Karryon Luxury talks to Ash Chin, the Founder and Travel Curator of Sojourns Of, following his recent accolade in becoming a SmartFlyer ONE member.
Sydney-based Ash Chin of Sojourns Of, an affiliate of SmartFlyer Australia and Virtuoso agency, was recently the only Australian SmartFlyer advisor, among 250 global agents, to be recognised as a SmartFlyer ONE member – advisors whose revenue in 2023 exceeded USD$6.3m in actualised sales.
Ash was among 18 agencies celebrated as SmartFlyer ONE 2023 Top Producers.
Here, he talks to Karryon Luxury about what he loves about selling luxury travel, his background in luxury fashion brands, and what trends he’s seeing among his clients for their travels in 2024.
Congratulations on your recent accolade as a SmartFlyer ONE member. To what do you attribute your performance in 2023 and on reaching this achievement?
Firstly, thank you! 2023 was an incredible year for travel and I’m grateful to everyone who contributed to the SmartFlyer ONE achievement in whatever way, large or small.
My achievements can all be attributed to my incredible clients who trust me, day in and day out, to work with them when they want to explore the world. Travel has always been a significant part of my life and just being able to share this passion with my clients is so rewarding in itself.
I cannot forget the importance of SmartFlyer and our wonderful industry partners, be them hoteliers, DMCs, representation companies, and consortiums. My relationships with everyone I interact with, to bring to life a client’s vision, are so important to me and I’m grateful for all the support I have had in my short time in travel, and the wonderful friends I have made along the way.
I feel like I have such a great attitude towards and about my job, and it goes without saying that I know and love luxury travel! I really love what I do.
You are fairly new to selling travel. Can you tell us more about your career background and what inspired you to transition into a travel advisor role?
My background prior to building Sojourns Of has always been in marketing.
I moved to London many years ago after university and worked for Burberry in their marketing team which was an incredible first role in that field. I moved back to Australia after my visa ended and was with Dior before moving to Red Bull.
Whilst at Red Bull, I completed my Master of Commerce, following which I was with EY in a management consultant role within their Performance Improvement team, focusing on marketing.
I moved in-house to Allianz where I had a number of roles, the final being looking after the brand content marketing for Australia. I left corporate life in March 2023 to focus on my travel business full-time.
In terms of what inspired me to transition to travel, I was actually approached by SmartFlyer.
I can honestly say I had never considered a career in travel. I’d always travelled extensively – up to 8-10 weeks per year and I think the SmartFlyer team saw something in me, my love of travelling, and that I’d be a great fit for them.
I looked at a few other IC-type operators in Australia, but I settled on SmartFlyer and haven’t looked back since.
Of course the first couple of years were interesting due to the pandemic, however, it really gave me time to hone my knowledge of how to be a great advisor versus just knowing luxury travel. So when 2022 really allowed Australians (my international clients started a little earlier…) to really get out into the world again, I hit the ground running.
What do you love most about being a luxury travel advisor?
I work with the best of the best. And with this comes so many things I love and enjoy about being in travel. Of course, working closely with clients on their travel arrangements is top of the list. I love their excitement during the planning process, their openness to my recommendations, and really just the process of working together to create a great trip – be it a trip they do every year, or a bucket list-type trip.
Outside of this, I’ve always loved the luxury industries. I started my marketing career with a luxury brand that at the time was really changing how luxury fashion was marketed and taken to the consumer. Luxury brands are the most dynamic organisations in the world. They are constantly pushing their industries further, and of course, travel is no exception.
Another thing I love, and one of the most important aspects of being a luxury travel advisor, are my relationships within the industry. I really value these so much and it’s been amazing to connect with so many like-minded people around the world, many of whom I now call friends. My relationships with people all around the world are what can really help to make magic happen for my clients.
What are your key tips for success or personal learnings you’ve had as a luxury advisor?
- Listen
- Learn
- Ask questions
- Deliver
- Relationships
For me, these five aspects are absolutely key.
I love listening in the sense that whether it is a client, a fellow advisor, an industry partner, etc. there is always something that I will learn or be able to act on. Learning is of course so important in my role. I need to know what is best for my clients, what is new, what are upcoming destinations – which is probably why I spend so much of my time travelling! My luxury travel knowledge and expertise has come from so many sources, and in turn, I love to share this also to help others.
Asking questions and knowing what a client wants, perhaps even without them really being aware is a must. Otherwise, you can’t deliver. I ask questions of everyone about travel whether in the industry or not. I just love where conversations can lead and what I can pick up from them.
I’ve mentioned delivery above: absolutely a key to success. My clients, at the level I work at, have high exceptions of every aspect of the trip and I have to work with my partners involved in their travel to make sure this happens right throughout the lifecycle of a trip: from initial planning to the transfer home. I also want to deliver for my industry partners.
What are the advantages of being a SmartFlyer member – both as an advisor and to your clients?
SmartFlyer is absolutely one of the world’s most highly regarded networks of luxury travel advisors. That is without question in the industry. As an advisor, the advantages of this are incredible – being affiliated with SmartFlyer simply opens doors to people in the industry.
I remember when L.E Miami in 2022 (my first trade show) was when I really realised I was affiliated with the right brand, purely from the response people would give when I’d say: “Hi, I’m Ash with SmartFlyer”.
Every major hotel luxury group will say that SmartFlyer is one of their top accounts globally, along with many smaller properties. This is powerful as an advisor.
And in turn, from the client side, the SmartFlyer name, and with me being one of the top advisors within this, ensures that they are always well looked after. That’s invaluable. I’m always in touch with teams before a client’s stay or experience; and I really feel that my partners go all out for me and really try to exceed expectations.
SmartFlyer is also just an incredible community of people, whether they are SmartFlyer advisors or behind the scenes people, or the people we work with. I think you simply can look at the recent SmartFlyer CORE event in London that I just attended, and the calibre of people that were brought together for this: the properties that hosted us, and the partners that worked with us. Everyone loves a Smartie!
How would you describe your clientele and what are they seeking from your services?
I really love my client base. My mix is super eclectic and quite international. I have everything from multi-gen families to young couples and these are based here in Australia (largely), Asia, Europe and the US. Whilst not all are HNW or making multiple luxury trips per year, they all share the same desire – a luxury experience. It keeps it very interesting for me working with such a variety of clients.
My clients seek my dedication, knowledge and work ethic. My clients know I travel extensively throughout the year and really, at the end of the day, for them. I’m seeing new places, seeing old favourites, attending the best luxury trade shows, seeing what’s changing, what’s coming up, etc. All this collective knowledge is then able to be passed on to them to enhance their travels.
My clients also know the relationships that I have with my partners and the value this can bring. They want a well-rounded expert, and that is what I’ve worked hard to develop, over time.
What are your top luxury travel trend predictions for 2024?
More travel. Always! I’m seeing clients travelling more times per year and often to exciting new places.
I think a few trends people are looking for would be slower travel, more experiential travel, and hitting some of those trips on their bucket lists. 2022 and 2023 were definitely revenge travel years, and I think the trend now is to start looking beyond what people rushed back to as soon as they could start travelling again. I have a booking in place for 2024 for every continent – people want to see the whole world, and they want to see it well. And I can’t wait to plan it with them!
For more information, visit sojournsof.me
*All images, courtesy of Ash Chin / Sojourns Of.
