Virtuoso Introduces Wanderlist

WHY IT RATES: The new Wanderlist travel planning experience is designed to help advisors build lasting consumer relationships. —Janeen Christoff, TravelPulse Senior Writer

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Global luxury travel network Virtuoso proudly announces Wanderlist, a groundbreaking consumer travel planning experience that marries technology with the human touch, encompassing a custom-designed platform and extensive advisor training. Through the curation of custom travel portfolios, Virtuoso Wanderlist is an industry game-changer that helps the network’s travel advisors strengthen their client relationships by mapping out future travels. Originally conceived as Virtuoso Orchestrator, the initiative was formally introduced to agency owners and managers at the 2019 U.S. & Canada Forum in Austin, TX, January 24-26.

Wanderlist allows advisors to manage their clients’ future travel proactively based on detailed input from clients themselves versus reactively planning one trip at a time. Building on the model of the financial advisor, Wanderlist offers a powerful combination of professional expertise and the latest technology. It encourages the client to have greater input into their future journeys, while positioning the advisor as a travel planning superstar.

“We did some exploration into the notion of bucket lists and found that 75 percent of people’s lists are made up of two things: places they want to go and experiences they want to have,” said Matthew D. Upchurch, Chairman and CEO of Virtuoso. “So, we set off to build a system that allowed advisors to create a better framework for their clients’ travel wish lists. If a bucket list is what people want to do before they die, a Wanderlist focuses them on how they want to live.”

Wanderlist will enable advisors and their clients – both individually and with travel companions such as family and friends – to collaborate on organizing their wish lists and planning their dream trips. The fun visual online process to create a personalized travel portfolio further enables advisors to become specialists in their clients, uncovering previously unknown aspirations and building a stronger human connection. And it allows clients to live in a state of anticipation knowing their life will now wrap around their travel schedule instead of trying to fit their trips into their life.

In Wanderlist’s first step, clients curate their travel interests in an immersive walk around the world, including destinations and trip styles, on their phone, tablet or computer. Next, clients enter a unique customized Netflix-style portal, where through videos, music, stories and other information they can explore more than 160 places and over 1,500 experiences tailored to their specific interests. Finally, the advisor will review results from the client and their travel companions, compare preferences and interests, and map out future possibilities and dates in a portfolio.

Wanderlist modernizes the workflow, too, by notifying the advisor to start planning the next trip to avoid issues with availability for the best lodging, tours and cruises. It will also apprise advisors of best travel dates by seasonality, value and personal schedules; and facilitate increased communication with clients, including quarterly check-ins to ensure goals are still aligned.

Agencies will benefit by being able to forecast their long-term business, capture incremental bookings for trips, lock in lifetime value and gain deeper insights into each client’s travel preferences, therefore optimizing their book of business. The long-range approach facilitated by Wanderlist will save clients time and budget by organizing their future travels instead of booking one trip at a time when availability is lowest and prices are highest, often resulting in as much as a 25 percent rate premium.

“Leisure time is our most valuable, non-renewable asset because once it’s gone, you can’t make it back,” said Upchurch. “To help travelers increase their Return on Life™, we created the industry’s first travel portfolio. Wanderlist, paired with the expertise of a Virtuoso advisor, will organize ideas into plans, and set plans into action, opening the world to clients and ultimately offering them peace of mind that their travel dreams will become a reality.”

After beta-testing the platform and process with select Virtuoso member agencies over the past year, Virtuoso is now accepting applications for Wanderlist participation from U.S. and Canadian advisors interested in adopting its unique business model. Advisors will complete a training to be certified in the platform before using it with clients, who will pay a fee set by each agency to participate.

SOURCE: Virtuoso press release.