Virtuoso and the Experience of Travel – Arts & Collections

Karen Joyce – Virtuoso General Manager, UK & Ireland, tells Arts & Collections about the company’s unique approach to luxury and experiential travel 

• What is the story behind Virtuoso? 

Virtuoso’s roots date back to 1951, where it began as Allied Travel and served as a research and operations centre cooperatively established and owned by independent carriage-trade travel agencies to provide independent and group travel. In 1986, Allied merged with Percival Tours, an upscale tour operator, to become Allied Percival International. As the company turned its focus to marketing services and programs for leading independent luxury travel agencies, it evolved to become API Travel Consultants. In January 2000, the company was rebranded as Virtuoso to represent its focus on providing personalised travel planning services and extraordinary experiences by facilitating the relationships to make it all happen. 

Today, the Virtuoso network has grown to become the leading global network specialising in luxury and experiential travel, with over 20,000 travel advisors across 58 countries and a preferred partner portfolio that comprises 2,300 of the best hotels, cruise lines, airlines, tour operators, destinations and every other segment of travel. Some of the most renowned travel brands in the world belong to the Virtuoso network and we are the largest producer for most of them. What this ultimately means is that those who travel within the Virtuoso network accrue tremendous benefit that results in better experiences. We’re able to leverage our significant buying power of more than £28 billion in annual sales to negotiate advantages of tangible value, ranging from more than £440 per stay at over 1,800 partner hotels in over 100 countries, to several thousand pounds on select luxury, river and expedition cruise lines. 

Perhaps more importantly, though, are the intangible benefits of how our travellers are made to feel, which is exceptionally important and well cared for. The importance of human connection, envisioned and embodied by our Chairman and CEO Matthew D. Upchurch, is the cornerstone of the Virtuoso network. It starts with cultivating genuine, trusted relationships between our travel agency members and preferred partners, and advisors and their clients. Those personal connections play out in various ways that result in Virtuoso clients being treated as friends and not just guests, with advisor care and service extending before, after and during the trip to ensure its success.   

• How can Virtuoso’s collective sustainability impact be measured? 

Virtuoso has been an ardent supporter of sustainable travel for more than a dozen years and our commitment to helping create a more sustainable future is infused in our ethos, business decisions and throughout our network in myriad ways. We have some of the most prominent voices in sustainable tourism as part of this network as well as our Sustainability Council, and they both help guide our practices as well as inform and educate the entire network. We also have a Sustainability Community, which brings together advisors who book and support sustainable tourism and the partners that provide offerings in the three pillars of sustainability that Virtuoso focuses on: celebrating cultures, supporting local economies and protecting the planet. 

In addition to authoring two whitepapers, Virtuoso initiated an annual Sustainability Study that serves as a systematic approach to quantifying and cataloguing the sustainability efforts of our partners and member agencies. Each year, the study results are shared in the Virtuoso Impact Report: Sustainable Travel – the only report that tracks the positive impact of luxury travel on the planet, local economies and cultures. The result is an inspiring look at what these sustainability leaders are doing to elevate the travel space. 

Some of our latest key findings include:  

• Participating Virtuoso partners collectively represent over 7,000 sustainability initiatives and created over 385,000 jobs in their local communities.  
• Partners donate an average of £370 per visitor to local artisans, NGOs and other businesses and individuals. A total of 22 percent of revenue goes back into their local economy.  
• Eighty-eight percent of surveyed Virtuoso advisors (spanning owners and managers, independent contractors and agency staff) see selling sustainable travel as a business opportunity.  
• Seventy percent of advisors say they are knowledgeable in sustainable travel and 55 percent say their business is focused on sustainability.   
• If clients understand a partner’s sustainability initiatives, 66 percent of advisors say their clients are willing to increase their spend. 

• What are the functions of a Virtuoso travel advisor? 

Travel advisors provide advice, access, advocacy and accountability – a combination that is impossible to replicate online. Overwhelming post-pandemic demand combined with limited availability have resulted in a new appreciation for the value of an informed advisor who manages the unpredictable, anticipates their client’s needs, advocates for the highest quality travel experience possible and ultimately specialises in them.  

By working closely together, advisors gain deep insights into their clients’ preferences, allowing them to craft personalized itineraries and recommend unique experiences, while having the insider connections to bring plans to life. There is no shortage of information in the world, but advisors know the right questions to ask to get at the heart of what their clients want. This collaborative approach leads to a trusted, ongoing relationship that keeps the client at the centre. After all, why have a financial advisor managing your investment portfolio and not have an advisor to manager your most valuable, non-renewable asset: your leisure time?  

• What destinations are covered by Virtuoso? 

The Virtuoso network spans the globe, with 2,300 preferred partners including the world’s finest hotels, cruise lines, tour operators, tourism boards, on-sites (in-country destination experts) and specialty providers in over 100 countries.  

• How does Virtuoso select its partners? 

Virtuoso is a by-invitation-only network, and we look for the very best when bringing in new partners as well as travel agency members. We are constantly reviewing the quality of our preferred partner portfolio and evolving it to fit the needs of our advisors and travellers. This includes adapting our offerings by region, as well as globally.  

The criteria for becoming a Virtuoso preferred partner varies, though there are some universal requirements, such as partners should represent the best-in-class for their given category, including service, product and the overall experience. Potential partners should also have a proven track record in working with the travel advisor community with an excellent reputation among travellers and advisors, alike. Lastly, they need to offer Virtuoso clients exclusive benefits that further complement the guest experience. These amenities range anywhere from daily breakfast to early check-in and late check-out, spa credits and more.

Last year, we introduced an enhanced hotel amenities program for preferred hotel partners to opt in to provide a higher value-add for all Virtuoso bookings, including amenities such as double or triple credits for guests depending on the length of their stay, guaranteed upgrades and confirmed early check-in or late check-out. Thirty percent of the network’s preferred hotels participate in the enhanced amenities program, and our data shows that those properties are seeing rising ADRs and over a 30 percent increase in bookings. 

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