The Goldman Group recently hosted its biennial conference in Melbourne, where Karryon Luxury sat down with Goldman family members to learn more about their high-touch business approach, the challenges facing the industry – and the enduring need for good travel advisors.
During a busy two-day conference for Goldman Travel Corporation, Travelcall, The Cruise Centre by Travelcall and Smartflyer Australia; as well as representatives from affiliate groups Virtuoso and Link Travel Group; and various supplier partners, Karryon Luxury sat down with Executive Chairman Tom Goldman OAM, and Joint Managing Directors David Goldman and Anthony Goldman to discuss the upcoming areas of focus for the group and how they cherish a family-like culture.
“The feedback that I’ve received during the conference from our team is that it’s wonderful to connect with our suppliers, and I think that the education process really underpins everything that we’re doing – there’s certainly a lot of change in the market,” said David Goldman.
Key areas of focus
“The tech space for us will be a continued focus and working with our technology partners to ensure we’ve got the best-of-the-best in terms of reporting, risk management, duty of care and sustainability. We want to make sure that we have all the products at hand that our corporate customers expect,” said David.
As the Goldman Group doesn’t develop its own technology but rather partners with technology companies and suppliers, David Goldman says that Goldman Group has become business consultants in a way, and that data and analytics plays a huge part.
In the leisure space, there’s a strong focus on cruising to move with the age of its clients.
“So we’ve got the boomers, the Gen Xers who are in their fifties and they’re all starting to cruise more. Those advisors that have had these clients now need to ramp it up when it comes to cruise,” said Anthony Goldman.
“We’re Virtuoso’s largest hotel and resorts partner agency in Australia, but how do we match that with cruise? So by appointing Elizabeth Clarke to the role of Director of Cruise last month….we’ve elevated her position because she’s one of the cruise icons. So we’ve got all her knowledge and experience to help train and inspire our advisors nationally. Then bringing in Anna Davies as our Director of Leisure who is helping us look at the advisor productivity and development plans – we’re investing in all of that,” said Anthony.
Challenges facing the industry
When it comes to the challenges that the Goldman Group sees, they say there is a need to train and recruit the next generation of travel advisors.
“You have to find like-minded advisors who like to talk to luxury travellers. We’re having good success in finding people in other careers or who have taken a career break – maybe they’ve got kids or family – and bringing them into the industry. We continue to look for people like that,” said Anthony.
Anthony also spoke about the dilution of the luxury brand.
“Another challenge in the market, as with other markets, is this whole cannibalisation of the word ‘luxury’. What’s happened is a lot of travel companies see ‘luxury’ as a marketing term. So they’ll say ‘we’ve got a luxury hotel or a luxury travel agency group or a luxury this or that’ – but they’re using that as a way to hook in the customer, but the product or the service offering is not a luxurious experience.
“Then what happens is that the client gets trained to think that is luxury, and then that forces the real luxury products to either increase prices or to come up with another solution. So it’s confusing the marketplace and we have to call that out,” said Anthony.
The Goldmans also pointed to remuneration as a challenge: getting paid by suppliers and with airlines cutting commissions, there has been a need to get more creative with planning and service fees and finding creative remuneration models.
David Goldman pointed to the fragmentation of the market and the need in the corporate space to provide additional services like sustainability reporting, tracking, locating and communicating with corporate customers in times of need.
“That’s why we created GoldConnect so we can provide a service, and we’re charging for it. It’s a subscription model for GoldConnect where clients pay annually…and at the moment, we are having a 100 per cent success rate for bringing customers on board. They’re happy to take it on because it is providing those services that are needed in their reporting to government on sustainability, because it’s information they can get quickly,” said David.
Executive Chairman of Goldman Group, Tom Goldman OAM, added that education was key to bringing in and attracting a younger generation of luxury travel advisors.
“The emerging market is the younger generation, and they want to have luxury. The best sellers for that are young people. And so to try and bring new people into the industry and to learn about the industry, is a key thing that needs to be done throughout the whole industry.
“I think education is very important to bring people in. We’re lucky one of my grandsons is looking at coming into travel and is doing a tourism course. And that’s a good thing to do….because otherwise they won’t be advisors, they will be order takers and the customer can read it in a brochure – so we’ve got to be one step ahead,” said Tom Goldman.
Loyalty in the ranks
During the conference, I spoke with several team members from all areas of the business who shared a common sentiment of loyalty towards the Goldman Group and the family. Some had been in the business for 10 or 20 more years.
David Goldman said that all Goldman Group staff are indeed like family.
“Our culture all ripples from the top with what Dad has created and that has trickled down through to us and what we do with our teams. We like them and they like us, it’s a win win – a friendship.
Anthony Goldman added: “We have people that join us from the big travel management companies and within two weeks, they’re coming to us saying, ‘I just can’t believe the difference’. Now, we don’t necessarily understand the difference because we haven’t worked for the big TMCs. They’ve got a place in that high volume, non personalised business. No problem… may they live, but we have a high touch business,” he said.
On maintaining the balance of being a third-generation family-owned business and an ever-growing entity, the Goldmans say there are real advantages to its flat management structure.
“We get in the weeds and if something’s not right, we can get to that and make decisions very quickly. There’s always a dotted line to us so it doesn’t take a long time to make meaningful change,” said David.
“We’re on the phone to hotels trying to sort out issues for our advisors. Now if you work for one of the big TMCs, you’re not having the owners of the business on the phone,” added Anthony.
Building a legacy: the last word to Tom Goldman OAM
During the conference, I learned from staff members that Tom is a regular in the Sydney office. Confirming this, he says he loves to have a purpose.
“I’ve said over the years that I don’t consider it a job – I think it’s a lifestyle. I love travel. I’ve grown up with it. I’ve got my family through it, so it never tires me to going into the office.
“I just like the whole environment of being in the office. It’s a way of life and it’s been like that for the last 60 years so I couldn’t imagine not being in there and I have no intention of retiring,” he said.
“The boys are running the business – I have no problem in saying that. I like to know what’s going on and if I can impart one thing a week to them, I’m happy. I still know and understand fares and I can find ways of doing things… so I can be a little bit creative and help the staff, and I feel that I can give support to what’s going on,” he said.
When asked which core value he and wife Di have instilled in their children to see the Goldman businesses continue to thrive and grow, Tom said it is the notion of other people coming first.
“They understand that the customer comes first. So for us, the customer is always right, or as far as they know. It’s very important to keep the customers happy and you also have to keep your staff happy. If the staff are happy, the customers will be happy too.
“We also enjoy being together as a family. I think what you may have noticed here is that the staff enjoy being together too. It’s an extension of that. We take family holidays together.. The first thing our staff do at this conference is go and hug each other. Those from interstate may not have seen each other for the last 12 months or two years. They’re like old buddies,” said Tom.
Having seen multiple changes in his six decades in the industry, Tom says the one thing that will never change “is the need for a good travel agent.”
“There’s a good saying: ‘without a travel agent, you’re on your own’. A travel agent gives value to what a customer is doing through travelling. We’ve had so many examples of that over the years with different events that take place, where customers need to call home, they need help, and the number of times that we’ve been called upon to help a client when they’re stuck…. it makes it worthwhile.
“I think that the biggest thing is that we can add value to a person’s travels. If we don’t do that, then we’re not succeeding in what we do,” said Tom Goldman OAM.
For more information, visit goldmangroup.com.au
Credit all images: Studio DuMor
