TORONTO — Luxury Gold, the upscale escorted journeys brand from The Travel Corporation, is perfectly positioned for the small group experiential travel trend. “That’s what Luxury Gold is,” says TTC Chief Executive Brett Tollman. “That’s our sweet spot.”
Luxury Gold launched its 2020 Worldwide collection last night at the Storys Building in Toronto, with an expert meal and wonderful commentary from Michelin Star Irish Chef, JP McMahon.
While Ireland was a key focus last night, the 2020 Luxury Gold collection spans the globe with trips in Britain, Europe, U.S., Canada, South America, Australia & New Zealand, Asia, India and Africa.
For 2020 Luxury Gold is offering more than 50 immersive journeys. New offerings include the 10-day Elegance of the Pharaohs with a stay at the five-star Mena House Hotel in Cairo. There’s also the 10-day Art, Culture & Cuisine of Colombia. Also new, ‘The Chairman’s Collection Experience – Count Richard de Warren’ will be offered as part of the 10-day French Vogue journey personally curated by Chairman Stanley Tollman.
All of the brand’s immersive small group journey feature VIP Experiences, Exceptional Dining, elegant hotels and a personable TravellingConcierge who is there to tailor everything for clients.
The upper tier in a portfolio that also includes Trafalgar and Insight Vacations, Luxury Gold has been its own stand-alone brand for some time now.
But for any agent (or client) still asking ‘What’s Luxury Gold?’, here’s the hook, courtesy of Brad Ford, President, Luxury Gold Canada: “It’s an incredible boutique collection of global luxury journeys inspired by The Travel Corporation’s Chairman, Stanley Tollman. He saw an opportunity to provide journeys that bring back the golden age of travel.”
Chief Executive Brett Tollman says the creation of Luxury Gold was a logical extension from two of TTC’s other high-end brands: The Red Carnation Hotel Collection, and Uniworld. Red Carnation in particular is famous for its ‘No request too big, no detail too small’ approach, a key selling point now for Luxury Gold as well.
All of the TTC brands are strong supporters of the trade, adds Tollman. And that’s especially true for Luxury Gold.
“Luxury Gold is 99% B2B,” Tollman told TTC’s top performing retail partners at last night’s event. “It’s a trade-centric business model. We rely on you. Our future depends on you. We do no consumer advertising. All of our resources go into supporting you.”
Offered through The Travel Corporation’s Travel Agent Academy, the program has been designed with an interactive suite of user-friendly modules that allows agents to sell its luxury guided journeys efficiently while at the same time earn rewards.
It’s divided into three levels, the first of which – Sapphire – is available now. The modules cover an introduction of the brand, the Luxury Gold difference, tools for selling the journeys and information on the Chairman’s Collection, which includes VIP experiences personally curated by TTC’s Chairman, Stanley Tollman.
Agents can register for the program here.
Luxury Gold voyages were created “with the utmost care and attention to detail by a team completely focused on delivering those experiences,” added Tollman. “We’re so proud of Luxury Gold today and we’re so proud of what Brad has done with his team here in Canada, to make sure that you know to recommend Luxury Gold when that right client comes through the door.”
Travellers are always looking for feedback on brands before they book them, and check everything from social media to marketing metrics before calling their travel agent. One popular metric, Net Promoter Score (NPS), measures customer loyalty. Apple’s NPS is just above 70. Luxury Gold’s is 84. “We’re very proud of that,” says Tollman. “More and more people are aware of these scores. When you book Luxury Gold, your clients will come back and tell their friends and family what an amazing travel advisor you are.”
Booking Luxury Gold, or any TTC brand, is also good for the planet thanks to The TreadRight Foundation, the not-for-profit organization created as a joint initiative between the TTC’s family of brands. When a client books a trip, part of their payment to TTC goes to The TreadRight Foundation. “We take it out of our profits,” says Tollman. The company’s long-standing commitment to helping save the planet’s resources also includes a new travel pledge, just unveiled today in celebration of World Tourism Day.
“Our Make Travel Matter Pledge is another step on our journey and an impactful one as it further solidifies our commitment to helping protect the destinations we work with, its communities and local wildlife,” says Tollman, who is also Founder, The TreadRight Foundation. “As responsible travellers, TreadRight’s ethos has become part of our company’s DNA and what we stand for, and we share our pledge with our guests as well as partners in hopes they will join us.”
To date TreadRight has supported over 55+ sustainable tourism projects worldwide. To see the pledge, check out https://www.treadright.org/pledge/.
Agents at last night’s event dined on oysters, monkfish and more expertly prepared by Chef McMahon. Dana Welch, Manager, Tourism Ireland Canada screened Tourism Ireland’s newest video, part of the tourism board’s ‘Fill Your Heart with Ireland’ campaign unveiled earlier this year.
Luxury Gold’s ‘Ultimate Ireland’, part of the 2020 collection, is a 12-day journey that shows off the best of the Emerald Isle with luxury stays in hotels including Ashford Castle, part of The Red Carnation Hotel Collection. With Ultimate Ireland, “we wanted to do it better in every possible way,” says Claire Hanney, Head of Travel Experiences for Insight Vacations and Luxury Gold.
For more details see LuxuryGold.com.
