• Virtuoso is already on its way to domination with a significant $4.8 billion in revenues annually --50% leisure, 50% business-- pretty good for an industry that, as Jones pointed out, “Bill Gates wrote off when he created Expedia in 1998.”
• Jones sees “a slight shifting of the tides” in how consumers book travel – based on a report by Forrester Research showing 9% fewer people actually  booking travel online this year than in 2005.
• Hotels booked through travel agents realize a rate 45% higher than those booked online; also, 97% of clients are "sold up.” More, while the big online travel agencies enjoy conversion rates (lookers to bookers) of 3-5%, Virtuoso’s number is 17%.
• The next wave” to keep upscale agencies viable is to recruit good talent in what has been a low-paying industry. That has to be changed, according to Jones.

 
The Carlyle meeting was sponsored by Mastercard, with 100 marketer guests filling the room.

Harvey Chipkin, Editor at Large.