In 2007 PhoCusWright undertook a comprehensive study of the travel agency marketplace in the U.S. "The purpose was to acquire a rich and complete picture of the total market size and opportunity, as well to identify key trends and dynamics shaping this important distribution channel", said Lorraine Sileo, Vice President,  Research at PhoCusWright.

Sporting a prestigious group of industry sponsors, the Report takes on tough distribution issues with great clarity. That's no surprise to those of us who have observed the research firm's stellar tracking of online travel since 1998.

In succeeding issues of Lux 360 we will report our observations on PhoCusWright Findings
in this space, and probe as deeply via interviews as sponsors of this  private study may permit.
For now, here are just a few highlights gleaned from the Report:

Having just returned from this exceptional American Express conference - exceptional content and conversation delivered in the exceptional environment of the Four Seasons Westlake Village Hotel in California - I immediately wanted to share some top line insights with all of you.

It has been many years since a brief stint in my daughter’s travel agency led me to the Weissmann Travel Reports, and then to a very successful partnership with Arnie Weissmann in developing the Reports as an online service.  Even in those olden days—late 1980s—we referred to WTR as a Concierge Resource.

But more! Particularly in the luxury sector, frontline marketers are expected to have an MC degree—Master Concierge—and to offer services that reflect the best concierge mindset.  The growth of ‘agent as concierge’ is closely connected with at-your-fingertips internet and telephone service on a global basis, to any destination.

We asked Arnie, Editor in Chief of Travel Weekly, to share his thoughts about this broader role—its impact on customer loyalty, upselling, and more

Many years ago, in 1970, just after we (Ziff-Davis Publishing) acquired Travel Weekly and Hotel & Travel Index, I persuaded the legendary anthropologist, Margaret Mead, to chair a series of symposia on What Makes Some People Travel, and Others Stay Home?
 
Our expert panels included economists, researchers, psychologists. The audience participants were top brand travel executives. The discussions were lively, thoughtful, challenging, and somehow always ended with Dr. Mead saying, "Well, we have probably raised more questions than we have answered, but that's the way it should be if the journey is to end profitably for all of us."

In many ways the same spirit drives and informs us in our Luxury Travel 360 enterprise. For me, every insight presented by the research, the voices and views, and our anecdotal imagination marketing stories, also raises questions that beg exploration and further dialogue.

The virtual Web world facilitates all that--inviting differing points of view, meaningful clarifications, And 360 perspectives. We see ourselves, at Luxury Travel 360, as a journalistic catalyst--distilling, digesting, sharing the down to earth experiences and visions of luxury practitioners.

In our view, our readers are at the leading edge of luxury travel and  we are eager to have your input, your challenges , and questions-- that is, to be an active participant in a new form of symposium--in which you don't have to raise you hand to be recognized by the chair.

You speak, press Send, and we take care of the rest.