Specialist Holidays Group (SHG) has seen a huge jump in sales through travel agents in recent months, with bookings via independent homeworkers up more than 100% year on year.
Head of Trade Partnerships Jorge Quibell told Indulge that trade sales are growing faster than SHG’s direct business, and the company is investing heavily in the trade to support existing agents, as well as to attract more new-to-brand and new-to-luxury agents.
In the past few months, SHG has grown its trade team, led by Jorge, who joined late last year from Classic Collection. It now consists of Trade Partnership Manager Kim Sellman, who also joined from Classic, Business Development Executive Dane Sheridan, a former TUI retail manager who was appointed in May, and Trade Partnerships Executive Maria Petkova.
“A bigger team means we can speak to more agents and we have looked at everything from our commercial arrangements to how we market to agents,” said Jorge, who was speaking to Indulge during an SHG-hosted fam trip to the exclusive Forte Village, one of the world’s leading luxury family resorts.
SHG’s calls centre has also extended its opening hours, till 8pm, and it’s now open seven days a week. It is also building a new trade booking portal to make it easier for agents to self-book ‘fly and flop’ packages for which they don’t need any advice, 24/7. This will be for all three brands: Sovereign, Citalia and American Holidays.
“We’ve overhauled our social media too, and we’re creating more personable, engaging content, as well as the ‘lift and shift’ offers that agents can share with their audience,” added Jorge.
“Everything is available to agents on our new agent hub, which sees about 3,000 downloads a month, and we’re going to keep adding to it.”
Following a 78% increase in trade bookings, agents now account for 28% of Sovereign’s total business, up from just 11% a year ago, and the average booking value through the trade is up 17%.
Agents account for around half of specialist Italy brand, Citalia’s business, while American Holidays’ trade bookings have increased from 15% of its total sales last year to 25-26%.
Around 120 agencies have booked with SHG this year for the first time since COVID.
To further support agents, SHG is this week launching a trade-only brochure for Sovereign, one of its three luxury brands, and it is also planning an agents’ loyalty scheme, to launch by the end of 2026.
It’s the first time in years that Sovereign has produced a brochure, and Jorge said it was in direct response to agent demand.
“They told us that if they had a physical brochure, they could sell more Sovereign, so we’ve got an initial print run of 10,000,” added Jorge.
SHG has put a strong focus on home-based agents, who now account for around a quarter of its trade bookings, hosting between four and six ‘Homeworker Huddles’ a month in different towns and cities.
How can you sell more ultra-luxury travel?
“Every agent has access to luxury clients, if you know where to look for them and agents who don’t know the luxury market can use the expertise of operators like us who really understand luxury to help guide them through the booking journey,” said Jorge.
He suggested agents keen to attract more luxury bookings should consider investing in a direct mail drop in their local area. “I honestly think that really works. Also, look for the local pockets of opportunity – your private schools, local businesses, go to your local golf club, where are these people booking their holidays?”
Jorge also suggested agents have a ‘refer a friend scheme’. “Everyone knows people with more money than them, so incentivise your customers to recommend you to their friends.
“Also, just thanking people for their custom goes a long way. We thank agents for every single booking, and they really appreciate that.”
What social media platform works well for ultra-luxury?
When it comes to social media, Jorge said agents should be on every platform, but he urged them not to simply post offers – and to always avoid selling on price.
“Luxury is about service, so promote your service and bring in your personal expertise by posting things such as your top five hotels with swim-up rooms, or why you use certain tour operators.
“It’s important to consider your tone of voice on social media and make sure it’s consistent but also relevant to all platforms.”
Don’t overlook LinkedIn, where agents can ‘tap up’ PAs and executive assistants to city types and high-net-worth individuals, he added.
“I don’t see many travel agents on LinkedIn, but that is the first place I would be. If a PA is booking their boss’s travel, they want to make sure they are being looked after, so I would be on LinkedIn talking about my service and what I can bring.
“Make sure you appear approachable, easy to work with.”
Jorge also urged agents not to assume that clients have a limited budget or won’t take a certain type of holiday. “Remember that what might seem expensive too you, won’t necessarily seem expensive to someone else.
“It’s not unusual for people to spend a week’s salary on a holiday and for wealthy people a week’s salary can be a considerable amount of money.
“In the luxury market, you should be selling on service, on quality and on value for money, not on price.”
