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| Alyse Cori of Travelwize with Bob Romano of Fugazi Travel |
Questex Hospitality + Travel debuted its ULTRA Luxury Exchange event last month, bringing North America’s elite travel advisors and suppliers together for an exclusive discussion on the latest research and trends in ultra-luxury travel.
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| Catherine Whitworth of Brownell Travel |
The invitation-only program, held June 2-4 at the Turnberry Isle Miami, consisted of intimate focus groups with advisors hosted by partner suppliers, elegant business functions and thought-provoking discussions. These included Insights into the Emerging Travel Patterns from the Top US Luxury Travel Advisor with Jack Mannix of Jack E. Mannix & Associates and Insights into the Emerging Travel Habits, Preferences and Intentions of Affluent U.S. Travelers with Peter Yesawich, vice chairman of MMGY Global.
With the goal of creating a road map for the industry, this collaborative event identified trends and key issues facing ultra-luxury travel, including the prediction of strong growth in the overall sector, emergence of the tech-driven millennial generation in the industry, integral role of personalized customer service and authentic experiences, and ongoing acceptance of social media on brand evangelism driven by the affluent consumer. The research will be distilled in a white paper and shared exclusively with ULTRA attendees.
“The caliber of travel advisors brought together enables us to tap in to the top thought leaders in luxury travel and draft a true blueprint for the industry going forward,” said Ruthanne Terrero, Questex Hospitality + Travel, vice president of content and editorial director.
“ULTRA addressed how the next generation of travel advisors will redefine luxury travel while shaping how those experiences are consumed. The positive feedback received was tremendous and generated a great deal of interest for next year’s event.” For more information, visit ULTRALuxuryExchange.com.
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| Peter Yesawich, MMGY Global, spent quality time discussing trends with advisors |
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| Roger Kershaw of Roger Kershaw Custom Travel; David Rubin, DavidTravel; Ruth Turpin, Cruises, Etc. Travel and Jorge Collazzo of Gansevoort Hotel Group, who moderated our Millennial Luxury Traveler panel |
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| A New Take on Luxury Panel: Mathew Evins, chairman and CEO, Evins Communications, Ltd.; Deepak Ohri, CEO, lebua Hotels and Resorts Co. Ltd. and Larry Pimental, president & CEO Azamara Club Cruises |
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| Invited luxury travel advisors meet with travel supplier ambassadors. Shown here are invited advisors Leslie Bulluck, Best Travel Gold; Peter Carideo, CRC Travel; Joshua Bush, Park Avenue Travel and Robin Fox, Pisa Brothers |
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| Bell de Souza, Mansour Travel Company and Juergen Stuetz, Melia Hotels International |
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| Bob Malmberg, The Malmberg Travel Group |
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| Ruthanne Terrero, Luxury Travel Advisor; Helene Singer, Singer Travel; Sue Brown, Sue Brown Travel and June Sloane, Protravel International |
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| Rick Stiffler, Preferred Hotel Group, Anne Scully, McCabe World Travel and Helene Singer, Singer Travel |
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| Jack Mannix, Jack E. Mannix & Associates, presented luxury travel advisor research to launch the confab |
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| Patricia Lehman, The Travel Agent |
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| Leslie Dodson, Fairmont Raffles Hotels International; John McMahon, Luxury Travel Advisor and Cory Hagopian, Fairmont Raffles Hotels International. |
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| Kimberly Newbury of Luxury Travel Advisor is flanked by Peter Carideo, CRC Travel and Gerard Bellino, WorldView Travel |
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| Mary Ann and Roy Ramsey of Betty Maclean Travel with Julia Douglas, Jet Set World Travel, Inc. |
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| Wido Schaefer, TravelStore, Inc. and Stacy Weigant, Forest Travel Agency |
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| Ken Neibaur, Cardoza-Bungey Travel; Peter Carideo, CRC Travel and Gary Stevens, Leaders in Travel |
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| Ruth Turpin, Cruises, Etc. Travel; Judy Nidetz, Travel Experts and Patricia Lehman, The Travel Agent |
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| Lia Batkin, In the Know Experiences |
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| Jack Bloch, JB’s World Travel; Amy Deve, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces and Martin Rapp, ALTOUR |
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| The Butler Did It panel: Ruthanne Terrero, Luxury Travel Advisor; Phiroza Kothavala, The Pierre, A Taj Hotel, New York and Marine Guadalp, St. Regis Bal Harbour. |