Luxury Travel Collection was officially launched last night in Sydney, celebrating its foundation members. Karryon was in attendance to hear more about FCTG’s plans in the luxury space.
Luxury Travel Collection (LTC) gathered and welcomed its foundation members, trade partners and select media last night at an event at Sydney’s Sofitel Darling Harbour.
Luxury Travel Collection is part of Flight Centre Travel Group’s Luxury Leisure Travel Division that houses global luxury travel brands including Travel Associates and Scott Dunn, along with independent businesses and industry showcase event Luxperience.
The invite-only LTC member portfolio of independent luxury leisure travel specialists includes Home Travel Company’s Robyn and Murray Sinfield; Emma Whiting Travel & Cruise; Carole and Phil Smethurst of Bicton Travel and ClaremontTravel & Cruise; Destination HQ’s Stuart Ingram; Travel Experts’ Stephen Green; and Hilary and Holly Weir of Dream Maker Travel.
Danielle Galloway, FCTG’s Global Managing Director Luxury & Independent Brands, addressed the crowd, explaining the inspiration behind FCTG’s Luxury Leisure Travel Division.
“Our inspiration stemmed from the Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) House which, while they’ve got gorgeous handbags, they also have an incredible philosophy. They have 75 maison brands within them. We did a lot of research as a team and spent a lot of time working through basically all of their insights. What was really interesting about their success has been that they brought together distinctive brands, and they’re all different, they’ve all got their uniqueness – and they’ve all been an absolute powerhouse in the luxury space,” said Galloway.
“That led us into the inspiration of that for travel, really, and to become the luxury house of travel. You’ll continue to hear us referring to that as we look on our pathway, not just locally, but also globally. We will quickly expand the luxury house into New Zealand, the US and also Canada.
“Scroo (Turner) was very passionate about opening the world for those who want to see and he, well, he really struggles to still say the word ‘luxury’ – I’m not going to lie – but he’s saying it, so we’re very proud of him!”
“He would love to be here tonight, because he’s such a huge supporter…. he’s incredibly proud of what we’re doing in the independent space and the fact that we are actually opening the doors early on and bringing in other luxury leaders into the family and creating something that is not just led from the Flight Centre Travel Group or what we’re doing, but it’s actually led with the leaders that are in this room tonight.”
“Those leaders will continue this membership group will grow… you can only imagine what Nikki Glading has in stall. That growth pathway won’t just be from additional members – it will also be from additional acquisitions that we have in the pathway as well as a whole stack of other partnerships,” said Galloway.
Growth plans
Galloway spoke about the extensive research the FCTG team conducted to ensure their luxury offering was different in the marketplace.
She shared with the group some of the elements that are going to be core to FCTG’s investment and their plans to grow their luxury travel house.
- “The travellers’ end-to end experience – while they’re on trips, from the booking process all the way through to the end.”
- “The bespoke product gallery. It’s not just about having product connections, it’s having the flight product connections, and actually really building some bespoke product for our high net worth customers.”
- “Exceptional events are really important and key to our clients as well as our members. And you will all be aware that we are launching…a luxury consumer event on the Gold Coast, which follows our Sydney event. We’ll have all these wonderful members in the room and it’s a really great opportunity to really win that high net worth customer, whether you’re a partner or whether you’re a member of the luxury travel house.”
- “Loyalty: many of you will know that we’re doing a lot of work at the moment across the leisure, business loyalty, and we’ve got some really exciting things to share with you as we expand our business into a loyalty market…. that will be at the epicentre of what we’re doing in the luxury travel house.”
- “In addition, productivity and technology….we really want to ensure that we’ve got some really good investments and acquisition in the luxury space. Flight Centre now is well and truly on board with luxury.”
- “Finally, as I mentioned earlier, is luxury partnerships….there’s some really exciting things that you can do with partnerships and marketing – you see some highly successful brands doing some incredible things in partnerships. We really want to lead the way in that luxury space and to bring some really exciting things to the forefront that will really bring some wonderful high net worth customers into all of our community.”
Nikki Glading, the Luxury Travel Collection General Manager also spoke to the group, thanking all guests and partners, as well as the evening’s event sponsors, Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania Cruises.
For more information, visit luxurytravelcollection.co