Agents attack “mean” luxury hotels
Agents have condemned luxury hotels for having a “mean” attitude towards agents’ educational visits.
The findings came as part of a survey of more than 300 agents across 10 European countries by Small Luxury Hotels of the World.
The poll found that 32% of agents thought that luxury properties in general were mean about educationals, while a quarter thought they could be more “travel trade minded”.
The group of 309 hotels is to conduct research quarterly in order to track changing perceptions within the industry.
The most trade-friendly hotels were found to be The Londra Palace in Venice and The Bale in Nusa Dua, Indonesia.
The first survey results, released at World Travel Market, show that wealthy travellers believe that “having my own travel agent” is a fashionable new status symbol.
But they expect agents to arrange their special preferences, be a source of insider knowledge, ensure they are treated like royalty and to guarantee confidentiality.
At the same time luxury travellers expect to save money by using no-frills flights in order to boost their spending on accommodation and to add leisure breaks onto business trips.
There are increasingly no peaks and trough periods for holidays for the rich because they are willing to travel at any time of the year, the survey found.
Report by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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