Winning a high-net-worth (HNW) client takes time, polish and patience. Keeping one takes something more. These travelers can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on travel, sometimes millions, and they expect a luxury travel advisor who knows their preferences by heart, stays ahead of the market and never makes them repeat themselves.
In many ways, wealthy clients view their travel advisor the way they view their wealth manager: as a long-term relationship that has to be earned and nurtured, one trip after another.
So how do the best in the business keep these clients coming back? We asked four luxury travel advisors for their insights.
Leigh Rowan, founder at Savanti Travel, an affiliate of Cadence, says that about 80 percent of his agency’s clients are ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) clients who spend on average six figures a year on travel. They comprise family offices, wealthy individuals and many venture capitalists and tech CEOs.
Rowan built this roster very carefully via word of mouth. “Once you do well for one, it's just sort of a domino effect and you inevitably will get their neighbor, their friend, their pickleball player friend, whoever it is,” he says.
“Maintenance of this clientele is hard; it’s very, very personal,” cautions Rowan. For this reason, his agency has a 30-person team to support clients. “We've had to build redundancy and layers of support to make sure that we can help these clients and make sure that they're staying with us for the long term,” says Rowan, who adds that many clients are on an annual retainer with Savanti Travel.
The agency also works to create the level of engagement for those clients who are not on a retainer. “We want to be sure they want to stay with us by providing them with so much value and so many great opportunities,” he says. All told, he says that the ultra-high-net-aworth space is growing so rapidly, there’s plenty of potential business for everyone.
“Some of these nouveau riche people are still booking on Booking.com and Hotels.com. It's wild,” says Rowan. “They're booking multi-thousand-dollar-a-night suites on an OTA!”
There Are No Shortcuts
Eric Hrubant, president of Cire Travel, an affiliate of Global Travel Collection, says that consistency is everything when it comes to maintaining ultra-high-net-worth clients.
“Luxury clients should not have to re-explain themselves every time they travel,” he tells TravelPulse. “We document preferences, anticipate needs, communicate clearly, and take ownership when something changes.”
Discretion is equally important, he adds. “We protect our clients’ privacy, respect their time, and avoid creating unnecessary noise.”
Hrubant says that these clients value honest judgment and that sometimes the best service is telling a client that the most expensive hotel, suite, or experience is not actually the right one for them.
Bottom line? There is no gimmick that creates loyalty, says Hrubant. “Clients remain loyal when they feel known, protected, and confident that their advisor will tell them the truth.”
Understand Their World
Anne Marie Brown, founding partner and travel advisor at Alpenglow Travel, established her network by being in the places her clients are. She sits on the boards of several nonprofits and a few educational institutions, and volunteers to chair charity galas.
She says that when it comes to retaining her affluent clients, it’s all about personal connections and making people feel seen. Because she herself is in the UHNW category, she is able to travel the way her clients do and can speak to them about family offices, boards, nonprofits, succession planning, as well as travel.
At the end of the day, it’s about letting her clients know that she is an authentic person, with the same values as theirs. “There are a lot of people who constantly ask UHNWI for connections or money, and they just want to know they are dealing with a real person who will respect their privacy and see them as people, not banks,” says Brown.
Keep It Simple and Real
Leslie Tillem of Eltee Travel, powered by Global Travel Collection, has just three words that describe how she retains her wealthy clients: “Service, service and honesty.”
“If a client is properly serviced and they trust you in terms of curating the perfect trip and being there for them when they need something or have an issue, you’ve gained their trust and there’s no substitute for that. Once you’ve built trust with a client it is much easier to maintain them and of course attract others,” says Tillem.
As for the honesty part of it, Tillem says she is frank with her clients about destinations, cost and value. “And, if I make a mistake, I own it. If the vendor does, I work to fix it. My job is to make sure it doesn’t become a client problem,” she tells TravelPulse.
For all four advisors, the formula comes down to the same thing: know the client, protect the client, and tell the client the truth.
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