Aiming High

The daughter of industry pioneers, Angela Hughes’ passion for travel can be traced back to her youth when, at the early age of 14, her father invited her to work at their family-run travel agency. What started as basic office duties, like filing brochures, soon evolved into more significant responsibilities, like ticket delivery and booking charter flights. Then in 1994, the duo co-founded Trips & Ships Luxury Travel, a boutique travel company serving customized itineraries that are a departure from the norm.

Getting Started With Luxury Travel 

While Hughes is a leader in the luxury travel space today, she says that it wasn’t always that way. If you’re looking to make luxury your niche, Hughes recommends growing in the arena that you specialize in. “Ten years ago, I wasn’t so much in the luxury and premium space because you really need to be socializing with the types of people that you’re selling to and targeting them,” says Hughes. “When I was a younger mom and my kids were teenagers, a lot of my colleagues and acquaintances were doing all-inclusive and cruises and sun, sea and sand destinations. But, as people age, they have more money, and they evolve and become more of a target for a premium market.”

However, that doesn’t mean that younger travelers should be ignored. “I just traveled to Egypt and there were quite a few millennials,” says Hughes. “Millennial luxury travel is a trend that should be watched really closely. But, the thing that makes it tricky is that they don’t really know what a travel advisor is, they grew up booking their own travel so you need to educate them on what you can do as a service.” 

Customizing Your Sales Approach

Something to keep in mind about luxury travelers is that they aren’t your average Joe. “These people are busy, they’re doctors, they’re private equity advisors, they’re CEOs, they don’t have time to go back and forth,” says Hughes. “You need to vet your clients and really understand what they want because they don’t like to have many conversations after the initial meeting. So, you want to understand your customer and then you want to stay as low key as possible and get the job done for them.”

But don’t fret, even if you have clients who don’t have a big budget, they can still experience a taste of luxury. For Hughes, the secret lies in cross-selling and upselling. “I always tell other agents, if you want to make 10% more next year, upsell your clients one category,” says Hughes. “Upgrade them to an oceanfront versus a garden view, add on some day tours, add some experiences — make the trip more than just air, hotel and transfer.”

Trends to Watch

By now, we’ve all heard the term ‘revenge travel’ in some form or another and Hughes agrees that it’s making a huge splash, especially in the luxury market. “The luxury traveler is the first to rebound because, honestly, they have the discretionary income,” says Hughes. As for specific destinations, “I’ve been seeing a big increase in the African market for its open space and safaris. People want to be alone in places so we’re seeing a swing in the Maldives and a really heavy swing in Tahiti. We’re also starting to see an increase of people traveling back to Europe, I’m crossing my fingers that it continues.” 

What’s in Angela’s Carry-On?

Angela shares what she can’t travel without.

“I learned from a mistake … I think that everyone should carry compression socks. I put on about one million miles a year and traveling from Egypt to Costa Rica, just sitting for so long on a plane, I actually thought that I was going to develop a blood clot. I didn’t think I needed to worry about that, but now I’m that person bringing on compression socks.”

Water and packing cubes are two additional travel must-haves. “Packing cubes are always key so that you don’t overpack. I’ll try to do a 14-day trip in just a carry-on. We pack light, we move fast and we don’t drag a lot of stuff with us.”

Originally appeared in the summer 2022 issue of The Compass magazine.