so much expert advice to create a trip just for me. The boutique hotels I stayed at were so unique and beautiful; and my private guide Ananya was beyond amazing. I will cherish this trip…

– Thelma

Our trip was fantastic! Hands down, the best part was our guide Sheila, she was hilarious, extremely knowledgeable, and really made this trip special for us. It was also very well organized, safe, and hygienic during the Covid-19 pandemic. Highly recommend Evan Evans day tours from London…. 10/10!

– Tim

Mel was a wonderful tour guide! He was very knowledgeable, witty and just an overall gem! We have booked plenty of tours in other countries and cities we’ve visited but this one was by far the best! Everything ran smoothly, we learned so much about the history of London and beyond and we are super thankful to Evan Evans for providing us with such a lovely time on our first trip to London! We will definitely be recommending to our friends back home!

– Jessica

Our trip was amazing! We had the best time – all of our accommodations were fantastic and we cannot wait to go back to Africa – I am already planning a tentative time to go back :). Cape Town was great – we visited Table Mountain and the Botanical Gardens. The suggestion to stay in Franschhoek was really appreciated – we loved it so much. It was so beautiful there and all of the wineries were incredible.

Kapama was an amazing safari experience – we saw the Big 5 (multiple times) and lots of other animals and our guide/tracker went above and beyond for our group. Mozambique was beautiful and Dugong was a perfect relaxing quiet way to end our trip. Thank you for everything! We will definitely contact Lion World when we plan our return trip to Africa!

– Margret

The trip to Egypt was fantastic! Every aspect was incredible and we really appreciate the time you took to help us put it all together. The accommodations were all first class, the transfers and personal attention from your team was friendly and efficient. Mohammed in Cairo was fantastic and incredibly helpful as was everyone we met from the team. A very well-run organization.

Wa’el, our guide, could not have been better. His knowledge of Egypt, both historical and current, was beyond compare – not to mention he’s also a pretty good iPhone photographer! We trusted him right away once he told us that we had to leave at 6:30am to get to Giza and the Pyramids. We were the first people there and had the incredible experience of being the ONLY PEOPLE inside the Great Pyramid burial chamber. We even beat the guard who was supposed to be in there! Overall, I’d rate our trip with 5 stars out of 5. This is our second Lion World Travel excursion, we certainly consider ourselves “repeat customers” and will book with you again.

– Ryan & Jess

Just came back from Beaches and Reefs trip in Australia and would fly back tomorrow if I could! It’s the best time I’ve ever had on a holiday and could not believe how much we did. Our trip manager Jayne was just brilliant, she was so friendly, helpful, and just such a great person to be around! Jayne’s knowledge and history of Oz was just fantastic and just showed how passionate she was about her job. If you want to see as much as you can in Oz in a small amount of time, I would 100% recommend this trip! Thanks, Contiki, for the best holiday of a lifetime – and can’t wait to book again!

– Carla

Contiki Asia was The Best Holiday I have ever had! Amazing places, people, and trip manager! Ole was absolutely fantastic. She was so helpful and lovely and honestly could not do enough for you. She was really informative and clearly knew a lot about the different areas we visited… I also liked that we had a choice of activities such as the elephant sanctuary or the temples. The nightlife in all locations was great and the weather was exceptional every day. It was so amazing to meet like-minded people from all over the world – people I will stay in touch with forever!

– Shea

 

 

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Europe, Unwind

5 Books to Inspire Your Trip to the British Isles

May 23, 2019 by Luxury Gold No Comments

No two things evoke excitement quite like a good book and travel. One allows you to mentally transport yourself into a fascinating new realm, while the latter allows you to physically head to the destination. Pair the two together and you have a formula strong enough to inspire even the most timid of travelers.

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