One of the perks of attending Virtuoso Travel Week is that you get to hear from Matthew Upchurch, the organization’s CEO. The travel industry is blessed with many smart businesspeople, but nobody embraces the big picture quite like him. And, considering this year marks the event’s 30th anniversary, it’s also clear that few people have spent more time trying to understand the luxury consumer. So, when Upchurch talks about upscale travel, people pay attention.
“The core feature of a great travel advisor is the ability to listen and collaborate,” he said during a press function at Virtuoso Travel Week, which was held earlier this month in Las Vegas.
“First and foremost, they are specialists in the client.”
According to Upchurch, the advisor-client relationship is personal and individual, and that’s the key to the entire profession. Advisors are tasked with understanding their clients’ concerns, desires and dreams, and they use this information to craft great travel moments. This relationship is even more important with luxury travel — customized attention is at the heart of what upscale travelers expect.
“Luxury clients are actually relieved when they meet with the right advisor,” he said. “They know the agent is going to make their lives easier. It’s like, ‘Where have you been all my life?’”
Upchurch says that people used to think all agents were little more than order-takers, which is why people expected them to disappear. But, he says, there have always been many great agents in the industry who were pioneers in creating great vacations. And he sees it as Virtuoso’s mission to support and elevate these advisors — and it’s an effort that he takes personally.
“If I can’t look my daughter or my son in the eye after putting them through college and tell them that being a travel advisor is a legitimate profession, we will have failed at our mission,” he said. “Several years ago, I was asked how we were going to find the luxury travelers of the future. And I said, ‘By helping to develop the future advisors and agency owners.’”
