Virtuoso Travel Week is an annual travel industry event held in Las Vegas. It’s been called “the Super Bowl of Luxury Travel,” and compared to Paris Fashion Week, but it showcases fashionable and exclusive travel experiences. Thousands of luxury travel advisors and executives from top hotels, resorts, cruise lines, airlines, tour companies, safari camps, ranches, private islands, etc. meet face-to-face in this “supernova” event to foster connections and knowledge.

Each August, a contingent of Covington’s luxury vacation advisors attend Virtuoso Travel Week to learn about luxury travel trends and make personal contacts with the best of the best travel providers so that they can provide our travelers with unparalleled travel experiences.

The Virtuoso Travel Week Experience

5,000 attendees, comprised of an almost equal number of professional luxury travel advisors and the top luxury travel suppliers from around the globe, gather together at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The result is a tremendous amount of discussion, networking, learning and sharing – not to mention tweeting, Instagramming, Facebooking and other social media posting!

Probably the most talked about and widely known feature of Travel Week is the 4-minute meeting agenda, or as we call it, “speed dating.” Travel Counselors man tables as the suppliers move from advisor to advisor for 4-minute meetings, totaling 92 sessions per table, per day. It’s just enough time for a quick introduction and an overview of products, services, and needs. The amount of information exchanged is mind-boggling and the number of important connections made is amazing.

It’s a such a pleasure and great opportunity to spend a few minutes with an owner of a magnificent boutique hotel and hear how the property has been in his or her family for generations. Watching their face beam with pride and excitement as they talk about their gem of a property is exhilarating and what Covington advisors learn from them is so beneficial to our clients. They not only gain a real knowledge of something very special, but they’re interacting with the actual owner, so they are instilled with complete confidence that our travelers will be looked after in a very special way.

In addition, for more in-depth conversation, Covington advisors can arrange a series of matched appointments with representatives from specific destinations or travel suppliers, based on their specific interests. These meetings allow us to “shop” just for you, with extremely personalized vacation planning in mind.

Of equal importance, are the networking sessions and panel discussions with industry leaders. The ability to sit in a meeting room with a hundred or so peers to interact with, question and advise the leaders of the world’s most prestigious travel suppliers is invaluable to all present. For example, in past panels, the presidents of all the premier cruise lines shared their plans, goals, and aspirations for their respective companies and sought our input to ensure they remain in touch with the marketplace.

Virtuoso Travel Week also includes a series of professional development sessions facilitated by experts in their fields, with offerings such as:

• An active and specialty tour operator expo (VAST)
• An expert panel on wellness travel
• Understanding sustainable tourism
• Destination specialist training from various tourism boards
• What millennial travelers want

With so much happening, Virtuoso Travel Week sets a very demanding pace, but it’s time very well spent, both personally and professionally, while bringing tremendous benefits and opportunities to our clients.

If you’re interested in tapping into this network of relationships and knowledge, click below to connect with Covington’s luxury vacation advisors.