Event Spotlight: Optimizing and Innovating Canadian Luxury at Virtuoso Forum Canada 2026

Luxury travel is evolving quickly, and Virtuoso is leading that transformation with Canada playing a pivotal role in its global expansion.

At Virtuoso’s Canada Forum in Calgary, Dan sat down with GM, Canada Karen Hardie, Senior VP Global Markets Michael Londregan, Senior VP Global Events Jennifer Campbell, Executive VP Strategic Communications David Kolner, and Chairman & CEO Matthew Upchurch to explore what is driving growth in luxury travel and why Canada has become central to Virtuoso’s international strategy.

Karen paints a compelling picture of the Canadian luxury traveler: understated, experience focused, and motivated by meaningful time with family and friends. The data supports the shift. Luxury experiences are now outpacing luxury goods, and Canada’s market is projected for significant growth through 2030. Under her leadership, Canada is not simply participating in Virtuoso’s success, it is helping shape it.

Michael expands on how Virtuoso scales globally while maintaining strong regional relevance. He explains that Canada serves as both a high performing market and a strategic proving ground. Best practices developed and refined here often influence expansion strategies in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and other emerging luxury markets. Canada’s maturity, advisor strength, and client profile make it a model within Virtuoso’s global network.

Jennifer highlights the power of Virtuoso’s event ecosystem, from regional forums like Canada’s to the flagship Virtuoso Travel Week at Bellagio. Carefully curated appointments, community building, and the Travel Tech Summit create year round momentum for advisors and partners. She also outlines how sustainability is becoming more deeply integrated into the organization’s largest gatherings, reinforcing Virtuoso’s leadership position in responsible luxury travel.

David brings forward the broader economic and behavioral trends. Travel and tourism are expected to outpace global economic growth over the next decade. Booking windows are extending as travelers compete for limited high end capacity. Advisors are increasingly adopting AI tools for research, proposals, and marketing, though there remains opportunity to further modernize CRM and operational systems. The data reinforces that professional guidance is more valuable than ever.

Matthew ties the strategy together with a clear philosophy: automate the predictable so advisors can humanize the exceptional. As Virtuoso continues to expand its global footprint, disciplined data, strong frameworks, and a focus on quality over quantity are defining its next chapter. Canada is central to that vision, not only as a growth market but as a leadership market within the network.

The throughline is clear. In a world saturated with information and choice, true luxury is trust, discernment, and meaningful connection. Virtuoso has positioned itself as the leader of luxury travel in Canada, and Canada is proving essential to Virtuoso’s continued global growth.

Learn more about Virtuoso, the leading global luxury travel network, at virtuoso.com.

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Transcript

Opening & Event Overview

SPEAKER_05 0:04

Just because something is simple doesn't mean it's easy. Like staying fit, like eating healthy, like whatever, because we're all humans.

SPEAKER_06 0:18

Hello everyone, and welcome to our live recording at the Virtuoso Forum here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I am thrilled to be here at the Virtuoso conference. I have a very special event spotlight that we're going to be bringing to you with conversations starting with Karen Hardy, who's the general manager for Virtuoso Canada, but you're also going to hear from Michael Londrigan, who is the senior vice president of global operations. The global team is all here. I've seen a number of them this morning. You're going to hear from Jennifer Campbell, who is the SVP of Global Events. We're also going to speak to David Kohlner. Both Jennifer and David are the big stars on the main stage at Virtuoso Travel Week every year. So I'm thrilled to have them on the podcast for the first time. And Michael, of course, who is someone that I've just gotten a chance to know, but is responsible for the global partnerships and is based out of Sydney, Australia. So he's going to give us a great international perspective. But David is also known as the real funny man on stage. So I'm keen to have him on the podcast. And then we're going to bring it home with none other than Matthew Upchurch, the chairman and CEO of Virtuoso, someone who has been a legend on this podcast, is a legend in the industry. I'm thrilled to be here with him as well in Calgary and to have a chance to re-record with him. As many of our listeners know, that was actually one of the most downloaded and popular episodes of all time. So I'm thrilled to have him back and have the privilege to be here. But let's, speaking of the privilege to be here, the next person and the first person I wanted to bring to the conversation is someone I've had the privilege to get to know over the years at the Travel Corporation. Karen Hardy is based in Vancouver, Canada now. She's got an Australian accent. She's lived in the US. She has a great global perspective, but she is a proud Canadian, much like myself. So she was the one that kindly brought me in to this event to give a keynote that I'll be doing tomorrow, and also to capture this in an event spotlight to be able to share with all the Virtuoso Canada members and for our global audience. So, Karen, on that note, welcome to Travel Trends. Thanks so much for joining us.

SPEAKER_03 2:20

What a great introduction, Dan. Thank you so much. Yeah, I'm super excited to be here.

SPEAKER_06 2:24

Yeah, it's great to see you again. It's great to see you in your element. I was obviously terrific last night to see your opening introduction. I really like that you did the land acknowledgement, something that actually is very important, especially in a place like Calgary. And as we look at Indigenous tourism and so anyway, there was a I really enjoyed the welcome last night, and obviously it was great to see you again. But tell all of our listeners about your role at Virtuoso and a little bit about your background.

Karen Hardie On Canada’s Luxury Market

SPEAKER_03 2:47

Thank you. Yeah, well, I am the general manager for Virtuoso in Canada. Uh, and that makes me one of nine global general managers uh that Virtuoso has around around the globe. And as you said, we you know, we report up into Michael Londrigan. And uh and so I think it's one of the things that makes Virtuoso really unique these days is that all of our regions um are led by a general manager. And and so what that means is uh as a matrix organization, we have six people in Canada that report up into the global matrix. So we have marketing leads, we have uh partnership leads, we have a couple of member relations uh leads, and um a global events lead. So all of these elements of Virtuoso that make us special and unique are represented here in Canada, and that that positions us really well to support our members here in the region as well as our partners.

SPEAKER_06 3:45

That's great. No, thanks for sharing that. And obviously, Canada is a big market for luxury travel, is something you highlighted on stage earlier today. And so Virtuoso's role in that is incredibly important, and I think both of us being Canadian understanding this market, it's exciting to have this conversation about luxury and ultra-luxury travel and where this industry is headed, and Virtuoso really leading in Canada with luxury travel. That's certainly been my understanding, and it was further validated uh for seeing some of the details you shared this morning. But let's let's talk about Calgary specifically and what brings us here because this is the Canada Forum. There are multiple events you run over the course of the year. You've kindly invited me to join for Toronto and Vancouver to events that are coming up after this. But tell us what brings us all to Calgary.

SPEAKER_03 4:28

Well, this is our main event for owners and managers of Virtuoso members in Canada. So this is our premier event. Uh and Calgary was chosen because it's it's such a great hub for tourism in Canada, right? It's got important history, it's got access to the Rockies, and you know, Calgary is one of Canada's most connected cities, great airport, uh, terrific gateways. So that is what makes this event special this year. We've got about 110 people between the Virtuoso Senior Leadership, um, including Matthew Webchurch, I heard you introduce at the beginning. We've got about 40 members from our network uh who represent over 1,300 travel advisors in Canada. And then meeting with all of them, we have 60 of our wonderful preferred partners. So it the intent of the event is really to combine insights with collaboration, uh, lots of networking opportunity, both formal and informal. Uh, and then of course, we have our Gala Awards celebration where we recognize uh Canadian members and partners for their achievements over the last year.

SPEAKER_06 5:39

Yeah, that's great. I'm looking forward to that. I mean, last night in The Welcome, it was great to see a lot of colleagues of mine that I've had the privilege to work with in the industry for many years, friends from Colette and from uh Intrepid, and you've had a number of the different uh adventure uh expedition companies, like uh Quark is here at uh Nat Geographic Lindblad, um uh even uh ProColumbia, the Tourism Board, I know they're doing uh a session as well tomorrow. I obviously I uh that'll be part of my presentation. And one of the things I just wanted to highlight too is that from my background, I'll be mentioning this on stage tomorrow. Uh, even though that I I've lived in the US and in Australia and I've had a global role for many years, Canada has been home and continues to be. And when I started my career in the travel industry, it was on corporate travel. I lived in Vancouver, where you're based, but I spent at least a week a month in Calgary meeting with the head of IT, who was my boss at the time. And so I have a specific affinity for Calgary in the travel industry because it's really where I got my start. So for me, seeing everyone here in Calgary, uh, especially at the Fairmont, which is a signature hotel, of course, of great Canadian legacy. So I'm thrilled to be here. And what I wanted to speak about next was actually the content and the focus of the agenda. So given that that is the audience that has come together for this event, and part of that, of course, is the global team that we'll be hearing from on this podcast episode. But tell us a little bit about the agenda that you've put together. What are some of the main themes and messages you're looking to spotlight to all the attendees that are joining?

Why Calgary And What’s On The Agenda

SPEAKER_03 7:08

Well, well, as you said in your uh intro there, you know, the focus is really for virtuoso um around the globe, but but particularly for this meeting, what luxury means for the Canadian traveler. And and so we really took an approach of, you know, let's kind of try and take this apart and and put some uh you know math to the poetry, if you like. So we, you know, working with both the Virtuoso Lux Report and Veronic's data, um, we really tried to demonstrate what was most important to Canadians. And and the big theme that came out, perhaps unsurprisingly, is that Canadians value experiences over things. Uh and the numbers that jump out for me were not just about, you know, why the memory is more important than the story about the biggest suite, but the exciting part is, you know, as we cast forward to 2030 and beyond, you know, the research indicates that the Canadian luxury travel market will grow by 48%, right? Or nearly double during that time, which isn't, you know, incremental change, that's structural change, right? That's that's something that's that's a big opportunity.

SPEAKER_06 8:25

Yeah, that's that's massive. Actually, um when you shared some of those stats earlier today, it really stood out to me. And I'm glad the global team is here to see that. And I'm gonna bring it up in my conversations with them because Canada is, I've always highlighted to many of my global colleagues, and when you compare it to the U.S. market, people see it as, oh, it's 10% of the population, but it's actually about 40% of the business out of North America comes from Canada, given we've had such a strong outbound uh audience here for travel with passport holders and a strong desire for international travel and many affluent travelers. Tell us a little bit more about the luxury travel landscape in Canada. Obviously, there's significant growth, but who are the customers for Virtuoso here in Canada? You talked about the high net worth, the you know, the top 10%, the top 1%. Um I heard a really interesting status too, which was that you know the average room night is about$2,000, which um is much more significant than what most people are able to justify. But there is this world of very affluent travelers that are taking really extraordinary trips, and that continues to grow. So tell us a little bit more about the Canadian market and the luxury landscape specifically.

SPEAKER_03 9:30

Yeah, I think when you look at at that market that you were talking about, right? The ultra-high net worth and and the high net worth uh individuals, um, you know, immediately most people tend to think of luxury goods, right? But but the interesting thing when you look at the data is that the forecasted growth uh in luxury experiences versus luxury goods, it's not that there isn't a demand for luxury goods amongst that cohort, there is, but the compelling message is that the demand for luxury experiences or travel experiences is more than double the expected growth in demand for luxury goods. Um, and so you know that that is again the message that we're trying to share. As you said, comparing with our southern neighbor, it's not that that's not a massive and important market, but that Canada really does need to be considered separately and distinctly for the opportunity that exists here.

SPEAKER_06 10:26

For sure. And clearly the travel agency owners here know that the travel advisors have these customers. One other thing that stood out to me last night was the number of partners that are here in Canada from the U.S. I mean, Project Expeditions, which is primarily based in New York. They've just now expanded to Canada. They did a talk last night. I was also speaking to the general manager for the Mandarin Oriental, who's based in San Francisco, but Canada is part of his market. He really wanted to be here because they're seeing such great growth in Canada. So tell us a little bit about that in particular, like how valuable the Canadian market is for those partners.

SPEAKER_03 11:00

Well, I think there are there are really three things that stand out. And and you know, you you would have heard me talk about this morning. But I I think for partners, um, as well as travelers, but for partners looking to work in Canada, you know, Canadians over-index on the use and intent to use a travel advisor. So the opportunity for our preferred partners in Canada is that Canadian travelers over-index on the the use and the intended use of travel advisors. Um, and that trend is just growing. So it's up 10% year over year, and the future intent is indicated at about another 8% up. Um, and what I love about that trend is everybody wins because through using a travel advisor, the traveler is going to have a better experience. Um, the partner is going to have a better match potentially of the traveler on their experience. And when you match those two things together, people come back and share those memories, and it just amplifies the interest in both working with a travel advisor and having these wonderful um travel experiences.

SPEAKER_06 12:12

And for me, too, when I talk about one of the big trends of 2026, this whole idea of transformative travel, which is a key part of my keynote tomorrow, when I look around and see the partners here, there's a strong correlation between the types of companies that are part of the network, the type of travel experiences. So that was really cool for me to see last night. But uh given that you are the GM of Canada and you've got a global background, and this is one of the things that you know thrills me when someone's decided to choose our country to live in and is so uh well connected and very involved in the Canadian market. You clearly look at the trends, you see the global trends, you have the benefit of the team members sharing what's happening in Virtuoso in all the other markets. But when we look at the specific trends in Canada, there were a few that you highlighted this morning, and I wanted all of our listeners, both uh those that are part of the Virtuoso network across Canada that didn't have a chance to attend, and our global travel trends audience that will find this really fascinating about the Canadian market. It was one of the reasons I was so keen to do this event spotlight together. What are some of the other trends that you're seeing in the Canadian market, whether it be traveler behavior, how they're working with travel advisors, or what the opportunities are that you're speaking about for uh for partners?

SPEAKER_03 13:21

Yeah, the the big trends that jumped out um over the last year or so is family travel. So that's both immediate and multi-generational travel. And and that to me was really interesting because it says that Canadians are designing their travel to share with family and friends. Like it's very intentionally designed as a shared experience. Uh, and and again, I think that that it speaks to the Canadian um nature and and and how Canadians like to share these experiences together. Um the other thing that that was really interesting to me, and and we talk about you know luxury being personal, and and so you know, what is luxury is is different to different people, unsurprisingly. Um but we're also seeing that that is a trend in sustainability. So sustainability is also personal. Um and and how that shows up when we look at the Virtuoso Lux report, we see that there is positive intent and action when it comes to making sustainable travel choices, but there is still a bit of a lag between the two. And so the role of the travel advisor, the opportunity for the travel advisor is to translate that traveler intent and their values into itineraries. And so this could be something as straightforward as choosing a shoulder season travel so that you know you're not landing in in peak season and having the impact uh locally that sometimes that can have, or it could be something more deliberate around aligning with protecting the planet or honoring cultures, you know, or or supporting local economies. And and so those behaviors are what a travel advisor can really help the traveler turn into action.

SPEAKER_06 15:19

One of the other highlights that you shared this morning that I really enjoyed, especially for our American friends joining us, was the fact that Canadians, the one things they they don't like about um is they're not performative. It's not about being showy, which tell tell everyone a little bit more about that, because I found that really not surprising, but actually very telling. It really is our, as you say, that's it's it's part of our culture.

Experiences Over Things: Data Insights

SPEAKER_03 15:40

Yeah, it's it's it's not about the biggest sweet, it's about the greatest story. Um, and and I, you know, I there are stats behind that, but but I think again, you're speaking to the Canadian disposition that is more humble, that that is about being more authentic um and intentional. I mean, the the other piece of that US um data that we shared this morning that that a lot of people also find interesting and and I think is worth noting from a luxury travel perspective is to be careful about the headlines. You know, we've all seen the headlines and and we know just from talking to friends and family that uh travel to the US is down. Uh I know when I was at the um ACTA conference at the end of last year, they were talking about, you know, travel to the US from Canada being down 30%. Uh the upside was that domestic travel was up by 30%. You know, those those are great stories and great headlines. When you dig into it a little bit, what we found was that um the behavior around travel into the US amongst the affluent and uh you know ultra-high net worth, you know, 200K plus 300K plus annual income, um, is in fact that that trend is is not materialized, that those travelers are not so much impacted by geopolitical events and that they are still traveling at least the same, if not more, than they were before. So I I think that was also an interesting finding.

SPEAKER_06 17:16

For sure. That was actually one of the biggest standouts from the data that you shared this morning. And I, but just before I comment on that, I just was looking at one of the photos that I took of your slides. And I was going to get the slides later, but I was enjoying it so much I was taking some photos, and the the line you specifically referred to about Canadians is that they reject excess that feels performative. And I I was like, absolutely, I can, and I um a good friend that I coached our baseball with, who runs a uh private equity firm who fits in that top 1% category, him and his wife and a few of their friends from their ski club went to uh France this summer and did the Orient Express from Paris to Venice. And when I saw him afterwards, I saw one picture that his wife had posted, and I commented when I saw him, I'm like, hey, did you guys do the Orient Express? He's like, Yeah, that was it was so incredible. We just were careful not to post about it. We didn't want, we didn't want people to see how what an incredible time we were having. So it was I was like So I'm looking at what you're sharing, I'm like, that that tracks from personal experience for people that I know that are just like, yeah, this is too indulgent to share.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

Right. It's the opposite of bragging rights, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 18:21

Yeah, exactly. And then the other thing, which you just pointed out, and I just wanted to underscore this for all of our listeners, because as global travelers, there's many reasons why people make the decisions that they do about travel. And uh one of the things that I am always a big advocate for with travel trends is the benefits of cultural exchange from meeting people and always being open to travel and exploring and connecting, and obviously, there's a lot of many more things that unite Canadians and Americans. Um uh and I still travel to the U.S. and I found that really interesting. And the person I'm referring to here also, when I see him, he's skiing in Colorado, he's at the Green Bay Packers football game, like his travel to the U.S. clearly has not changed. And so some of these affluent travelers who also have business interests in the U.S., one of the things that stood out to me was the fact that we keep hearing that travel to the U.S. is down, and it is very substantially from Canada to the US for border crossings by uh by car and by air and year over year. So there, you know, there's significant downturn overall in travel numbers, but I that's why I found it so fascinating to see that amongst the uh affluent top 1%, it's either flat or up. That was not what I expected to see. So I found that really interesting. And that's important for travel advisors to know, it's important for the wider Canadian travel community to understand that that is still a destination that people are traveling to in that category. So yeah, it that was really, really fascinating.

SPEAKER_03 19:47

Yeah, and and and I echoing what you're saying there, I I think it my my advice to my team uh and and to anybody else working in this space is is that you know, be careful about the headlines, you know, always click down to the next level, um, read what you can about what it's releasing. Because if it's the assumptions that we make that are limiting our ability to grow in some of these cases, right? So if you were to say, oh, you know, people are not in Canadians are not interested in traveling to the US as a headline or less interested perhaps as a headline, um, you know, we uh the the data shows something different. So so don't don't necessarily just assume that that's gonna be the case.

SPEAKER_06 20:39

Definitely. And speaking of that takeaway, obviously that was a really fascinating one for me to absorb this morning because it's the first time I've heard something contrary to what you're seeing in the media. But let's talk about some of those big takeaways and ultimately the impact you want to have with this conference year. So given you and the team, uh Ryan and company have put a lot of time and effort into bringing this event together, uh, tell us a little bit about what you want attendees to leave the event with. What do you hope that they they walk away with at the end of the day tomorrow? Um, and if there's kind of one or two ideas that you really want to stick, given that you've put this content together, what are those?

Advisors’ Value And Transformative Travel

SPEAKER_03 21:16

Yeah, well, mostly I hope attendees, all of our attendees, leave inspired and energized by the opportunity for growth for luxury travel in Canada. You know, for for everyone to take what is essentially, you know, at least three days out of their working week to participate in a in an event like this. You know, you you really hope that that the content that you've designed, uh the speakers that you bring brought together, you know, give your attendees something that that is really valuable and that they can put to put to work in their business when they leave. So, you know, we shaped the content today, as you said. You know, we really tried to paint a picture of opportunity with data and insights, really the what. And the so what about luxury travel in Canada. And then what you'll find tomorrow, and that's why we're looking forward to hearing from you tomorrow, our day two content is really more focused on now what? You know, looking at the emerging trends and platforms to support their business growth. Um so then if I, you know, if I was to pick just two things, which is hard out of two full days of content, you know, I really hope the key message is, and it's not a new one, but I I can't say it often enough, right? Is be disciplined in the collection and categorization of data. Like data is the new gold. Invest in platforms that you and your team will use consistently. Like that's it's it's almost like exercise, right? Like which exercise should I pick? Like, pick the one you're actually going to do, right? And say the same thing is true with data and and platforms to collect and leverage data, right? Is like pick one that you and your team feel comfortable with and that you'll use consistently and then leverage that investment in not just the technology, but the time that it takes to optimize that. Um, and and if you're able to do that, you will really amplify customer intimacy because it is no longer going to be good enough to have information stored in your head or in a file, in a drawer, or on, you know, god forbid, on a hard drive. Like it really is virtually useless unless you can, you know, digitally access it. So that is the number one golden rule for me. Um, and then the second piece is really about being intentional in your business focus. Right? Think about who you want to be your customer base and what business you want to be in. You know, for virtuoso travel advisors, you know, they choose to join the network because they want to be associated with the strength of the virtuoso brand, they want to have access to the marketing that drives qualified leads, um, and they want to have access to the benefits that the membership delivers by way of enhanced amenities and experiences. Um, but all of that is very intentional. And so I think, you know, in this modern world of you know, access to all information and and so many different options, you know, I think the the successful tr luxury travel advisor will be very intentional and very focused in the approach to their business.

SPEAKER_06 24:34

Yeah, it's great. I know there's a number of sessions I'm looking forward to tomorrow. And I know you're gonna be back on stage a couple of times, and some of the guests that we're gonna have coming up on this episode are gonna be speaking over the course of today and tomorrow. So we'll be sharing more. The one thing that actually stood out to me as you said that, that I can look to do is actually do a blog post about with some of the big takeaways because I've put together, as you know, uh in working closely with your team, a really customized presentation to give a keynote tomorrow that I'm really looking forward to because I'm gonna speak extensively about technology and marketing. And technology, I'm gonna speak about agentic AI because it is such an important topic for everyone to understand what impact it's actually really going to have. And then I'm also gonna talk about marketing and specifically this year of transformative travel. So I've put together that I'm very excited to share is a very specific presentation for Virtuoso. But what I'll look to do is share some of the highlights for our wider audience that are listening to this. I'll put it together in a blog post and maybe I can take some of the other presentation details as well, just to highlight what has transpired here over the course of the event. And so I'm just saying that to all of our listeners so that you can benefit from, especially people within the Virtuoso network. If you uh want any of these presentations, I'm sure if you reach out to Karen or Ryan or any of the team members that any presentations you need, um, and certainly the one that I'm gonna give tomorrow, I'll certainly make that available because I I have Karen put in a list of additional resources that I want to be helpful to the audience to be able to take things away. I always find it frustrating when you get excited about something and then you're trying to figure out well, what are the next steps? So I've literally tried to put in eight recommendations of things. There's three recommendations, but there's a resource of eight different things that I want people to look at afterwards and figure out how they take these and apply them to their business. So I'll I'll make sure that's part of the takeaway and impact from the session. But one other thing I want to talk about while we have you here leading Canada is the Virtuoso network. And for those, I know it's an invite-only network, but there's many people that are likely listening to this that are not currently part of Virtuoso. And I just wanted to make sure we spoke to them as well because some of them might be interested in becoming a Virtuoso advisor, working with an agency that is a Virtuoso partner. So for any of those, or even for travelers too, of course, that might be tuning in and saying, hey, I want to book a trip through a Virtuoso travel advisor. Um, tell us for the wider audience a bit more about the virtual network in Canada. How can they get involved?

SPEAKER_03 27:00

Okay. So so yeah, so Virtuoso has existed for 40 years, leading luxury travel. Uh, as you said, it is an invitation-only global network of over 20,000 members uh and more than 2,300 partners worldwide. Uh so it really has has grown uh over those 40 years. And the benefit of being a member, uh, whether whether you're a travel advisor or or a partner, uh, is is really that the focus on luxury is intentional. And you know, as we know, luxury is an overused word. I really see this translated into action by virtuoso travel advisors because they choose this as a profession. It's not a hobby, it's not a side hustle. Um, you know, I started in this industry as a frontline virtuoso travel advisor. My family owned a virtuoso travel agency in Australia. I see the same attributes today that I did, should I say, 30 30 years ago. And that is uh a passionate commitment to education, right, which enables the best possible advice and insight. And and the thing to remember that is is whether a traveler is spending$10,000 or$100,000, their time is actually their most valuable asset. And so what a virtuoso traveler geyser does is work to ensure that that precious asset really is leveraged to make the most of the the experience and the collection of memories that that that that traveler will have and share with their family for years to come. Uh and that that's really what we're aspiring to do. So for people who want to work with the network or want to join the network, you know, that that is the framework uh that you would be inviting, we would be inviting you into.

SPEAKER_06 29:04

Oh, that's great. I didn't realize that about your family. I mean, you and I have worked together before. I didn't realize that obviously I knew your Australia connection, but I didn't know the virtuoso connection with your family. That's uh that's a really cool connection. Obviously, then you know you've known this organization for that length of time and to be leading it in Canada. That's uh that's really special.

SPEAKER_03 29:22

Yeah, I come by I come by it honestly. My my dad was an airline executive, so you know, where where do you go from there?

SPEAKER_02 29:30

Yeah, you you start a travel agency, that's what you do.

SPEAKER_06 29:35

You're so yeah, I'm on a now my son's on a journey to become a pilot. It's amazing how the impacts we have when you work in the travel industry.

SPEAKER_02 29:41

There you go. Yeah, it's it's a hard addiction to give up.

SPEAKER_06 29:44

For sure. Well, um, it's such a pleasure to see you again. I can't thank you enough for inviting me to be here. It's a thrill to see the team again and many of my colleagues. And I just wanted to thank you, Ryan, and the the Virtuoso Canada team for inviting me to not only record this event spotlight, but to my keynote tomorrow that I'm really, really looking forward to, and then carrying on to Toronto and Vancouver for those of you that are listening to this that are keen to join us. Um, but I'll cover more details about that at the end. But Karen, good luck with the rest of the event, and thanks again for making this all possible.

SPEAKER_03 30:15

Thank you so much, Dan. Thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_06 30:19

Thanks again to Karen for joining us for this special spotlight episode. I now have the privilege to sit down with Michael Laundrigan, who's traveled all the way from Sydney, Australia, to be here. He is the SVP of Global Markets, but he's been with Virtuoso for many years. We have many wonderful colleagues in common, but we've not met before. So, Michael, it's a real pleasure to meet you. Wonderful to meet you. Absolutely. And we'd had a little chat earlier today and about the fact we're going to be recording. And uh Michael obviously lives in one of the most amazing places in the world. I love Australia. We're here, obviously, to focus on Canada, where I'm based and where Karen is based, and all the amazing things about this market. But tell us a little bit about your role and then what brings you to the Virtuoso Canada Forum here in Calgary.

Canadian Traits: Humility And Non-Performative Luxury

SPEAKER_00 31:03

Right. Well, I I thank you. We appreciate you saying that about Sydney. We're very proud Australians and do love it. This is also an amazing place. I I can't believe I can come to Canada so far away from where I live and feel at home. And it's the people here are just incredible. Uh, my role, I really started at Virtuoso uh about 12 years ago, and I was had relocated from the US back to Australia and saw the business in Australia. We had a small business in Australia. It was a joint venture, and I called Matthew and said, I think we can do more with this business. And we set up the structure that you now see in nine markets around the world, uh, where we have a general manager in the market. We run it um very much with uh regional expertise, regional teams, and that's what brought me uh into my role now looking after the nine GMs around the world, and I'm here to uh to help our GM in Canada, Karen, to uh execute her event.

SPEAKER_06 32:03

Fantastic. And obviously, one of the good friends we have in common is Fiona Dalton, who has been on our podcast, so our listeners are familiar with her. She ran Virtual Australia for a number of years, worked directly with you, and obviously you guys are great friends, and I think this is one of the wonderful things about our industry. You know, we've talked already today about human connection and the power of it, but certainly when you meet someone that you instantly have uh an affinity for and you realize you've got all these common friends in common, it's like, well, that's why. Like clearly you're gonna get along. And so, yeah, I'm I'm thrilled to finally meet you. But tell us a little bit more about uh the Canadian market from your point of view and what brings you here. Clearly, now, and I saw on the graph earlier, as you mentioned, that you know your role uh is now important to the group because there's now a GM for the US, because people may have looked at Virtuoso before that the global team was the US team, but now there's a GM for the US market, and then you're working with all of these GMs. So tell us a little bit, Web Guess what's special and important about being here in Canada in that role.

SPEAKER_00 33:00

Yeah, I think that um a lot of companies say they're gonna go global, and they say we're gonna go global now. And sometimes that means what we're gonna do is we're gonna try and distribute the product we currently make around the world. And so that is part of almost the virtuoso journey. You know, when we first started, we thought, okay, well, we've got a great idea in the USA, we've got a great program, what we'll do is export access to that program around the world. And now what we do is say, okay, it's a better idea than that. What could we do about taking our philosophy to different markets? Because obviously the way that that would work in a market that's not as developed or in a different stage of development is going to be different than the way it works after 30 years in in the USA. And so what's interesting is watching what we like to say, it's globally consistent, our values, our standards, and what's regionally relevant, what part of this is gonna land in the market that we're in.

SPEAKER_06 33:57

Yeah, and then that regional relevancy. When I was doing any work in the Australian market, I was always told the same thing when I would come across from you know, I'm Canadian living in the US, but also I've lived in England. And whenever I go to Australia, I get the same response. It's not gonna work in Australia. This is a different market, and I'm sure you see that with every market, and there's sometimes truth to that, sometimes you get you know pushback inside organizations, and I get that as well. Um, because and it is the case that you can't just transfer some ideas. So you need to make sure you have those strong values as a global organization, but that you are regionally relevant. I just wanted to underline that because I certainly, from my experience, that is incredibly important to be successful in each of those markets. And we just heard from Karen about how much nuance there is to the Canadian market. But let's let's stay on the global overall plans for Virtuoso for a moment because I think that'll be interesting for all of our global listeners. Tell us um the plans for growth globally. You mentioned you've got nine GMs. Uh tell us a little bit more about the global position of Virtuoso today and your ambitions for growth over the next few years.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

Well, I think that um this idea that that the Matthew had when he first set up Virtuoso was there's a segment of our industry that really needs to champion uh have a champion positioning. The best travel advisors, the best travel experiences. This is a good idea, but it's a global idea. It's not a USI idea, it's an idea that can be in any market where we've got great advisors, great travelers who are seeking great experiences. And so we can put a footprint in and get those people into our community anywhere we find those those uh natural assets. And so we've just taken our uh we had an Asia program, and at a certain scale, once you get big enough in Asia, you can start to say, well, hang on, maybe it's worth breaking China off. And China now can have a discrete thing just about China, and then we'll look at Southeast Asia. What about Latin America? Is Latin America is it time for Brazil to have its own um ecosystem? Is it time for Mexico? So what happens with our expansion is we go into a market, we treat it a bit like a macro market, often multiple countries, and then what we do is when we get to a certain scale and knowledge base, we can then re-divide it out.

SPEAKER_06 36:15

Yeah, well that and that that's where you having lived in the US and understanding different markets, being from Australia, but uh uh the one thing I'm keen to ask for your perspective, because I love the global nature of our business, and it's one of the things that I've always enjoyed about having a global executive role is you do get to have involvement in different regions and understand the nuances. And one of the things obviously that needs to be in place for you to be successful, there has to be some key factors that I'm sure Virtuoso looks for uh to ensure that they're gonna have long-term success in any market for the advisors and for the partners and for travelers. So when you're thinking about entering a new market, and I like that you describe them as like macro markets, they might be multiple countries, it could be a geographical region. What are some of the things you're looking for?

SPEAKER_00 36:55

Yeah, that's a great question. Uh we get asked that a lot, especially by countries that would like us to have a presence here. You need to have um luxury travelers. So the market has to actually have a base of people who actually buy luxury product and are luxury travelers. Then you need enough of an industry infrastructure to have travel agencies that actually have advisors that have specialized in that. Because without that, it's too early. And then you have to have partners who really are trying to get business out of that source market. And if you get those three things, you've got some luxury travelers, you've got some luxury advisors, and you've got partners who really want to see that grow. Virtuoso can add value there.

SPEAKER_06 37:33

And what are some of those other growing markets around the world? Because I want to come back to Canada again in a moment. And obviously, our listeners just heard some really fascinating stats on the size of the luxury market in Canada and the growth trajectory that we're on, which is very compelling. But clearly you're having growth in many other markets as well. What are some of the other standout regions that would be interesting, relevant for our listeners?

SPEAKER_00 37:52

Well, uh, obviously, on a rocket uh trajectory is Southeast Asia. Um, it will be the fifth largest economy in the world by 2030. Uh, we are we are really working hard there. We're getting incredible uh member growth there. Every time we go in and you've got from um Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, that whole area is on a uh on a tear in terms of its market share. Uh insatiable appetite to for for us to get involved with them. Um they can really uh get a lot of value out of the expertise from the other markets. They can just learn so much from our established markets.

SPEAKER_06 38:34

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 38:35

It's terrific.

SPEAKER_06 38:36

Yeah, and then um with Canada though, to bring us back to where we are today, given that you have that global view, what are some of the things that you see that is unique about the Canadian market and specifically where Canada fits into what essentially is the global ecosystem of Virtuoso?

SPEAKER_00 38:53

Well, Canada, Canada for us is uh is one of our really successful and established markets. We've got uh a very strong infrastructure up here. So one of our largest regional teams is in Canada. We have marketing people here, events people here, membership servicing people here, partnership people here. So we've got a very good footprint here, and what that does is it allows them to develop best practice for the other emerging parts of the world. So we look at our Canada business as a great place to trial new events, new marketing campaigns, new products, because that market is such a well-traveled market, such a strong market that it's a great place to road test um new concepts.

Takeaways: Data Discipline And Focus

SPEAKER_06 39:35

Yeah, that's interesting. And then on the flip side of that, if you're having great success in Southeast Asia and talking about it's gonna be the world's largest economy in the next five years, the what are the benefits with Canadian virtuoso members as you expand internationally?

SPEAKER_00 39:49

Well, I think I think what's great about having a network around the whole globe is there's advisors in this market that do focus on outbound travel, people leaving Canada, right? But they're also very passionate. Um, you look at Samuel, our member here in Calgary, and he's told me 25 times what I can do in Calgary and where I should eat and where I should go. He's a passionate person from Calgary who spends his time sending people away from Calgary. Well, that's if you if you join all of that network up, how phenomenal is it for Samuel to be able to talk to an advisor in Auckland about hey, I'm sending my clients down to Auckland and they're equally they're as proud about Auckland as he is about Calgary. And we've got members in in uh in Singapore as proud about Singapore as he is of Calgary. And that network of um just cross-referencing expertise is incredible. Being a global network, we get to use that um to make sure clients actually have a better experience.

SPEAKER_06 40:52

Yeah, I know it's interesting. They uh clearly we're social creatures, and even you know, one of the big appeals for people traveling internationally on trips is to travel with people from other countries. They don't want to just go on a trip with other people from Calgary. But it's this interesting, you know, there's a source market and a destination market, and then destination, you want to experience people from around the world, but also you want to experience the local culture. So you want to meet if you're coming inbound to Calgary, you want to meet that guy from Calgary that loves Calgary, that grew up here, and that you know understands the stampede and the historical significance to the city, and and so and but and you find that, and obviously both of us clearly delight in that in our travel experiences, which is why I think you know it's just written on our DNA. This is something that and uh and especially for those of us who work in this industry, I think we both just light up when we're having these conversations because you start thinking about the human impact and these relationships you have. But so tell us I'm also keen, um, given the global view that you have, with some of the initiatives you have underway to continue to scale Virtuoso on a global basis. I know one of the things that Matthew highlighted today was this kind of reset, um, which is clearly an important part of the journey with uh the framework that you guys have worked on that everyone has now kind of bought into and understands. Tell us if you wouldn't mind a little bit about that, uh, because obviously that's key to unlocking international and global growth.

SPEAKER_00 42:14

Yeah, I think the uh look, we're on a journey, and uh I think Matthew really clearly says all the time when he's around the world that we're at different stages of development in different parts of the world and we're learning different things. But one of the things that really is important is there's a lot of businesses in each market that are very similar to each other, not the mark not similar to other agencies in their market. And so one of the ways you can segment the businesses geographically and say, okay, these are all the Canadian agencies, these are all the UK agencies, but you could also look at the business models, and there's a lot to learn from people who have a small boutique agency in Canada from a small boutique agency in the UK, and so one of the things that we're really looking at is how can we reclassify geography is one way for sure, but also business model types is another way that we can we can look at our our member base and get them to add value and share best practice across their business model. Another platform that we're using is making sure that the partner portfolio is regionalized to the to the market, and so the partners we work with, it's it's quite common for um for for members in different countries to really prefer different ho even different luxury hotels in different parts of the world. The US might have a propensity to go to one location and then other parts of the world pick a different hotel group for different reasons. So we're doing a lot of work now on on retailering our preferred partners for the market specifically.

SPEAKER_06 43:50

Interesting, and then one of the other things that Virtuoso is known for is you know, especially Virtuoso Travel Week, which is considered the fashion week of travel, and really there's this speed day. That happens that's part of the magic of being part of Virtuoso, where you pair together travel advisors and the suppliers and the partner network. And the partner network is actually what I'm keen to ask you about because one of the things that's already stood out to me, Michael, about being here in Calgary at the opening evening was the number of suppliers or partners that have come here from other markets. I was spoken to a gentleman last night from Mandarin Oriental who's based in San Francisco, but he actually represents Mandarin Oriental globally and he sees Canada as a huge growth market. And so when you have partners that are part of the Virtuoso network, they obviously then have the benefit of being able to tap into all of these international markets you're active in. So tell us a little bit more from a partner point of view how that works, especially because I heard last night one of the partners talking about the fact we've just opened in Canada. That's why they're here. So yeah, tell us about how the partner side works.

SPEAKER_00 44:50

That's a that's a great question because the truth is the minute you talk to your financial advisor, they would tell you, I'm going to reduce your risk by diversifying your portfolio. And we in the travel industry, we are dramatically impacted by global geopolitics and each have a single reliance on one source market. The way they can reduce their risk is by having multiple markets supporting their product. And so by joining the Virtuoso network, what you're seeing is someone who traditionally got all of their business from uh the the US saying, Well, that's great. I'm I'm happy with the business I get from the US, but if there's a hiccup there, I c if if they get a sneeze, I get a cold. It wouldn't it be great if I could actually diversify and find similar clients with similar client needs in Europe, in Asia, in Canada, in uh in Australia, because if I could diversify my portfolio, I'm a little bit more protected when different things happen around the world.

SPEAKER_06 45:49

Now you clearly get a chance to network with a lot of these, well, the senior leadership team that people will be hearing about. Obviously, you're part of that, and so you're traveling to these other events. What are some of the things that you're hoping to get out of the time here in Canada, given that you know many of the people listening to this who are didn't have the privilege to be here for the event and are intrigued to know what some of the benefits of were of of being a part of this event. Um generally curious what some of the takeaways you're hoping to leave this event with and how you're gonna kind of view the American how you're gonna view the Canadian market. Very important. How you're gonna view the Canadian market in 2026 and beyond.

Michael Londregan’s Global View

SPEAKER_00 46:26

Yeah, this event, uh owner manager event, is uh is a crazy series of events. So we we do this event in the USA and then we we do it in Canada, and then we go down to Latin America, and then we go to Asia, and then we go to Australia, and then we go to Europe, and we run this event. But this event is really about getting um our members in that market on the same page strategically. And the big thing, the big outtake, I think, if people leave this event is we're excited about the future. There's incredible growth opportunities, so I want them to be excited about the future. There's a few things that scare us, and they are a little bit, you know, what are we gonna do when this happens and and and what's happening here, but with this real feeling that it'll be okay if we hold hands and work together. And this is the the the best agencies in the market, the best suppliers in the market, uh, and if anyone's gonna be able to overcome the challenges and thrive in a changing environment, it's gonna be us holding hands doing it together.

SPEAKER_06 47:24

Yeah, for sure. I think and given that there's obviously gonna be a global audience for this episode, even though you know we're focusing on the Canadian market and the virtual whistle conference here, I I always find it I I love listening in on other conversations, and as I've one of the inspirations, of course, for the Travel Trends Podcast is to know what's happening in all these global markets. For someone that's listening into this, either on the partner side or even on the potential member side, and I was asking Karen about this because I know it's invite only, but clearly part of your growth is welcoming in new partners and obviously growing the number of advisors and doing it in the right way. Tell us how they can connect with you specifically or how on a how the international side of the business works, because Karen obviously highlighted the need to contact her if you're entering the Canadian market. You've got nine GMs, including Karen, working closely with you. So I'm assuming the ultimately the answer is you're gonna have to reach out to each of them, but give everyone a bit better understanding of how that all works.

SPEAKER_00 48:18

Yeah, so uh we we do have nine market experts, and there's there's two ways uh to there's two doors, two front doors to the Virtuoso network. The first one is via the market where you talk to the GM, but the other one might be via your uh specific, if you're a cruise line, um Corey Hegopian looks after all of the partnership area, and so that's another way. So you can come in through the product stream, or you can come in through the member stream, or you can come in through the market stream. So there are there's three invitational doors to Virtuoso. Um it doesn't matter which one you come in, you've got to go through the same process of do you meet our standards, so we are we aligned strategically. Um it doesn't matter which one you go in, so long as you stay in and and enjoy your time there.

SPEAKER_06 49:05

Yeah. Well, the other thing I want to ask you since you mentioned about the things that scare you and the things that excite you, and Matthew did a great job of framing that today because that's where the innovation happens. And I'm keen to know where you think the innovation, what is most exciting to you? Obviously, there's lots of things out there that scare us, the geopolitics, the changes with technology. And so there's lots of things out there to be concerned about, but ultimately we're in this industry because we are eternal optimists, and there's lots of reasons to be optimistic. What are you most optimistic about and what again what genuinely excites you about Virtuoso and the plans for 2026?

SPEAKER_00 49:39

Well, I do think there's a lot of talk about technology and about information and information flow. And sometimes that can seem scary, but the the the cold hard reality is when I started in the tourism industry, we used to have to take clients who didn't know very much at all about where they were going and give them enough knowledge to be comfortable enough to make a decision. They had to get into that confidence zone. I think that all this new technology has got them in the other speed. I think we used to have to take you from zero to 50 miles an hour or 50 kilometers an hour, and now we need to take you from 150 kilometers an hour back down into your comfort zone where you've got so much information, you're overwhelmed, and you need a trusted partner to say, okay, look, that's all great information. This is what's relevant. And so the role of the advisor is actually to slow you down now in a trusting way to get you confident enough to make a decision rather than to smart you up. I've actually got to rationalize you down a little bit. So I'm not that intimidated by the overwhelming nature of information. I think it's great. Uh, and the other thing that is very exciting is just this thought about how what's happening in the in the capacity to do translation. I was recently in uh in in Shanghai and I went for a walk on my own. I walked into a shop, uh, I asked a lady who speaks no English and I speak no Mandarin via my phone what I was looking for. She we had a whole conversation. How incredible is it that technology is gonna allow us to travel the world and engage with anyone at a local level about anything, and it's it's getting better and better. There's now the sunglasses you can wear that do all that for you. So there's more and more reason. Technology is gonna make it easier to have authentic experiences all around the world.

SPEAKER_06 51:20

Yeah, I totally agree with you. I recently bought the Meta Ray-Ban glasses when I was in New York. I was using them over the weekend for the first time and just amazed at the video quality and the photos that I was able to take, and the fact I didn't need to take my phone out of my pocket. I just said, Meta, take photo. And I also got the new AirPod Pro 3s for translation services for exactly the reason you described. I was in Chile a few months ago and I was speaking to an Uber driver using the Google Translate app. And the conversation we were having was so much more natural through a device like that, as opposed to both of us using broken English to try and understand each other. The driver could be so much more expressive. He was telling me stories, we were laughing, and we we ended up seeing each other like over the course of the next three days. I kept getting the same Uber driver, and I'd bring up my Google Translate, and I thought, why don't I just have headphones that do this?

SPEAKER_00 52:08

How incredible, how incredible is it that we're gonna have the facility to do that and we didn't have it two years ago. Um what's what's it gonna be like in two years' time? So yeah, uh, I think that's really fun.

SPEAKER_06 52:20

That's great, Michael. And uh just to finish off, clearly you love traveling. That's something that stood out to me from the moment we met. And you know, you um not only living in the US, but I know you're heading to Palm Springs after this. You're and then when you talk about travel, you know, you talk about the crazy schedule, but you talk about it in like you're obviously excited about it, you're looking forward to going to these places, but on a personal level, where are you planning to spend some time next? What's the next big destination for you? Where's your next holiday getaway?

SPEAKER_00 52:48

It's uh it's it's hotly debated uh in in my house. Uh it's Antarctica. So uh it's it's been on the list for a long time. Uh I've had a lot of people give me so much positive feedback about how incredible it is and life-changing it is. Uh, I went up and did a beautiful cruise in the Kimberleys uh north of Australia uh recently and did an expedition cruise. And I just love expedition cruising. It's so much about learning and education and understanding with like-minded people. So Antarctic is next on the list.

SPEAKER_06 53:21

Fantastic. Well, uh, I'm absolutely the same with you. That's the next destination for me. So we're gonna have to trade some tips as far as who you're gonna go with and the time of the year. I've been starting to look at November because I guess that's the uh the when the season kind of starts and kicks off. And um, it's the end of the winter and the beginning of the spring, and so I've heard amazing things about going in November. But we'll anyway we'll trade some tips on that. But Michael, it's a real pleasure to meet you. Obviously, I look forward to keeping in touch, and thanks again for making time for us.

SPEAKER_00 53:47

You're very welcome. Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 53:49

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to our live recording here at Virtuoso Forum in Calgary. We've had two incredible guests so far. I hope you've enjoyed the conversation with Karen and then Michael just now, all the way from Australia. Actually, right after his talk, I went and saw him on stage, which was really fantastic because it showed me a little bit more about the culture of Virtuoso that I've come to respect and admire, having met Matthew before and getting to know some of the team. But our next two guests to me are some of the stars of Virtuoso. These are two individuals. We're gonna speak to Jennifer first, and then I'm gonna bring David into the conversation as well. But Jennifer Campbell is the senior vice president of Global Events. She's based in Atlanta, and I've seen her on stage several times at Virtuoso Travel Week, and I just have the greatest affinity. And she spoke this morning, and it was wonderful to hear you as well. I finally had a chance to meet her yesterday, and we've gotten a bit more time together today. So, Jennifer, welcome to Travel Trends.

SPEAKER_01 54:45

Thank you, Dan. I'm excited to be here. You're my first podcast.

Going Truly Global: Regional Relevance

SPEAKER_06 54:48

Yay! I was so surprised when you said that to me. I'm just like, you do so much public speaking. So it's an honor for us to have you here as your first official podcast. But tell everyone a little bit first about your role and uh the fact that you're overseeing all these global events, and here we are at the most important one in the Canadian market. But yeah, tell us a little bit more about what you do in your role at Virtuoso.

SPEAKER_01 55:08

Well, my role in Virtuoso has evolved. I've been at Virtuoso about 13 years, owned a Virtuoso travel agency before that for about 10 years. So I've been part of the network and then just jumped in full speed ahead. Um after the pandemic, I moved into the global events role, which was pretty exciting at that time because we were virtual in everything that we did. So um a lot of change, a lot of challenges. But since that time, we've expanded to nine global regions and we have our events team spread all over the world. This year, we'll deliver over 90 events.

SPEAKER_06 55:38

Well, one of the things that stood out to me about your role in particular is the importance of events that we all went through that very challenging pandemic period, which is exactly how this show started. And I think we're still uh going to be unpacking the ramifications it's had on people and society for many, many years to come. But certainly the return post-pandemic, we have this incredible surge in travel, but also such a strong desire to reconnect and be together in person. And so your events, which were an important part of Virtuoso pre-pandemic, have become even more important post-pandemic. So tell us a little bit about how intentional you are with the events you put together and how the global schedule actually works.

SPEAKER_01 56:19

Well, you know, what the pandemic did show us is while we can stay together and stay connected virtually, and we did, and we did really well, um, something essential is lost when we're not together in person. And luxury travel is fundamentally a relationship business. It's really about trust, it's the nuance that you pick up in a conversation, it's the shared values that are built faster face to face.

SPEAKER_06 56:45

Well, and that's where the energy of a virtuoso event is incredibly unique. And I've, you know, the first time I went to a virtuoso travel week, I experienced it for myself when you have 5,000 people that come together from all over the world to be at the Bellagio, which is where it's been for 25 years plus, right? Since the Bellagio first opened. Uh clearly you guys know how to pull off an event of that scale, but you also are running smaller regional events as well. So when you put your global plans together, and and I um having just had Michael on the podcast, he was talking about the nine different regions. And I know you guys have just left the US, you're here in Canada, and you're on your world tour now. Um, tell us a little bit about how these events work in each of the regional markets.

SPEAKER_01 57:28

So we think about virtuoso events as um in our portfolio as an ecosystem. So it's like a menu. Everything that we do builds on the others and continues the momentum and the touch points throughout the year. So we have three large global events. We have our Impact Summit, which is sustainability focused, we have Symposium, which is a thought leadership, and then we have our flagship Cornerstone event, Virtuoso Travel Week, but they all create um alignment across the entire network. Whereas a regional events like what's happening in Canada right now, take that momentum and localize it. And this is where market-specific business development, education, and relationship building really happens.

SPEAKER_06 58:07

Now, the Virtuoso Impact Summit, which is in Madrid, Spain, at the end of February. So many people listening to this will the event will have either just happen, but then you're in Seoul for the symposium in South Korea, which is a destination that is just continuing to attract more and more attention. And then ultimately, as far as the big global events, it is VTW, the Fashion Week of Travel. Yes, August 8, uh 8th to 14th in Vegas. Yes. And one of the cool things that you also do there that I've been uh had the privilege to join is a tech day, the day before, the tech summit. And I know that's another important part of the ecosystem. Um, so tell us a little bit about that in particular, because I'm I'm keen to know how that all comes together. I know you've got a few other team members that work on on all these events with you.

SPEAKER_01 58:54

Yeah, we do. And really, it um we laugh when they say it takes a village, but it does take all of Virtuoso to bring it together. And for Virtuoso Tribal, we will have over 250 Virtuoso team members from all over the world present. So we have an entire team that'll help deliver the tech summit. We have one of our board members, Gilad Bernstein, who helps oversee that. And each year, I say on stage, and anybody that's ever heard me says that I read all the comments and the feedback in all of our surveys, and I do. There's usually wine involved. Um, because as you can imagine, in a network of this many people, there are a lot of opinions. But what we do is we try and apply that, um, Dan, to how we curate the agenda for travel week, the tech summit, our professional development, or any of our content. We listen to what our attendees say and we try and tweak it to meet their needs.

SPEAKER_06 59:44

Yeah. And I think that, I mean, so for me, that's was my first experience with a virtuocial travel week is being there for the tech summit and then being there for the event and then having the chance to come back again as press. And so for me, I've, you know, my background is the technology and marketing side. So I was particularly taken with how well integrated that is to Virtuocial Travel Week. And I know it's just grown in importance, but you guys also run recognition events as well, which I know one of the things that's unique about Virtuoso, it's all by invitation only. And that's an important thing to also understand. Um, tell us a bit about how intentional you are in that regard when it comes to organizing events and knowing that they'll need to be very exclusive.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:23

Yeah, that's true. And one of the things that I like to tell people are our events is that curation is one of the core elements of those. They're not open to everybody, they're not open to our conferences. We're very intentional about who's there. It's not just about scale, it's about the quality of the people in the room and making sure that we have the right people having the right conversations. Our recognition events are a great example of that, in that they are specifically geared toward our top producing agencies at our chairman's event. Then we created a new event last year, the Pinnacle event, which is our top producing advisors. And then we also have our icons event, which is our top producing cruise sales advisors.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:02

Interesting. And then so one of the things that stood out to me too when you were on stage this morning, with all of these events that you run, knowing how focused you have to be in terms of curating the audience, the content, making sure there's a lot of value because people are taking time out of their, you know, their otherwise busy schedule, running their business to be here for the events. They're keen to make connections with suppliers and with each other and to learn from each other. But one of the things you really highlight is the competitive advantage of Virtuoso, which is certainly true from my perspective, is it's the people. And so tell us a little bit more about that for anyone who's not been to a Virtuoso conference before. I mean, it's already been described, you know, there's certainly an energy and a buzz, and I've had the fortune to experience that. But for anyone that's listening to this that can't quite wrap their head around that, because obviously, you know, it's one thing to say, it's about the people, but I can say clearly it is, because the type, the how welcoming the virtuoso environment is, the team, the dynamic, and uh it's one of the things I'm keen to talk to Matthew about because obviously, as the CEO and founder of the organization, you know, that sort of sets the culture for the business. And for me, you know, just seeing Michael on stage, he made a little joke about his role overseeing the GMs and how he doesn't have control over everything. And he looked over at Matthew and said, you know, you pay me like I'm in control, but just so you know I'm not in control. And it was a nice little moment that I thought that actually reflected the culture of the organization and people being bringing their best selves to work. Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:26

Well, and I think one of the things that's great about Virtuoso events is that every event um compounds your investment, and that's the investment of time and familiarity accelerates business. People move faster when trust already exists. So people coming to multiple events grow to have long-term relationships with people, which is the core of luxury travel. These are these launch conversations, they allow ideas to come into action, they um turn introductions into long-term friendships and partnerships, which is great when you're taking care of your clients and you need to trust who's doing that for you.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:05

Well, and one other thing that stood out to me when I arrived yesterday, I saw a number of people already had their badges before I had registered, and instantly I struck up a conversation on the elevator or in the hallway about where they were from. And my next question was have you been to a Virtuoso conference before? And I've yet to find someone that this is their first time, I'm sure they exist. Um, but almost everyone I've spoken to, yeah, 12 times, 14 times, I love it. I come every year. This is my favorite event. And clearly these are agencies and that uh work with luxury travelers. And this is, you know, one thing that's very special about Virtuoso in Canada is that you really lead the way with luxury travel in this market. Um when it comes to putting an event on, then that for people who are used to dealing with luxury, um, there's an elevated expectation, let's say, in terms of like the food and the drink and the decor and even the hotel that you choose. So you obviously have to very much live the brand so virtuoso, as I saw when I arrived in my hotel room that was on the screen. Um, but tell us, because this is where I've I love the strategy that goes on in into these things to bring them to life, about how intentional you have to be to bring a virtuoso event to life that it's different than other industry events they go to. So, how how do you make that brand presence felt for all the members that clearly they cut keep coming back because they just love being part of it?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:24

Well, it's a little bit about the curation of the people in the room. So, like for Virtuoso Travel Week, interestingly enough, there are 25% of our attendees that it's their first time every year. And that's on the partner side and on the advisor side. But then um at other events, the same things happen. And then we've got an operations team, Dan, that we live, sleep, and breathe virtuoso events, and our goal in everything that we do is to be globally consistent but regionally relevant. So the things that certain things fly in Canada that wouldn't fly in Latin America. So we customize those things and we really do try and get deliver white glove service.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:58

So that's something I well now explore too, because you have this concept of global scale and local relevance, and being regionally relevant is something that Michael spoke about and Karen starting off this podcast with how unique the Canadian market is. And every market wants to feel special, and most and all markets are unique in their own way. There's some commonalities for sure. I joked with Michael about this because whenever I'd work in the Australian market, the first thing people tell me, it won't work here. It's just, you know, it may have worked elsewhere, but it won't work in Australia. And part of that was like a cultural pushback to just being told that, you know, this worked in the US, you need to do it here. So I understand why that exists, but at the same time, there are some things that are transferable and other things that definitely aren't. When it comes to running events, though, obviously there's certain things you want to be consistent about for a global event, like bringing the uh global leadership team around to help them help all the regions understand the benefit of all the the connectivity to the international organization and understand what's happening in in the different regions. But there's a real strong emphasis on these regional gat gatherings. And so I'm really keen to understand how important that is to the Overall virtual soul strategy, and if you wouldn't mind, from your vantage point being here in Calgary and in Canada, what is particularly special about this market for you?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:08

Well, this is a uh great market for us, and the fact that Canada is having eight regional events this year really speaks to the growth and the strength of the market, so that's exciting for us. Um Calgary and the the Fairmont Palace are both great hosts for us for our event, and we really are thoughtful about that when we partner on where an event's gonna be. We want to make sure it's a mutually beneficial um situation. And we also think very um strategically about who's gonna be in the room, and that's those advisors and partners. So whereas a partner may want to come to the same event every year because they love it, who wouldn't want to come to Canada? Nicest people on earth. But for the for the advisors here, it's important that they're exposed to different partners. They want to meet the same folks that they've been doing with, but they also want to know who's new, who's the greatest new boutique hotel in Italy. So we try and really mix that up and keep it fresh, and I think that's part of the secret sauce.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:04

Yeah, clearly. That's actually when the um local executive from the Calgary Tourism Board took the stage earlier today. I saw her briefly outside when I was getting a coffee, and she was complimenting a woman on her hat that was walking and was really fashionably dressed. And she was he she had just finished highlighting in her presentation how she wanted Calgary to become the friendliest city in the world. And she was certainly leading by example, and that's one of the things I was I was actually really impressed to see that like immediately afterwards, that you know, she just took it upon herself to just recognize someone that didn't know who she was. And anyway, it was a nice little moment just to see on the street, and I just thought, good on you. Like you didn't just say it on stage, you're living it. You're living it, exactly. Yeah. Now, one of the things I also know from being part of the sessions today is that you're also very conscientious of making sure that people are gonna go back to their offices, to their teams, with valuable, tangible, real benefits of being here that they can use to improve their businesses. And obviously that's a big focus for me with my keynote tomorrow, is trying to you know not just uh excite people about opportunity, but actually help them realize it. And so that's something I'm also keen to understand, given that it seems to me from what I'm hearing that that also is very intentional. So when you're planning for events like this, and whether it's bringing speakers in or doing an episode like this, which obviously this is a great example of that, because how do we take the value of what's happening here, including the global executive team being here, and make sure this is accessible to all the virtuoso members across Canada that didn't have the privilege or didn't have the opportunity to be here, great outcome. But what are some of the other things that you guys are focused on to make sure that you people do go home and you know they they'll have stronger relationships, but uh but but ensure they have long-term growth with their business?

Why Canada Is A Testbed For Best Practice

SPEAKER_01 1:08:50

That's a great question. Um and there are a couple of different things I think that we do. Um the intentionality of the content is huge, the intentionality of how we network that time so that people walk walk away with practical tips and advice and tools to be able to take back. And so, as an example for our forums, so we'll have eight forums all over the world this year, and the content that we've worked on, we started working on months ago to make sure that every attendee for that forum hears consistent virtuoso messaging. You'll see it customized for the region specifically, but it's about the whole everyone coming together and understanding what's most important in virtuoso, what we're committed to helping you as either an agency owner, a travel advisor, or a preferred partner accomplish in your business this year.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:39

And how much of those eight events are when the the framework that you've put in place? So if other advisors or partners are looking to attend any of the regional events, what would you point to as the reasons that they should plan to attend and what the benefits of coming to a Virtuoso regional forum would be?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:59

Well, for the forums, it's that's our agency management focus. That's the other thing that we've done, um, Dan, is I think we're very clear about what the type of event is and who it's geared for. So forums are only agency management and preferred partners. So we also will create highlights for this. So any advise agency owner that didn't get to come, which fortunately for Canada, 92% of our agencies are present. We only had two that couldn't participate, so that's wonderful. Then the same thing would happen for like an on tour. If an advisor went to an on-tour and learned about crews, there'll be highlights and things that they can take back to their agency.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:35

Got it. Okay, that's incredibly clear and very helpful because obviously this is where, you know, I I I have a good understanding of Virtuoso, having been to the global event, but even now this is my first regional event. Um, tell us about the events themselves. I know with the US has happened, Canada, just and then clearly for anyone who's part of the Virtuoso network, they obviously have their login and they're likely aware, but just to make sure that we don't leave anyone behind that might be interested in getting involved. And I realize these are also invitation only, so if you haven't heard by now, but but uh tell us where you guys are are going to be. Just give us an overview of those nine regions because I actually uh didn't have uh Michael share that, and I think it'll be interesting for our listeners to know.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:13

Yeah, so we started the U.S. Forum was for the first time held in Mexico. We've never held it outside the year uh U.S. Forums actually started as an event type 10 years ago, and we've evolved them continuously. Calgary, we are here in Canada. Um, then we'll move to our Latin America Forum, which will be in Lima, Peru. We will have our Continental Europe and Ireland Forum in Lisbon, and it is back to back with our um our United Kingdom and Ireland are back to back with Continental Europe and the Middle East and Africa. Then we have Australia and New Zealand happening in New Zealand, and then finally we'll wrap it up in Bali with our North and Southeast Asia Forum and our Greater China Forum. And we try to do our forums all at the beginning of the year so that owners and managers and and agencies are prepared and can go back and help their teams maximize the Virtuoso partnership throughout the year.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:07

Really interesting. And I guess that's where as you build towards also the global event in Vegas, uh, many of the people who are coming to this event will be there. But you've got more than 25,000 advisors globally, the 5,000 come in. So now obviously that not everyone, unfortunately, can be there in Vegas. How many of the people that are within the regions? I'm I'm curious about this because it's uh having been there, obviously there's a lot of Americans there, but uh a lot of people from Australia is a very much an international conference. How do you bring everyone together globally after running these regional events? How much emphasis do you put on the regions being there for VTW in Vegas each year?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:42

Yeah, we really try to drive attendance regionally, and we end up about um we have over a hundred countries represented, but then we'll have on the advisor mix, it's usually about 70 percent from the uh North America, and then another 30 percent from around the world, and that's shifting every year as our global markets grow. So what we look at in those instances and like an on tour is specifically for advisors. We understand that for a travel advisor in Australia, it the price to come to Las Vegas is a lot higher than from somebody in Atlanta or New York or Chicago. So we try and take Virtuoso Travel Week to them with our on-tour events. So it's the best of Virtuoso Travel Week in terms of the thought leadership, the content, the professional development, and the networking, but in a one to three-day event in their region.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:30

And now, having had the honor to be there, and one of the things I'm gonna speak to Matthew about too, about the keynotes, because you mentioned Brene Brown is gonna be there this year. She was there 15 years ago when I was there, Stephen Bartlett was there, and it's like the you know, so there's so much to look forward to, and some of it obviously is intended to be a surprise, but there's obviously lots of reasons why people get excited about attending. For those people who belong to Virtuoso that have not been to VTW yet, I'm sure they've heard lots about it from their colleagues, and they're probably buzzing with the anticipation of when it's their turn to go. Would you mind giving everyone about an overview of that event and why it's so special and what it what that event does that you know none of the regional events can do?

SPEAKER_01 1:14:07

Well, it it's on scale. So there's it brings every region in the world, everybody together in one place, in one location, and a very curated agenda. You know, it's a six-day event, and we have different sections of the event. So the first day is about community globe trotting, and that's very much focused on the seven communities that we have within Virtuoso, things like adventure, family, ultra ultra worth, you know, those types of things. That's the first day. The second day is devoted to learning. That's all professional development. That's the travel tech summit. So we let people choose their path. We also then have some trainings that day, lots of things going on. And then the Monday through Thursday are very focused on matched appointments. So our network loves to choose who they're going to meet with. We let them do that. If they are overwhelmed with choosing who they're going to meet with, they tell us what they want to know about and we impair them. And then we also leave time every day for that organic networking, which I think is huge, those hallway conversations, that quick cup of coffee where you get to spur, you know, a little conversation or you follow up on something you heard somebody say, and that's really what we try to leave room for. Then we virtuosos love to have a good time, so we have quite a few evening events as well.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:17

Sure. And that that's the one thing that's virtuoso travel week. It's not a weekend, it's not two-day or three-day conference. As you said, it's six days. Yeah. And when I was there, people are like, What are you here until? That's something the thing I hear most commonly. And you know, most people are there for the full duration, and they're like, you know, and they have a packed schedule for the entire week breakfast meetings, dinners, obviously all the rapid dating that happens with the fashion week and aligning the travel advisors with suppliers and partners. Is there anything in particular this year that you can share with us, whether it's something uh the keynote speakers or some of the new content plans that you guys have in place for this year that might be of interest to our listeners? What can you share with us right now, Jennifer?

SPEAKER_01 1:15:57

Yeah, absolutely. Well, you've you've heard the spoiler alert that Dr. Bernie Brown will be with us, which is exciting. We're really happy about that. But something I'm very excited about is sustainability is one of our core values as a company. And for years, we've had what we call an under one sky, which is a sustainability focused event. This year we're expanding it to be the entire focus for our Monday. So at the Bellagio lunch on Monday, we will have the entire um lunch focused on sustainability where we actually do live voting for the sustainability awards. So partners that are in our sustainability community submit their projects and we do live voting, which is so exciting. But we're also bringing in a give back event this year. So it's Virtuoso Gives Back, which allows us to partner with the local community in a physical activity, which we're going to be creating. Um, we're working with a couple of different charities, but we'll actually be doing some things that'll make a difference locally. So that's something I'm very excited about.

Tech, Translation, And Human Guidance

SPEAKER_06 1:16:51

Oh, that's fantastic. Well, I know one of the things I know I'll be looking forward to is seeing you back on the main stage giving a keynote. You're most one of the most well-loved executives in the company, and that's clear as soon as you take the stage. And that's why I was I was so uh buzzing yesterday when I finally got a chance to meet you and like, oh, I'm gonna be interviewing you tomorrow. You're gonna be on the podcast. Um, because I just know you from your on-stage presence. And then I got to see you present this morning. And I know that's such a big part of the virtuoso experience, is that you know it is a grand stage, and it is the the the production quality is incredibly high, and you guys put a lot of time and effort into making sure that all comes together. I know you're a very engaging keynote speaker. I know that's something you're also looking to do out in the broader travel industry. And so very curious to know where you're headed professionally because you've got this amazing role at Virtuoso. You're a great ambassador for the brand, you're a great keynote speaker. Do you have plans to speak outside of the Virtuoso events and to be able to spread this message that clearly, obviously, you know, you you very much walk the walk.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:52

Well, I appreciate that that, Dan. Um, thank you very much. I think a lot of it just it comes from my heart. I mean, the happiest day of my life every year is when I get to say, welcome to Virtuoso Travel Week, y'all. And that's how we started off. But something else I'm passionate about is leadership. And so I'm working on some articles on leadership, and there's something I've a keynote I'm working on called the humility of leadership that really is based on something that happened to me as I was younger and in my career, and then I've tried to distill down and I hope I could share with other leaders. So I don't know, we'll see what's next. But right now, Virtuoso is keeping me plenty busy.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:26

Yeah, no kidding. Well, I look forward to that as and when it's time to be able to share what you're working on and be ready for your TED talk, and um, which I think you're perfectly positioned for. But yeah, let's finish off just to make sure all of our listeners know if they're keen to get involved with Virtuoso. That's one of the things that is, again, really unique about the uh organization. But if if there are members listening to this or partners listening to this that are thinking, wait a second, I'd love to get involved more with Virtual Oso Travel Week. How best to do that given when they're going to be listening to this? There may be still time for them to get involved, either not just attending, but you know, actually being involved in the event.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:04

Yeah, we have um so all of our uh preferred partners and our agency members have a dedicated account management teams that are always a good one-stop shop. We have an amazing events website that goes through all the details. In the midst of today, I actually led two webinars for the whole network, one for our agency owners and managers, and then a second one for our advisors, giving them a sneak peek into Virtuoso Travel Week, and I'll do one tomorrow for the preferred partners. So reach out, registration and request to attend opens on February 18th, and we have plenty of room for you. Would love to have you there.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:37

Oh, that's awesome. Well, I certainly hope to see you there, and obviously it's been wonderful to get this time together. Terrific to finally meet you. Thank you so much for joining us, and good luck with the rest of the events and your incredibly crazy travel schedule.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:48

Thanks, Dan. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:51

Hello, everyone, welcome back to another live recording here in Calgary at the Virtuoso Forum. That was an amazing conversation we just had with Jennifer, and as you heard, I set the stage already for the conversation I'm so excited to have now with David Kolner, the executive vice president of strategic communications for Virtuoso. And one of the things I wanted him to hear me say, even though our listeners have already heard this, is that I love his onstage presentations. It's been one of the biggest highlights for me the last couple of years of going to Virtuoso Travel Week. And I had the uh the privilege to see him on stage this morning. And even his introduction to the crowd, you can see how much people they love Jennifer, they love David. You guys have a really uh strong rapport with the whole audience, and obviously you just have such a great sense of humor. I'm I'm putting you on, I'm putting pressure on you now.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:38

Oh gosh, no high standards here.

SPEAKER_06 1:20:41

But it's great to have you on the Travel Trends Podcast. So thanks so much for joining us.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:44

Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_06 1:20:46

Absolutely. So I know you're based in Seattle, but tell everyone a little bit about your role because one of the big uh elements of a virtuoso is the concept of human connection that we heard Matthew and he'll be up with us next, talking about on stage. And the best way to connect with people is how you communicate. And it's one of one of the reasons that you clearly excel on stage. That's you know, that is your domain. That is like, you know, and you you shine, being able to get the message out and being able to motivate. And so tell us a little bit about your role at Virtuoso.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:15

Oh, it's a good question. Uh, well, first of all, I've worked at the company for like 15 years. So I've done everything from washing the dishes to, you know, cooking the food and uh everything in between. So uh, in the terms of strategic communications and the work I'm doing right now is really just to tailor the message of what Virtuoso is communicating to all of our constituents, whether it's to our members or our partners, to some degree, even how we talk to our consumers and just making sure that we're really staying on a consistent message. We're a really broad-reaching company now. We know we stretch around the world uh with our team. We're talking about Virtuoso and luxury travel all over the world and all these different places. We just really want to make sure we're staying connected. And so it's really important, and we can have a much more powerful voice, we think, if we just stay a little bit tighter on brand. So that's that's what I'm working on right now.

Jennifer Campbell On Events Ecosystem

SPEAKER_06 1:22:04

For sure. And given that you are based in the US, but you are part of the global leadership team, and that's what Michael was highlighting to us and what Matthew highlighted earlier today is how you're not the U.S. team. You got this other global team. You happen to be based in Seattle and Jennifer's in Atlanta. But the whole idea is this is a global team, a global business, and you need to make sure that all the regions are thriving. You've come here to Canada. Obviously, it's um terrific to be here together. But tell us a little bit what brings you to Calgary. And I want to get into the trends. That's obviously a big focus of your presentation this morning. Um, but tell us what overall brings you to the Canadian Forum.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:41

Well, uh, you know, I have loved watching the growth of Virtuoso's presence in Canada for a long time and have been involved in even some of the members who are here of onboarding them into the Virtuoso Network in former roles. It's just been really fun to see this market really grow and come into its own of how Canadian luxury is different than other regions of the world. And I also think something fun for us to talk about is some ways that it's the same too. So I know everything in Canada is special and different and unique and fabulous. I do love it to bits. Uh, but there's some other things too that are like, you know, people are kind of the same uh around the world too. So hopefully we'll get to dig into that a little bit more.

SPEAKER_06 1:23:23

Yeah, well, you're obviously a Pacific Northwesterner, so you get the Canadian market, you're very, you know, that much closer. And I think there's actually a even a commonality between the people of the Pacific Northwest, the people from Vancouver and Seattle, so you share a lot of common bonds. So it's interesting when you say that because uh borders certainly define us to an extent, but at the end of the day, we're all human beings and we, you know, we have uh emotions and we connect with each other. And if anything, that's actually part of the appeal of being in the travel industry, right? So so I I take your overall point because I'm sure Canadians will be like, no, we're so different than Americans, right? That's the instant refrain you'd hear. And what's so unique about our market, and I have been highlighting that, of course, over the course of this episode is what's you know really unique and interesting about the Canadian market. But let's maybe talk about the commonalities given your global role and all the events you're going to. Um, tell us a little bit maybe about those commonalities of the global events and your communication strategy, and let's dive into the big trends of 2026.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:18

Yeah, I mean, well, this is what I would say about the global commonality is if you look at the way that luxury travelers travel around the world and the growth of high net worth and ultra-high net worth consumers, it's it's a it is a global phenomenon. It's happening in all markets around the world, not just in Canada. It's great that the Canadian market is healthy and growing. Uh, but the thing that is unique about it is that there is a finite number of kind of luxury experiences, like physical hard products around the world. There's only so many owner suites on a ship. There's only so many bungalows at that safari camp. And what is true is that although, you know, Canadians are unique in some aspects, which you've heard on this podcast already, um, the other thing is that there's uh they also are kind of competing against European high net worth consumers that also want to go to on Safari or Chinese families that want to buy out that same lodge the same week. And so that is really driving a global phenomenon we see where people are booking so much further in advance. It's really a thing. And I think that that's a reason for Canadian travelers to think about their future plans, especially if they're planning a complex multi-gen or something really specific around a milestone, which is a which you know is a big driver of travel spend too.

SPEAKER_06 1:25:41

Well, we spent a bit of time with Karen at the opening of this episode talking about the Canadian luxury traveler and this idea that you know Canadians earning over 300,000, they're in this top 1%, the 200,000 household is about 10%, but then specifically diving into the 1% and then getting a better understanding because you know the people earn over 300,000 after you when you break that out and take the virtuoso lux report data, overlay that with the environments uh analytics, and start looking at it a bit more, people are earning more like a million dollars a year and they have you know net worth of six million. And so it gets much more interesting to understand why they're able to afford trips that are$50,000 or$100,000. And so what I'm keen to ask you, then, David, given what you just shared, is that when you step back and look at, okay, that's the Canadian high net worth customer, is there a lot of similarity? It sounds like there is, between the high net worth individuals in each of the markets. Clearly there's going to be other greater disparities. There's certain countries that are gonna have ultra wealthy. Um, but is there a persona that is consistent in each of the markets for a high net worth customer that Virtuoso targets? And the and the reason I wanted to ask you that too is because what Michael highlighted in our discussion was that when you're making decisions about going into a new market, the very first thing you have to ask is are there high net worth customers here?

SPEAKER_04 1:27:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:27:03

And is there the the opportunity to serve them? And and so that that's essentially table stakes to make sure it's gonna be worthwhile to Virtuoso advisors, partners to go into a certain market. So yeah, keen to know from your vantage point what that looks like on a global level and and how you see all the regions.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:22

It's a really good point. I think that you know things that are common are people looking are for privacy and and you know exclusivity in the uh offerings. Safety and security is a trend we've been watching as well. And that drives that privacy aspect of things for high net worth and ultra-high net worth clients. Um so I think those things are are the commonalities they're looking for service is as uh we've also heard, you know, a lot of luxuries about just feeling like you're being seen and being recognized for who you are, which I think is a more universal um idea. However, the stuff that you heard from Karen about Canadian travelers that really uh want Want ex not experiences, but also meaningful uh connections with their family. It's not about the biggest suite or the most extravagant thing. There are parts of the world where it's about the biggest suite and it's the most extravagant thing. So um I want to that is a very clear difference about Canadians. Um so there's still a place for that product in the world that people want to have that. We've all seen the gold-plated Lamborghini pulling up uh in the valet. Um, and that is a real customer uh somewhere. So no judgment. Everyone to each their own, you do you, I'll do me.

SPEAKER_06 1:28:40

Yeah, exactly. Well, I've certainly I've been in uh London or Geneva, Switzerland at certain times of the year when all of a sudden you start to see the gold-plated cars pull up, and uh and so you it's very much about um uh the it is about the flex and the that that is uh different cultures. So it anyway, interesting that you share that because that is obviously something that is unique to Canada. But let's let's talk about the trends. And and uh you framed it in a really interesting way today because you highlighted the trends that you're seeing as as virtuoso, the trends that you're seeing in the economy, and um and also what you're seeing from the membership. And I think you started off with the economy, yeah. So give us a bit of an overview because certainly in geopolitics and people concerned about the, and this is always a factor for us in travel. Yeah, we're always going from one crisis to another. Um, but set the stage for us about the economic outlook for travel in 2026.

VTW Structure, Curation, And Tech Summit

SPEAKER_04 1:29:34

Yeah, well, Virtuoso participates and is a member of the World Travel and Tourism Council, and they do amazing work of advocacy for the industry and uh helping kind of like as a non-government type organization to help break down some of the barriers that are there, but they also do amazing research and they have an economic impact report. And what I think is so cool about what they do is they measure kind of how the travel industry is trending based on a gajillion factors, far more than you and I could ever even research and what they use. And they come up with an index of like how they think the travel industry is gonna grow over the next 10 years. They mash it up with other general economic data, and what's really fun to see is that the travel and tourism industry is expected to grow faster than the global economy over the next 10 years. And that means that travel and tourism is gonna be more important in terms of an industry to governments and more opportunities for new companies, but also jobs. The next 10 years, they're predicting up to almost 100 million new jobs in the travel and tourism industry. About 12% of people on the planet are gonna be employed in the travel and tourism industry. You know, sometimes you wake up in the morning, the alarm goes off, and you're like, oh my gosh, why am I doing this? What am I doing here? I think it's really fun to think of the fact that you're a part of this global movement almost of people that work in the travel and tourism industry. 12% of families on the planet are depending on your work of selling travel, sending travelers around the world, and that's growing. I think it's an industry people should be proud of and really excited to join if they're looking for a growth job.

SPEAKER_06 1:31:16

Well, and the thing that stood out to me when I was looking at your slides this morning and you were sharing these really important stats that I just wanted to underscore for all of our listeners. When you mentioned today in 2025, the stats were that it was about 10% of GDP and about nearly 11% of global jobs. And you highlighted, as you mentioned, about 100 million. It's going to be 12.5% of the total workforce, you know, 10 10 years from now. And then you showed the growth of our industry and reminded everyone how fortunate we are to be in this industry. And I started, my mind was racing with all the other industries you could be in, having difficult conversations about being in a well, it's funny you say that because actually an industry that you probably don't want to be in right now is in luxury goods.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:58

So, you know, I don't mean to make fun of the poor people. I mean, I still want to get a Birkin. I want to be on the list and and and get respect from my URM's salesperson. But the the reality is that luxury goods are not even really growing anymore, and they're really flatlining. And this whole thing is a global movement of experiences over thing, collecting emotions over possessions.

SPEAKER_06 1:32:22

Yeah. Well, we highlighted that that I guess the it's like 9% growth for experiences, and it was like a three to percent growth of, but ultimately you highlighted, especially when it comes to the um designer bags and some of the other things that people that they're actually now choosing. I want to go on that trip, I want to have that experience. And even if it is because they want to tell people that they went to the Antarctic and post pictures of it, or you know, and they want to have the best cabin and the best view from that experience. But um, one of the things that's unique about your role is that you do have that global view, and you we see the growth in the Canadian market for luxury. But tell us what are some of the other markets that really stand out to you. I know Australia, New Zealand. Yeah, so tell me the other regions and some of the experiences too, David, that people are choosing to do more so than others with you know uh expedition cruises, for example.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:07

Yeah, okay, really good. Um well, I mean, I would I want to temper the overall comments with this idea that we've been talking about is which is your mileage may vary, which is uh kind of an American phrase uh coming from our gas estimates when you buy a new car, your mileage may vary from what's posted on the sign. You know, the the one thing that's really true is the Jenni comments here. Um, where we see uh trends that are interesting around the world, for starters. Um we recently did a study on optimism and outlook for the year ahead. And one of the areas where we saw probably the most enthusiasm of people about confidence is both in mostly the Southern Hemisphere, interestingly enough, like Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Caribbean. Um, places where people are still not quite as high on optimism are including Europe, um, Asia. A lot of those markets are not quite there in terms of the same level of optimism that you might have in the US and Canada about their outlook on the business. And there's other wrinkles to it too that are different. So, like cruising is a category, no matter where you are in the world, that people are really bullish on right now. There's incredible growth and opportunity uh in the cruise category. On the hotel side, although we see record rates for what consumers are paying, and and you know, nearly$2,000 per night is the average daily rate that a Canadian Virtuoso client paid at a Virtuoso hotel in December during the festive period. Wow. The hotel uh owners are under such pressure to keep showing growth in rates and overall revenues that it makes it a very difficult place to work. So those people are not as bullish about the future, which is kind of a paradox because they've never sold as much as they have today, but they're under such intense pressure to keep delivering.

SPEAKER_06 1:35:04

So, David, we've talked about the economy and why we should be optimistic. And clearly that's what the network is telling you. And that was kind of the two key parts of your presentation this morning. One of the other things you also brought up that I was keen to discuss is AI. And you shared some really interesting stats on that with regards to who's utilizing AI. It was like two-thirds of the network is. But you also then highlighted going forward, and what really shocked me, and I would say even concerned me a little bit, was the number of people who aren't using it are still not planning to utilize it. So I'm gonna use that as a bit of a wake-up call in my presentation tomorrow. But I would love to hear from the work that you've done around AI, given that is one of the most important trends. We just talked about market trends, we talked about economic trends. Tell me a bit about the technology trends around AI.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:51

So we uh just recently did in our pulse survey that was a global study for both our members, advisors, and partners, and it just completed on uh January 16th. We asked if you're using AI in your business, and if your your number is correct, like two-thirds of the people said yes, they're using AI in some way, shape, or form. About a third of the people said they weren't using AI. So we dug deeper on both dimensions. So for the people that are using it, it was really surprising. On the member side, travel advisors who seem to always get a bad rap for adopting technology. I find it so irritating because I mean, these are the people that were on a computer on a day-to-day basis in 1977 with their GDS when nobody even used a PC at that point. So let's let's give these people some credit about adopting new technologies. Um, they're using AI for tons of things in many different ways. They're using for travel-related research, fact-checking, drafting client communications, proposals, creating marketing content, um, our key uses. Over over half of advisors are using it for all for those three things. The partners are not seem to be embracing it maybe for as many uses. So it's more specific of things like marketing content, um, data analyst analysis or forecasting. And then a big area that they differ from uh members is in customer service. Uh so they're really using AI to be like a virtual assistant or uh client servicing. You know, they're using AI tools to do that. It's interesting, it's all good. And I think the diversity of uh ways that people are using AI is another good sign of future growth and opportunity.

SPEAKER_06 1:37:27

The one thing that stood out to me, and I took a picture of your slide because I was I know I was gonna get a copy of it later, but nevertheless, I I always find it uh I want to have that information available, especially knowing we're gonna have this conversation today. And as I was looking at that before our conversation, one of the things that stood out to me was the fact that when it comes to CRM, um that that actually ranks on the lowest end. It is. And that surprised me and the other one that was also automating back office tasks. Yeah. That that was on the lower end for members and even on preferred, but then people were using it for customer service. So my instant reaction was that don't use it for customer service because that's the that's the human connection, right? Exactly, yes. Whereas like all that back office, this is the perfect use case for AI. So it seems like there's still an opportunity there for education and adoption.

SPEAKER_04 1:38:13

Or just the right tools, I would also argue. You know, maybe it's not a case of the fact that people don't recognize the need for it. It's just that the tools to do it. So maybe this uh research is actually a business opportunity for a lot of your listeners to think about uh people are primed to do it, but they just don't have the right tool yet.

Sustainability Focus And Gives Back

SPEAKER_06 1:38:32

Yeah, for sure. And I know Armin is here from Travel Wits, and you've got uh a few of the team members that are involved in the tech summit, which I know is really important to your members. And so there's a lot of talk around AI and everyone trying to wrap their head around what they should do about it. And that's why I found this really uh fascinating. I guess on the members that are when you did the deep dive uh to try and understand those how they are using it and embracing it and how they're going to continue, what stood out to you about those people that said I'm not using it and I'm still not planning to utilize it? What does that say to you?

SPEAKER_04 1:39:06

Well, I think it's super interesting. So of the one-third that said they're not using AI today, about two-thirds of those people said they don't have any plants. Like it's not even in their bingo card that they're gonna be doing anything related to AI. It made me think of a quote that uh we were talking about earlier today from Bill Gates, which is in technology adoptions, everybody overestimates the impact of technology in the short term and underestimates the impact of technology changes in the long run. And I think that's who these people are. They're, you know, we're maybe we're upset that they're not immediately rushing into AI, you know, in these first couple of years, but it's gonna fundamentally change their business. And they're, you know, the other thing we uh we laughed about in the survey is like, have you used Google in the last year? You know, you're probably using AI and you don't even know that you're using AI on your day-to-day basis. So I think a little bit of it, I'm I'm not questioning the results. I think it's more of an indicator of how people feel about AI, that they are resisting it. And there are always gonna be people that are resisting technology and change. So it's an opportunity and uh something to dig in a little deeper on.

SPEAKER_06 1:40:22

For sure. And after you finish, and you're absolutely right about that uh, you know, utilizing that phrase in that regard because it's the you know, everyone thinks it's gonna happen, you know, within a year, but it actually takes 10, but it eventually does happen.

SPEAKER_04 1:40:34

And so um we saw that it's fundamental by the time it's done, right? It's just like it's part of everyday life.

SPEAKER_06 1:40:40

But I thought you did a nice job of then bringing it home with the Outlook survey and then talking about what you're hearing back from the members in the group, because clearly this is one of the most valuable aspects of being part of the Virtuoso group, is better understanding what is happening with traveler behavior across the group. And as you highlighted some of the interesting stats around agency sales and their optimism, um, you also did highlight some of the traveler behaviors that are trending up in 2026. Um, would you mind sharing some of those, like multi-destination itineraries, the fact that people are traveling to new destinations? And one of the other ones, too, that stood out to me, David, is that solo travel is up like 70% in 2025. So I'd love to hear of some of those other ones that have stood out to you that you have been trying to highlight and showcase so that the members take advantage of these traveler behaviors.

SPEAKER_04 1:41:30

It's a really good point. Um, yeah. So if we look at, and specifically we have some of the research on Canadian uh travelers, like top top trends and motivations. Family travel and multi-generational travel uh is our top one and two trends for the year ahead. And we do kind of lump those together, but it is interesting that immediate family travel is actually ranked as a trend higher. And this is something we have actually been watching as a distinction amongst this family travel trend. Um I think the complexities and just whatever of multi-gen travel is like its own thing and it's important, it's a big ticket item. But I think, you know, post-pandemic, people just want to spend time with their immediate family too. And I think the fact that that shows up as number one for Canadians uh as their as the trend to watch for 2026. I just want to make sure that that we really say that's different, the different type of travel when it's just the three or the four or the five of you versus, you know, 12 or 18 and what that actually means, the type of travel you do for that.

SPEAKER_06 1:42:33

Yeah. And let let's finish off on what Virtuoso says. And I think that was an interesting way to position it and to phrase it, and obviously to to finish with that, because you've you're starting off with what the economy is saying, then you're talking what the network is saying, and then what virtuoso is saying back to the group about these are the things you need to pay attention to. And obviously, the team teased you about the your mileage may vary, and probably you're a kilometer ridge, which you've already said twice and you've already said enough, so I won't make you say it again, may vary. Um, but tell us about these three specific call-outs about your mileage may vary, beware of the threat of sameness, and planning for growth and resilience.

SPEAKER_04 1:43:10

Okay, great. So, you know, this idea about your mileage may vary is that everyone's business is so distinct right now. You know, depending on what even you know part of the country you're from, what even neighborhood your clients are based in, you know, maybe you're impacted by government cutbacks, but oh, maybe you're implement you're impacted positively by an economic trend of a new uh production or new demand of something that's from your region. The advisor themselves may be in a different place. So I think everyone you have to have a lot of space for people being in different places. And even when you see the results that we talk about on this um interview, don't feel great or bad about what's happening with your own business. Just take it with a grain of salt. This is an indicator, but it's not meant to be the bar that everybody is at. So that's why I think, and let's have grace for each other in that sense. Of your mileage may vary, and we're all going to get through this. There's great opportunity still, but your results may be very variable from what we see today.

SPEAKER_06 1:44:08

Yeah. The part that really stood out for me there was this uh the threat of sameness. You know, the the uniqueness is so important. I mean, that was something that um was kind of really driven into me working for the Tolman family for many years of the travel corporation, specifically Stanley Tolman, was this like what is your key differentiators? Why you over someone else? Like, what is it that's really unique about your offering? And often often I find that companies in this space are not focusing enough on from a customer point of view, why would they choose you and your agency? What is it that that's particularly special about you?

SPEAKER_04 1:44:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:44:40

Because otherwise it does seem like a sea of sameness. Where do I go to book my travel experiences? Why a virtuoso travel advisor? I think you guys do a great job of articulating that, and there's obviously a lot of strength in the network, but there is a risk of just you know, same same.

SPEAKER_04 1:44:53

Yeah, I think you know, technology is a great tool, but also if everybody has access to the same technology, what really is different about what you're offering is. And the other thing is that there's a lot of people coming into the space. So we talked earlier about this idea of like, oh my gosh, 100 million new jobs coming into the category. And then you can also be like, oh my gosh, there's like a hundred million more people gonna come and try to, you know, target my same customers or come into my business. And it's growing, but that's gonna attract new entrepreneurs, which is wonderful. But also for people that are in business today, you really need to think about what's unique about your business, what's gonna differentiate yourself from all these other companies. And this is simple things like a cruise line saying, we're gonna be adults only. We're just gonna do that. You know, that's a differentiation right off the bat that keeps you out of the sea of sameness of like, okay, that's the thing that you do. Yeah. Um, you know, other people are like, well, we're committed to multi-gen, or we're committed to tea time at 3:30 with white tablecloths and silver service. You know, like that's a distinction, and that's very unique in the sea of sameness. So those things that you can really use to call out what you do, um, I think is going to be super important. And people need to start working on that now if they don't have a plan.

Regional Forums And Global Alignment

SPEAKER_06 1:46:04

Yeah, that's one of the biggest takeaways I would think from this episode that for those of you listening to it, uh, that's absolutely something you should be prioritizing in 2026 to be successful. The one last thing I wanted to ask you, too, is beyond the presentation you gave today, and obviously a lot of it was all backed up on data and the surveys you've done, sometimes when we're in the middle of a shift, some of them the insights can be more anecdotal or what you're seeing, especially as you're traveling around the world at the moment. And I was just generally curious, one of the things I'll be speaking about tomorrow with agentic AI and then transformational travel. And I'm really leaning into the concept of transformational travel, which we don't have to get into any detail right now. Um, but uh one of the things I'd love to know is like, are there things that you're tracking or paying attention to now that will likely show up a little bit later in surveys? Is there any other signals you're picking up on about customer behavior in 2026 that all of a sudden you're like, this is gonna hit the radar, this is changing, or there's something new happening here. Yeah, is that just out of totally out of curiosity, David, is there anything else that on a personal curiosity level in the industry that's standing out to you about how this industry is changing?

SPEAKER_04 1:47:10

Well, I think as a human-centered business or a human-centric business, we suffer the constraint of what a human can do. So the trend, I think, to watch um anecdotally is the productivity of humans that can really be impacted by technology to help them increase their sales. This means maybe we don't need so many people to join the industry if the same people can sell a lot more. But there is definitely like a ceiling that advisors hit in terms of their quantity and how much they can sell. Or they're we also track fulfillment is another big thing we look at all the time, which is are are people feeling fulfilled with their work-life balance? We don't see any leading indicators that that's really a challenge, but I think that is the part that I probably am waiting to watch the signals for is like how do we keep growing but keeping fulfillment there for both the members and the partners in the industry?

SPEAKER_06 1:48:04

Thank you for doing this, David. Great to speak to you here on Travel Trends.

SPEAKER_04 1:48:06

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. Cheers.

SPEAKER_06 1:48:10

I now have the huge pleasure and honor welcoming back to the Travel Trends podcast, one of our most popular guests, the founder and CEO of Virtuoso, Matthew Upchurch. Matthew, welcome back to Travel Trends.

SPEAKER_05 1:48:22

Thank you, Dan. It's so great to be back here. Oh we had such a good time last time.

SPEAKER_06 1:48:26

Absolutely. I mean, it's I it's such a thrill to see you again. Obviously, it's it's wonderful to be here. Uh, you were uh exceptional on stage earlier today. You're just so natural. I think one of the reasons our episode just took our audience completely by surprise for those people who didn't know you is you're just such an exceptional storyteller, and you also have an amazing story to tell. And for those of you who are just listening to this for the first time and getting to know Matthew and understanding Virtuoso, I highly encourage you to just go back and listen to that episode because his backstory is incredibly inspiring and the story behind Virtuoso, the branding, the team, and we dive right into that and spend what was supposed to be 20 minutes. We had a full hour together, and it was such an amazing and insightful episode. So I'm thrilled to have you back. And here we are together in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. You're on my home soil for a change. I'm usually seeing you in Vegas or you know on stage. And so tell us a little bit of what brings you to Calgary.

SPEAKER_05 1:49:26

Well, we're here for the Virtuoso Canadian Forum, and we have these forums all over the world. But you know, one of the things that we've always aspired to be was a truly global company. And even though we went outside the US more than thirty years ago, the reality is I I finally realized what's the difference between an international company and a truly global company. And a truly global company is one where the core management team wakes up every day to create solutions that then are truly implemented at The regional or local level. And so coming here, um, having something that is just for our Canadian members with the partners that support and want business out of this market and support it. The data is all about Canada, the trends are about Canada, the team is local and Canadian, and it's just it's really, really cool to watch.

SPEAKER_06 1:50:22

For sure. And obviously it's amazing to close out this episode together. And that's why I say it's what I've been building towards and looking forward to because, as our listeners heard over the course of the last hour, we started off, of course, with Karen, your new GM for Canada, who started a year ago, who's an American, and she told us all the reasons why she's moved here. And I know your daughter lives here, so you have a connection to Canada as well. But she lives in Vancouver and she talked all about the Canadian market and why Virtuoso is the right choice in the Canadian market for luxury and a lot of the stats about how rapidly this market is growing here in Canada. And then, of course, we've had now the rest of your global leadership team who attend all the nine events. And we then went to Michael Lundrigan, who you obviously work with very closely and sub-sorry. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:51:06

He's Aussie.

SPEAKER_06 1:51:09

In case you didn't couldn't tell. Right after we recorded, I actually went and saw him on stage. And it was just that he he leaned right into the full Aussie experience, and it was great. But he highlighted to us, uh Matthew, that you know, with new his new role as you've created this new structure and yourself and the team being global, you have a new GM for the U.S. He oversees all these nine GMs. And he was very uh very humble and he had a lot of humility in his uh presentation because as he highlighted, there's very little he can control. He's really coaching and working with all these different markets, but he's allowing them to thrive in their role. That's one of the things that's always stood out to me about the culture at Virtuoso, getting to know you, getting to know the team, is that you very much have a uh you let people shine in your organization, and I see that here. So tell everyone a little bit just about the culture of Virtuoso, because you're the one that's really set the tone for this culture and all the people that they've just heard from over the course of this episode.

SPEAKER_05 1:52:05

Yeah, but you know what? Uh this is my 40th anniversary uh of doing this thing called Virtuoso. Uh I was 24 years old when I started, so you do the math, it's kind of simple math. But I'll answer that by saying that my life was changed when I met the original founders of the original co-op that was started in 1950. We talked about it in the last podcast. But that culture was really set by them. I mean, what I loved about them was that not only were they amazing professionals and artisans and whatever, but I love the culture of coming together to do something. It's always always been my favorite definition of leadership, the ability to get people to set aside some reasonable amount of self-interest in order to do something together you couldn't do alone. Um, and you know, when you become global, multi-generational, you know, that diversity sometimes it's it's it's not always easy, but that culture really comes from that. And it also comes from another very practical thing. You know, my my family, my father was one of the founders of USTOA. We were in the corporate travel business in the 80s, second largest corporate travel agency in the in in Dallas Fort Worth. Um, but what I what I learned in this career is that this is a business where you can't tell anybody what to do because they're all independent businesses. Right. I can't tell the partners what to do, I can't tell the members what to do. But you know what? When I look back on 40 years, it's actually a pretty cool way of doing business because it forces you to always think, well, why the heck would they want to do it? Right? Since I can't force them to do it. Yeah. Um, and so that that that whole idea of like, you know, uh how we shine together and what we do and what what our role as leadership is supposed to be, it's to unlock value, to help people to come together, to be able to unlock value in the way in which they express their own unique I that's one of the reasons I love the word virtuoso, because it's like, you know, we provide paints and brushes and colors and canvases and all that, but the unique way in which every individual advisor, agency, partner, whatever, and the way they own paint their own picture is what makes it artistry.

David Kolner: Trends, Demand, And Booking Ahead

SPEAKER_06 1:54:29

Yeah, well, Michael certainly exemplified that on stage because that when he made that comment about he doesn't have much he can control, and he looked over you and you laughed, and he laughed. And it was this, you know, it was nice to see this dynamic of a team that works together, that you're kind of all in this together. And it wasn't this kind of um this central leadership boss kind of mentality, all of a sudden he's you know he's shivering on stage because he's looking over at his boss. He was actually, it was, it was, it was a really nice moment of humor, but it highlighted to me the culture and the environment of being here. And I just wanted to share that because I only just met Michael, so that was a first time for me. The two other people that our listeners have just heard from, obviously, dear friends and colleagues of yours, Jennifer Campbell, who runs all of your global events. Uh, that was great to finally speak to her for the very first time. I've seen her on stage, and she's amazing at Virtuocial Travel Week on stage. And she also, like you, is a great storyteller. She has a lovely accent as well. So, like it was actually it was really nice to be able to hear her voice and spend more time with her here. And then David Colner, who is like, you know, one of the big standouts every time on stage, he's hilarious. I loved his whole repertoire about his teenage kids and all the lingo that he now knows. And so he's obviously just told us about the trends. But what I'd love to come back to with you being here, Matthew, because it is a special privilege and an honor for everybody uh that's here that you're at this particular event. This is the one main Canadian event out of nine they're running here that uh you're coming to. And knowing that Canada holds a special place in your heart as well, tell us a little bit about the Canadian market from your vantage point, like why the Canadian market is important to Virtuoso and what are some of the things that you're seeing in this market that made you want to be a part of this?

SPEAKER_05 1:56:03

Well, first of all, I mean, I love these forums because first of all, when you know when you go to Virtuoso Travel Week, it seems like we're huge. When I go to all these forums around the world, you actually come to realize just how small we are. I mean, remember this. We're actually less than 600 what we call parent members, right? So they have branches and all this. That's still a relatively small. What I'm very proud of is their engagement. So the reason I love here, first of all, Canada, uh I love the fact that by having the Canada Forum, we allow our Canadian, you know, the forums are around agency management and ownership, and it's about sharing best practices, ideas, thought leadership, but that is very focused on this particular on Canada it itself. And I think that one of the things that I one of the reasons that I really uh like the Canadian Forum, I think the Canadian luxury traveler is a bit of a bellwether to where in the US and in a couple of other places the luxury travel is going. And that you heard a lot today about the Canadian traveler being more about it's not the size of your suite, it's how you make me feel. There's kind of a humility to it, there's a there's a authenticity to it. And actually, when you look at some of the research about how luxury is changing, that's I think Canadian luxury travelers are kind of a bellwether and kind of a precursor to that much more sophisticated, less glitzy, more meaningful, you know, more connected uh type of luxury travel that we're seeing evolve in all markets.

SPEAKER_06 1:57:51

Yeah, I love hearing that, especially from your vantage point, because clearly being based here, I have a special affinity for the Canadian market. But my role has always been global and similar to yours. Obviously, we worked together for a number of years. When I was at the Travel Corporation and even G Adventures, all these companies that are part of the Virtuoso ecosystem, and always having a global perspective, which is unique. And Michael was highlighting that, the importance of diversifying, especially for partners being across markets, but trying to identify opportunities within a market and figuring out what of those you can apply to other regions. So seeing what's happening in Canada, and the numbers certainly were astounding. And Karen for sure highlighted a number of important points, a couple of obviously just um underscored there. But the idea that one of the things that she shared that stood out for me that I also really enjoyed is that along this line of Canadian humility, one of the things that we don't do or that we're less likely to do is kind of show off our travels, that we're actually genuinely looking for that deeper meaning. And I had shared with her that I had an aunt and uncle that are in Atlanta that are wealthy and they sent a uh postcard around at Christmas time. Um that it was their grand trips with their grandkids when it was a grand year, and it was like very self-indulgent. I was like, it's like that's what's happening today with multi-generational travel. But I was like, that was you know, that's from our American aunt and uncle. The Canadians would not have said that exact same postcard, right?

SPEAKER_05 1:59:07

But nevertheless, I well no, the Canadian postcard would have said sorry. We took a grand trip with our grandkids and sorry again.

SPEAKER_06 1:59:16

Oh, that's so true. That's so true. Well, let's let's let's look look at the global perspective now, because this is where having this time together is so valuable to get an understanding of what else is happening around the world. You guys are on your uh world tour at the moment. You've had the U.S. forum, you're here in Canada, and then it continues. Tell us a little bit about the other forums and how you are approaching them based on kind of what you'll learn here in Canada. And then as your leadership team travels around, how do these forums fit together as part of the overall global strategy for Virtuoso?

Economy Outlook And Jobs Growth

SPEAKER_05 1:59:49

Well, we have, you know, the way we talk about it inside of Virtuoso is we say that we strive to be globally consistent but regionally relevant. And what that does is that what are those things that really define who Virtuoso is that ought to be consistent around the world? Um and it's interesting because I've been doing this long enough. I remember I remember when we went to Europe and whatever. Oh, Matthew, don't bother, everything's here. Greater China, where everybody, you know, they oh my God, it's hyper competitive in Greater China. It is, but it's been really interesting to see when you have a philosophy, when you have a particular North Star or the Northern Lights here, there's something about what is that, and I think at the core is, you know, we've been talking about human connection for decades. Now it's become a very in thing to say, but you know, when you look back on some of the guides that we've had, you know, uh she's coming back this year, Dr. Brene Brown is coming back after 15 years, Simon Sinek, Stephen Bartlett, and all this stuff. Those human, those core human things, people may travel to different places, have different habits, different times of the years, and this and that and the other. But you know, when I did five, you know, when I did five forums in five weeks on five continents last year, the number one thing that I that I kind of stepped away from was actually how much we have in common. And I think that what happens is that those things, and then from a forum perspective, different parts of the world, different competitive sets, different destinations, different distribution model variations, or who's the lead player, etc. Um for example, one to give you a real s specific example, one of the biggest challenges in the Middle East and in Asia is that in most of our Western countries, right, and even in Latin America, the advisor has a very personal one-to-one actually talking to the traveler. In some cultures like the Middle East and in Asia, some of these very wealthy people, they're they're that the advisor hasn't gotten there. So you get lost in translation because of the the assistance, the whatever, and the and the advisor never actually gets to speak to the actual traveler. Um now that's starting to change with some of the younger generations, right? Um but that's a real example of that. So when we go around the world, the way these forums change is what's happening here. So for example, you know, I I I've been using this example for a while. You're not gonna talk about the evolution of landline telephony when you go to Kenya, because Kenya never had a lot of landlines, but they skipped landlines and went straight to mobile phones. And in fact, a lot of Americans and Canadians don't realize I mean Kenyans in the slums in Nairobi were already making phone payments on their mobile phones long before we ever got Apple Pay or Google Pay or whatever. They were doing it 10 years before we did. So you've got to adapt to where where is that market, what what are the what are the parameters there. But then what we're also here to do is help shape, hey, this is what we're learning around the world, and this is how you can expect, and this is this is the evolution of, you know, how did you get a bunch of lawyers to become travel advisors, right? How did what wording, what what are the systems, etc. So and and that's one of the when when we first when I first met with I'll never forget the day, when I first met with a group of about 20 some odd prospects for our first Middle Eastern members, it the the the conversation started with as you would expect, amenities and this, and what are the deals and blah blah blah, and but we already have this, we already have that, whatever. But by the end of a two-hour conversation, we shifted the whole thing to say, yes, those are there, those will always be, you know, it's kind of like a whack-a-mole thing. But what really shaped that meeting was the ability to shorten the learning time of an organization that freely shares information because when you're in the human connection business, you know, the reason that technology companies always use words of domination is because in tech up forward and tech only, it's possible to be 90% of search, 80% of something. When you're in a human connection business, it's nearly impossible. So the best way to win is through smart collaboration.

SPEAKER_06 2:04:46

Well, you mentioned Brene Brown in your presentation this morning, and I want to come to that in a minute because I want to talk about Virtuoso Travel Week. I'm thrilled that she's back. One of the things you highlighted though, Matthew, that very much is aligned with the values of the organization that you've created and your approach to business is that she talked about the fact that, and this is 15 years ago, that we're gonna be more driven to travel and to travel advisors as technology continues to evolve. And you talked a lot about things that scare us and excite us, and the combination of those two things is what drives innovation. And I just want to share this with all of our listeners because you know, speaking to someone like you, very much for me is similar to speaking to someone like Joe Pine, a legend in our industry, that it's when you look back, you realize the vision. And I know when you spoke on stage today, you also highlighted, I don't have a grand plan. And you just and you kind of owned that moment, but in a way that actually you've proven over time. And this is when you when you think back 40 years, but even say 20, 25 years, you know, the change of this industry and the idea of creating the concept of travel advisors that you very much pioneered. Even when other industries like banking was moving away from tellers, my mom was a teller, you know, and she eventually became a financial advisor. And that was it, became a career. And you highlighted the big ifs, the big what-ifs. What if we scaled human connection to compete against other types of scale? What if travel advising became a respected high earning profession? What if people valued experiences over possessions? What if advising could stay meaningful in the face of all these exponential generational tech shifts? And here we are in 2026. You have come true. It's all come true. That's you have human connection at scale. You have respected high-earning professionals that love being part of the Virtuosa network. We absolutely have seen, and Joe Pine predicted this with his work of experience economy, experiences over possessions. And even in the face of a tech-driven world, you have advisors that people value more than ever. So this to me is like congratulations, well done. But I'm the but then everyone turns around and say, Well, what next, right? So tell us a little bit about that, because obviously you've got the forums, you've built this incredible, your role has changed, you've changed up the executive team. One of the things you also share with the audience today was this latest framework. Tell us a little bit about that. Because I found that I didn't understand that part of how the business has changed. And I think that might be of interest to our listeners as well.

SPEAKER_05 2:07:06

This is a great challenge because I can be a little bit a little verbose. So this actually gives you an opportunity. I think the greatest way for me to describe is, you know, our membership, our partners, that you know, they expect a lot out of us. And the way I put it forth is that coming out of COVID, you know, we we we did a lot of work, and then we hit an inflection point where we were having certain circular conversations and the amount of time, and so sending out hundreds of pages of legalese and nine documents and a whole new framework so that we could actually have a new framework to have difficult conversations. It it seems counterintuitive, right? But the whole point is you need to have like a new uh a new understanding so that you can say, Hey, here's what I need from you. So what I said was specifically is like if you mean what what is virtuoso gonna do to keep us ahead, what I said was that's scary for me if you define that as what are you gonna do to keep us ahead. It's exciting for me, as it has been for the last 40 years, if it's defined as what are we going to do? Because at the end of the day, Virtuoso can do nothing by itself. So I love that. I I love that. So the framework just allows us to have what are the things that how can we deliver value to a much more diverse group of members and and partners around the world. But then what are the things that we're going to be able to really kind of double down on are the things that we need to do. In the nicest possible way, I I I cannot have a circular uh discussion with somebody about the value of data. Now, I understand GDPR, I understand this. We got our ISO 2000 certification last year. It's one of the most incredibly painful things I've ever been through. But we did that to show that. So part of it is if you want me to help, if we're going to work together to figure out how we collectively stay ahead, we have to have a new ground, a new playbook, and we have to have certain things that are fundamental to our ability to move forward.

SPEAKER_06 2:09:22

Well, the part that stood out to me about that was that you know Virtuoso is a global organization, but there's still so much opportunity for growth in the market you're in and in the new markets. And so getting that framework right and having a global team and having all the right GMs in place.

AI Adoption: Uses And Gaps

SPEAKER_05 2:09:37

Well, and I want to go back to what you said earlier that I was just thinking when you said that. I do want to go back to I think this is one of the when I was preparing my my talk for this year and and around this new framework and all that. One of the things that I want to spend less time on, and this is why it was in my talk, and I'm glad you you it stood out to you, is when you see something that threatens you or you simply don't like, it's really important to have the discipline to first stop before you dismiss it, before you criticize it, before you whatever, stop and have the discipline to say, okay, this is I may not like this, this threatens me, but what could possibly be right about it and why is it happening and what could I learn? Doesn't mean it's for you. It doesn't mean it's for you. It could in in fact it could very much be the opposite of what is for you. But in that, in that understanding, you can actually make your business better. And I'll give you an example of this, a real example from 25 years ago when the first agency in the US gave away a hundred percent of their commission to advise to ICs and everybody was up in arms. Oh my god, this is somebody even called it immoral. And the the chair of our member advisory board goes, since when is a business model immoral? I mean, it's long they're not trafficking drugs or whatever. But you know what it did? It focused everybody. How do you create value? And the reality is it did not take over the world, it has its place, and everybody overestimates these things. And so I just want to keep people focused on don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. And when you see something, make sure that you use it as an opportunity to go deeper and understand what could be good about it.

SPEAKER_06 2:11:32

Well, one of the faint the one of the phrases that you're famous for, Matthew, is automating the predictable so you can humanize the exceptional. And it's actually quite a profound statement, and a number of people uh I sometimes it gets misquoted and it's like but people but the the sentiment is always there that people know what that means. And is even uh inspiration for my talk tomorrow. I'm gonna talk about agentic AI and transformational travel, and but the idea that you lean into the things that humans are uniquely uh skilled at, and that is you. know being empathetic that AI doesn't, you know, is not empathetic. That's just like that. Technology has always been a really important and part of the business, continues to be. And it's one of the ones I always see you get asked questions about technology. I know you have our good friend Gilad Berenstein, who's been on our podcast multiple times. He's a great friend of mine, I know he's on your board and obviously a great friend of yours as well. And he's a leading light in AI and travel technology. And so you surround yourself with you know smart people, you very much focus on the technology. You're always getting asked this question about travel advisors getting replaced. And you've been answering that question for 25 plus years. And here we are in this age of agentic AI and the same question is coming up. I'd love to hear your take on that because whenever I see someone ask you a question and I saw it at the Virtuoso Travel Week and you were doing the press session with Misty and the team and someone and I, you know, when when I see a let's say a junior journalist ask you a question, I'm like, oh here we go. This is like and you hit this one out of the park. Someone asked you a question it was about and we haven't had a chance to talk about this because this was after Vegas and then I was after the Forbes travel guide when we recorded together and you kindly invited me to the um uh virtual travel week and uh which was extraordinary and when I'm sitting there in the press because I got I was part of the press team thanks to Misty and the team and I the journalist asked you a question about isn't everything going direct? What is the role of travel advisors anymore? And you gave an example about intrepid travel and you said look at look look at the companies that are here. The most successful companies are channel agnostic they they they sell direct they sell through trade partners and it's like and it was and it I mean obviously uh no one else could say it any better because you got that experience but for me I was sitting there was just like this guy gets it like this is exactly what I've understood about the industry that other people just you know a throwaway line like that. So but as it relates to technology Matthew tell us a bit about your view in 2026 about where we find ourselves and how virtuoso approaches that especially with you know the tech uh summit that you guys host every year.

SPEAKER_05 2:13:58

Well my latest you know um I'm I'm an irritative thinker and when you think about some of these things and how they come back the language you use whatever so what I'm the most excited about so automate the the automate the predictable AI is the mother of all automate the predictable. What's really interesting though is that and and this is what the the the and Gilad talks about this and by the way back to this whole thing about why do you think a certain way and things like that. The reason Gilad Bernstein and I became good friends is because and by the way it's such a beautiful story I was introduced to Gilad by a guy that did some consulting with us who was the number three top finance guy at Microsoft and his name was Hani Iman and he was Palestinian and he says hey there's this young Israeli kid that started this new company that so much parrots so you know it's like based exactly on what you believe in. And I remember having that that first lunch with Gilad and he was and the reason we became friends is he was way ahead of the curve with this whole idea about that that the combination of technology with human connection was that was the sweet spot. So today fast forward all these years what's really what's starting to happen with AI is that first of all building AI agents is becoming like raising a child. What are you feeding it? And if you look at all these memes and all the stuff on social media you know Claude is the professor chat GPT is the the gopher and that but I I don't even remember all but there's all these and we're starting to see that in the building like the new the hottest new thing is open claw right that now creates all these connections to WhatsApp to this to that to that and that and what's so interesting is the half-life of having a tech competitive advantage is shrinking insanely fast. Absolutely so every business that thinks they're gonna have a badass competitive moat when it comes to technology the half-life of that moat is getting shorter and shorter and shorter. There are startups that are software companies that have zero engineers and the AI is writing all the code I mean there's all this stuff that's going on. What's interesting is so anyway that's all happening we've got a lot of stuff going on we believe in having an ecosystem approach but on the humanized exceptional that's the part that's really exciting me but the first thing I want to say about humanized exceptional is that one of my things that's really come back to me now is just because something is simple doesn't mean it's easy like staying fit like eating healthy like whatever because we're all humans. And so what's really interesting is when you think about uh Will Gadara unreasonable hospitality the highest score ever recorded at BTW and why was Will because he was basically validating that hospitality I love I mean it's I I've got a great memory but I'm not a great memorizer but I love Will's super simple description we c we should never say that we're in service we're in hospitality doesn't mean you run a hotel because Will's definition of hospitality is service is that thing you do hospitality is how you make people feel doing that thing you do. Which by the way that thing you do fill in the blank it could be a plumber it could be a lawyer it could be anything we're emotional animals. And so what I'm really excited about is we're starting to go really deep into not it's no longer a platitude. In Dubai two years ago we already started uh doing research on how is AI going to change human behavior. What do we need to do? What are the things so we're we're now really gonna focus deeply into what does it mean to humanize exceptional yeah and I think that's the competitive advantage.

Traveler Behaviors: Family, Solo, Multi-Stop

SPEAKER_06 2:18:01

I mean certainly you mentioned the word moat and startups talking about the fact that the moat I see and I'll obviously be mentioning this in my keynote tomorrow but again a lot of my work is inspired uh by leaders in the space including yourself and one of the things that stood out to me when I look at tech great technology but then great companies that really do customer service well and stay very close to the customer really understand. And that was something that was really uh drilled into me from the Tolman family for sure Stanley Tolman in particular was this idea of stay close to the customer. He used to tell this story about his grandfather coming and finding him uh when his first opened his restaurant uh only having one customer on the main floor he was standing upstairs feeling sorry for himself looking out the window at a place across the street that was lined up around the corner his dad came up to him and said what are you doing standing up here? And he said I'm trying to figure out what the competition is doing. And he said son stop feeling sorry for yourself go downstairs stand next to your customer tonight you'll have two stand next to them tomorrow night you'll have four then you'll have eight that's how you build a business. You take care of your customer and so many of these things and this is why I think it's such an important point serve as a distraction and but now more than ever and this is why markets got rattled in the last couple of weeks and you're right about um especially with Claude all of a sudden any of these companies that have existed for the last 15 or 20 years like Shopify and Salesforce and others that have built these technology platforms well turns out you can make that on a weekend now with these tools. And so they don't have the competitive advantage that and so markets have been rattled but when it comes to the human connection this is where we're so fortunate to be in the travel industry because this is where people are seeking refuge now more than ever. And so I think that humanizing the exceptional you know that um is what more and more customers partners are going to be leaning into and so I think that that phrase was maybe even ahead of its time and it's going to become more relevant now in the age of AI. I've had people on our podcast like uh Jake Halpert runs the Transformational travel council and he says AI is the best thing that ever happened to travel because people are going to realize just how valuable the travel industry is and the people that work within it. 100% so let's let's let's let's zoom out and talk about virtuoso travel week because you mentioned Bernie Brown and you also mentioned two other people that I also respect and admire and I've obviously had had the chance to see Stephen Bartlett on stage when you brought him into the conference you brought in um as you mentioned Simon Sinak as well I had a chance to see him that was and so for me you were ahead of the curve by identifying those people as thought leaders. I mean it's two years ago you brought in Stephen Bartlett and all of a sudden now he's everywhere. He is the Joe Rogan of the UK podcasting and global podcasting. He's based in LA his career is completely taken off and you had him on on the main stage and I still remember too Matthew it really made me laugh and this goes back to that point about humility and the culture is you were at your son was there and you were asking what uh uh asked Stephen Bartlett what his role work in a call center. Yes exactly that was his answer he was like tell your son to work at a call center because that's how he got his start and the crowd laughed yeah and it was like I'm sure your son was like I don't really want to do that. Oh no he's gonna work at a call center they have a service center at Virgosa so I just it was anyway it was a really nice moment but um but Brett A Brown so obviously I'm thrilled yeah go for it's hard yeah but actually Steven's appearance I have the video which is I've used it a number of times what was so cool about this though Dan is that some of what happens when there's so many people that use the words human connection and all this and it gets co-opted yeah can you imagine how incredible what it made me feel like Stephen Bartlett was on that trajectory.

SPEAKER_05 2:21:36

He arrived in the evening I didn't see him until literally 20 minutes before stage time in the in the green room and hello Stephen blah blah blah great you know we blah blah blah blah blah and and he says in the back he goes man the energy around here right he said that yeah and I'm like okay all right ready to go that's we get on stage and the first thing I said was hey Steven you told me backstage that you felt this energy could you could you tell the audience what you're talking about and I'll I mean I have the video it's like one of my most precious videos he goes yeah I mean the energy in this place is just amazing but then what I didn't know he was going to say which is by the way very Canadian he literally goes the energist room and then he said and you could feel the kindness in the hallways nice I mean this is a guy that I had just met who talks at Apple and this and Davos and whatever he came he felt it yeah we didn't talk about it he felt it and that's what's going to be really interesting because that's the other quote I used in my talk this this you know today was Adam Mazarri the head of the head of uh Instagram he says you know authenticity is becoming you know replicable or at least fake authenticity which is kind of funny but he says so basically people are are are are switching from trusting what they see to who they trust. And by the way that trust isn't just I think here's the other thing I think that trust isn't just we this is this whole idea humanized exceptional one of the books that we recommend and we actually talked it we actually had him do a thing when we were in COVID I can't remember his name but there's a wonderful book called The Trusted Advisor. And it's not about travel it's about the tr advisory business and I think that's what's really interesting is think about it. We need to go deeper. When you say trust it doesn't mean let me just put it bluntly you know I'm not gonna I'm not gonna get screwed right it literally means no no no no I trust that energetically we're a good match. I trust that you'll tell me something that I may not want to hear or we need to go to these levels of understanding. And by the way I think that one of the things that I would say particularly with an advisor I one of the things I've always told advisors about gratitude is I said you know you should actually be really grateful about one very specific thing that's unique to advisors. You don't have to deal with everybody if you're a hotelier or whatever unless somebody's trashing your hotel but you have that so trust we're not really a good match. Yeah and that's one of the most powerful things the number one thing that I have observed in my career differentiates the best advisors is that the best advisors the client is as concerned about the advisor firing them as the other way around well and I can think one person that stands out Ellie Wagner.

Differentiation And Avoiding Sameness

SPEAKER_06 2:24:40

Yeah Wagner bespoke you brought her on stage and she was a former lawyer attorney became a travel advisor loves what she's done her business has grown you highlighted she's doing a million dollars a month after starting this company only like two years before now it's over two million there you go see and it's and but that's a type of individual that exemplifies exactly what you mean. Yeah and so and and you can see that people want to be a customer they want to fly on those now private jets and go to Italy and see the things that she's promoting on social media. So the other thing I wanted um with this journey that you're on in 2026 being here in February in Calgary thankfully it's warm you guys the whole the whole team was delighted that we brought out the good weather I'm in Toronto it's minus 30 down there. So it's um it's it's lovely to be here in Calgary as well. But tell us what's ahead in 2026 and specifically virtuoso travel week and that's why I wanted to ask you about Brene Brown again because it is 15 years in the making and again you were ahead of the curve of bringing her in she is you know and so I I'm gonna I'm I'm gonna be excited to be there and to see her reaction to Virtuoso 15 years later. And I know obviously you're delighted to be bringing her back. But yeah tell us Matthew about some of the exciting developments and plans in store for Virtuoso over the course of 26 leading up to being back in at the Bellagio in August.

SPEAKER_05 2:25:55

Well I mean for us uh our priorities is our continued evolution of our globalization the addition of a general manager for the U.S. last year was a really big deal because it now means that that the team that wakes up every day doesn't wake up thinking about what do we do for the U.S. but instead what how do we build systems and processes and things that are configurable. So configuration is a big part of that. The other thing that we're really focused on this year is really um uh a whole nother level of how we're going to implement um AI in our digital experience um and we have a very different you know we Virtuoso the nature of virtuoso we're we can't be a singular platform you know being you know a singular way of doing business in virtuoso is not the way we're going. We're actually going by really focusing on, which is by the way kind of deliciously ironic that one of the core ways we're going to support technology is through APIs. Funny enough that that was our name before Allied Personal International but the ability for us to provide APIs to to improve the data, the way we ingest data, the way we provide data, because everybody is building you know today you have small entrepreneurial businesses that have access to platforms that are more powerful than Fortune 500 companies had only five years ago.

SPEAKER_07 2:27:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:27:18

Right? Because people are spending trillions of dollars with data centers and all that. So that uh focusing on on our talent and our capabilities um uh and then also creating a lot more flexibility in the way that we are able to provide diverse value uh to to our members um and then the last is also on the consumer engagement piece you know how do we basically help uh evolve the way the language the ways the mediums in which we're able to to get people to focus on the value of a travel advisor and it's funny because some of the things some of the things that I think are going to become very valuable this year in the next five years they're not new they're actually things that some of our members and some people have already used but it didn't it is like the right circumstances weren't there for it to scale at a level of importance that I think is is now going to happen. So for example right now every single I I've been saying this for a while but we have this framework called the collaborative travel planning process but it's a framework about how do you how do you identify and break down the value proposition of what a true holistic advising relationship does how do you add value before the trip during the trip and after the trip so this is not a new piece of information we have data over the last decades that the single most the single most valuable thing that differentiates a transactional relationship with a travel agent versus long-term holistic relationship with a travel advisor is the quality of debriefing after the trip because it creates a learning relationship. This is where AI and relationships but people are also going to be so there's a whole lot of things that I actually think is a combination of new capabilities with things that have been around a while but that get kind of remixed together into very powerful um ways of adding new value.

SPEAKER_06 2:29:24

Well and to make your point isn't it really interesting I'm glad you actually brought this up because tomorrow when I talk about agentic AI I'm then going to talk about transformational travel. And this is the year that I've kind of coined and many others clearly see it similarly is that I believe that this is the year that transformational travel enters the zeitgeist that people start talking about having a transformational trip. But all the elements have been there all along all the product that you're selling that is adventure, the things that are polar even the things that are luxury the things and I when I was preparing my presentation and I'll share it with all of our listeners that will could benefit from seeing it as well after uh this podcast is aired but is that looking at the Virtuoso event and the power of human connection and the fact that people want to come back changed and people want to experience places more deeply. And it's like all of these things are pointing in the direction to this is you know Maslow's hierarchy of needs, self-actualization this is what we've been talking about as a travel industry for at least 10 years or more and why people are choosing these types of trips and all of a sudden it's now once once you actually define it you can actually better message it, market it, and people can come into a virtuoso advisor saying I'm looking for a really transformational travel experience. What would you suggest? And well there's here's five different companies we work with when I looked at the list of the companies who are going to be here in Calgary it started standing out to me. All of a sudden project expeditions when you look at um certainly even Quark and Nash Nat Geographic Lindblad expeditions you start to look at the companies that are part of the network and all these adventure travel companies.

SPEAKER_05 2:30:53

But you know what's interesting there is also the fact that as you know particularly my wife and I have you know but Jessica you know we've been talking about sustainability for what we're coming on over almost 20 years where we started our sustainability boards, whatever. But one of the messages I have and we've been talking about this is that we knew this was the the the the research that we had is the number of people that walk in and said give me a sustainable trip is minus exactly yeah but here's what we've been telling the advisors and then the partners help us be better storytellers because bottom line I first want a great experience but if you can make it easy on me to feel good about who I gave my money to that's it that's it then I your value in my life right goes up because you made it easy for me to do that. That's just it so I mean there's there's so much opportunity there and it's not just those guys it's it's individual properties. I mean I I there's there's one of our members is in Portugal this beautiful little property and they were talking to me about how the the local nonas you know were making the breads and doing this and what they did whatever and I said why the hell are you talking about that and the irony was that some of the people that are doing some of the best work are the ones that are all worried, oh, I don't want to boast about it. I don't want to brag about it. I don't want to be I'm gonna be criticized and when I say it's like are you kidding me? The people going to criticize you are going to criticize you anyway. Give me the material to help me tell your story better about how you're not just an expenditure.

Matthew Upchurch: Culture And Globalization

SPEAKER_06 2:32:29

Yeah. Yeah well and it goes back to where even our last conversation and some of the insights you shared with me, which I was telling Matthew before we sat down just now that they've stayed with me and I've referenced them from time to time as our listeners have heard on the podcast that half of the baby boomers retired, the other half will retire in the next five years, the generational wealth transfer, all these factors at play that are showing how society's changing and people's uh priorities and including a younger generation that is also valuing more experiences over possessions. They're less likely to save for a home or save for retirement they're going to spend on experiences and in many ways I think they have their priorities right. And you've got the older generation that is focusing on active trips and wellness and things around like longevity. So for them it's all about this you know how can they how can a travel experience be truly transformative and half the solo female travelers are widowed or divorced. And so that is also like this how our world is changing, customers are changing and then these people that are turning up to the resort and what their expectations are.

SPEAKER_05 2:33:27

So you have been heading this way all along I'm just excited that we're now able to have this conversation and and and and actually you know I I realized I want to give you something that just came to me as you were saying this though is when you say what's up for virtuoso, I ended my talk by saying I didn't start with a grand plan and I don't have a grand plan now. What I do have is I'm doubling down on values, I'm doubling down on what whatever, and I'm also doubling down on something I think is really important quality over quantity because I think that's and one of the things one of my big soapboxes right now and going into the future is how do we how do you reward quality and not just quantity because what happens is if you just reward quantity you distort the market right and then what happens so that's that's a big one for me um as as we go forward and that doesn't just mean that's quality quite I I had a um Lindsay who used to work for Singita I'll never forget this moment in my life we were in Melbourne and she comes up she goes I'm mad at you because you can't fill up my entire all my camps and I'm like I'm doing my best you know we're doing we do a pretty good job she goes I'm just pulling your chain she goes but I want to tell you that not a hundred percent that would be not true but I have to tell you that we get reports back from our camps that the vast majority of time the clients that come to the virtual advisors just appreciate who we are and what we do at a deeper level.

SPEAKER_06 2:35:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:35:03

And I think that's incredible.

SPEAKER_06 2:35:05

Yeah yeah no I completely agree. And one last question for you Matthew and we'll close off with this because I saw the room react when you talked about what scares you and excites you because those are real emotions. You know that's exactly the fight or flight um which is so innate for all of us. And and so when you think about what scares you and excites you and I'm not going to ask you what scares you and excites you. What I'm specifically keen to understand is that what makes you like what you know when you jump out of bed in the morning and you clearly love what you do what are you most optimistic about about travel in 2026 and beyond what what what motivates you every day to keep getting better, doing you know leading this organization because I keep seeing how you guys are evolving, changing, innovating it's always dynamic, it's always exciting and obviously you work relentlessly you travel so much.

SPEAKER_05 2:35:55

What is it for you that keeps you so optimistic and enthusiastic well I mean I think for me it it's it's the the whole idea of I mean what's always driven me is always always trying to be always trying to figure out where in where in those things that scare you what where's the opportunity? How can you do something together? What and what what feeds me is being able to put together teams of great people and then an organization that basically comes together to solve things. And I I've I you know it's funny I I years ago I did a talk and I said you know actually I don't think my shtick has changed since I ran for class present in the eighth grade which was like I will work my you know what off as long as we're in this together. And you know uh a few years ago when I had a lifetime achievement award my family was there whatever and I've always said to my family and to my kids I said you know we don't just run a business. This is not a normal business. We we are shepherding something that I was lucky enough to kind of I was entrusted with and we've been able to evolve it over time and for me it's it's that ability and as long as we can add value and keep pushing the envelope and find people that are that we can that that believe what we believe. You know Simon Sinek you know everybody knows Simon for Start with Why Leaders Eat Last but one of my favorite books if you want to think about how you know he's such a genius and becomes such a good friend but the book The Infinite Game is one of my favorite books of his and it starts with what is your greater purpose right and for me it has always been this whole idea about the role of travel and technology in shepherding human connection.

SPEAKER_06 2:37:49

That's fantastic Matthew well I know you listen to a lot of podcasts I appreciate you making time for this I was so looking forward to this conversation and as always it exceeded my expectations I'm sure our listeners so thoroughly enjoyed it. So thank you for making the time and obviously I look forward to seeing you later this year and congratulations on all the progress and success. Wonderful to have you here in Canada and I look forward to seeing you over the course of the year.

SPEAKER_05 2:38:10

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_06 2:38:11

Thanks again Matthew it was so great to sit down with you again and also have the opportunity to sit down with several of the global executive team members Michael Londrigan who came all the way from Sydney Australia to be here. He's the SVP of Global Partnerships as you heard giving us the global context of why he has come to this event. Jennifer Campbell the SVP of Global Events someone that I also greatly respect and admire as part of the Virtuoso network given I've been to a number of Virtuoso travel weeks that have been truly extraordinary. So it's great to speak to you and have the opportunity to sit down and record together. And then David Colner, the executive vice president of global communications fantastic to be able to meet you in person and get that time together over the last couple of days and record this. And of course Karen Hardy the GM for Canada thank you so much Karen Ryan and the Virtuoso Canada team for bringing us in to record this event Spotlight and for giving me the opportunity to give a keynote at this event as well as the upcoming events in Toronto and Vancouver. So make sure that if you're listening to this and those events are still upcoming that you register and plan to join us. And as Karen reminded me all of the presentations including my keynote are available on the app. So definitely check that out for more details. If you're new to Virtuoso you can find out more information at virtuoso.com and for those of you who are going to be attending Virtuoso Travel week in Las Vegas in August at the Bellagio I look forward to seeing many of you again there at that event and please make sure that you register to attend the travel tech day the day before put on by my good friends Gillad Berenstein and Barbara Joseph definitely don't miss that. I hope you enjoyed all these valuable conversations to highlight what's happening in the Canadian luxury travel market and Virtuoso's important role in this industry and in this market. It was fantastic for me to be here wonderful to catch up with so many friends and colleagues thanks again for this opportunity wishing you and the team all the best success in the year ahead and don't forget we do post clips and highlights on our social channels at Travel Trends Podcast on LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram thanks again for joining us and until next episode safe travels