Luxury holidays - Page 2

Sophie76 · #21 25.03.2011, 10:43

	Quote:	economisto
	no entiendo I am check out this exosphere website, it looks good. Do you do flights and transfers too?

Hace 40 grados durante el verano sin viento - HOT!

We do flights and transfers as part of the holiday but not on a stand alone basis.

#22 25.03.2011, 10:44

Thanks, yes I didn't mean on a standalone basis, and for me, the hotter the better (I used to live in Spain and Egypt)

Just to say: I see a need for this (although it could be international just as easily) and will probably be your client at some point. I like the idea of the Hacienda, but need something by the sea.

#23 25.03.2011, 10:46

Personally I really enjoy putting a trip together myself. Bonne chance.

#24 25.03.2011, 10:55

	Quote:
	Personally I really enjoy putting a trip together myself. Bonne chance.

Yeah it's true, plus travel agents are basically evil, as are all service providers - charging a markup is basically thievery too. OK, see you later, I'm going to trawl through the Ryan Air website looking for the £1 fares to some god forsaken ex-military airport in East Germany and then I'm going to "slip" in the lobby of the Park Hyatt and hopefully get a tasty out of court settlement. Bonne chance.

#25 25.03.2011, 11:09

	Quote:	Sophie76
	Everyone can use google you're right but good travel experts shouldn't be using that as their primary tool. We visit destinations, test hotels and activities to ensure we have a first hand knowledge and can then match the holiday to suit the client. A good agent should know works and what to avoid.

Are you hiring?

Suisse2008 · #26 25.03.2011, 11:57

Your company is targetting the high-end segment which makes sense in the UK. This might makes sense if you consider the same segment for the whole of Switzerland. Some high-income Swiss may want to consider a specialised and personalised service such as yours. The numbers would be smaller, of course, as CH is much smaller than UK.

However, if you are only considering the "expat" market, then I assume you are aware that numbers are far smaller (maybe only 10% of CH?) so trying to capture the top end of expats will be liking chasing air in the exosphere.

#27 25.03.2011, 11:59

	Quote:	Suisse2008
	Your company is targetting the high-end segment which makes sense in the UK. This might makes sense if you consider the same segment for the whole of Switzerland. Some high-income Swiss may want to consider a specialised and personalised service such as yours. The numbers would be smaller, of course, as CH is much smaller than UK. However, if you are only considering the "expat" market, then I assume you are aware that numbers are far smaller (maybe only 10% of CH?) so trying to capture the top end of expats will be liking chasing air in the exosphere.

It's the opposite. Chasing air in the exosphere is hard because the density is low. Here, the density is massive (obviously perhaps not physically, but through networks etc). All they have to do is go through 5 or 6 expat dense channels (this is one) and they've cornered the market.

Sophie76 · #28 25.03.2011, 14:42

	Quote:	economisto
	Thanks, yes I didn't mean on a standalone basis, and for me, the hotter the better (I used to live in Spain and Egypt) Just to say: I see a need for this (although it could be international just as easily) and will probably be your client at some point. I like the idea of the Hacienda, but need something by the sea.

That's just like me - i have also lived in Spain and Egypt.

Look at Villa Mahal in Kalkan Turkey, it is so nice.

You now know how to find me so if ever me or my team can help with anything please don't hesitate to let us know.

Sophie76 · #29 25.03.2011, 14:43

	Quote:	porsch1909
	Are you hiring?

I need someone to carry my bags as my husband is on strike!

#30 25.03.2011, 20:31

Full marks for finding a sneaky way to advertise your wares

Bonne chance.

TiMow · #31 25.03.2011, 20:38

Do it on-line and cut out the middle (wo)man.

Does flying EasyJet and being put up by rellies, count as luxury?

Miss Friis · #32 25.03.2011, 20:57

Your website looks great and seems a great source of inspiration!

Must admit, I would normally do the research and bookings myself after finding inspiration on sites like yours.....

But will certainly keep exosphere in mind if I can´t be bothered to do the hard work myself - looks like my kind of holidays

Good luck with the venture in CH

#33 25.03.2011, 21:52

	Quote:	Treverus
	Ok, I think the topic is too complex to get an easy answer. Yes, we spend a significant amount of our hard earned on travelling, so we would be probably in your target group. But there is not a single way we book a vacation, it depends: - Skiing vacation or city trips within the EU: DIY. Plenty of cheap airline offers available and a hotel seperately (often on booking.com). Being in Switzerland, we spend our skiing vacation here... using a UK agent to book a local hotel sounds absurd. - Beach vacation (well, we both dive, so "diving vacation" is maybe more accurate): We up to now booked most of the times through holidaycheck.de (or .com, .fr, .it...), which I believe is actually registered in Switzerland while mainly serving EU customers for tax reasons. It is basically a "German version of trip advisor" plus a search engine for deals with basically all German tour operators. I always compared the prices a lot, but their search engine turned in my cases out to be damn close to unbeatable. So if a standardized packaged is what you are after - for us this was typically the case for the Maldives - why go through more expensive agents? I do not need their advice as the first hand experiences written by actual torusits have beaten the glossy catalogue texts every single time... - Adventure trips. (In our case: Dive safaris) I book through specialist agents, they typically run this as a side business to a dive school or similar. These people know the sport better than I do and I rely on their expertise. I'd do the same for other sports. So to conclude: I do not really see a need for a special agent "for expats" - I do not see any added value you could bring me for me not being Swiss. I hardly like to pay agents, but do so when they add value by being very kowledgabel about something specific - like the dive tour agents I mentioned. So as long as you do not offer something special: Why you?

Why would your opinion be valuable then? (you are a bit of a tight ass

)

#34 25.03.2011, 21:57

	Quote:	Sophie76
	I have just moved to Switzerland but am still heading up a luxury travel company called Exosphere based in London. For the immediate future the business will continue in the same way as it had before i relocated, however we are researching whether it would be viable to set up a branch office in Switzerland and promote the service to the expat community. What i'd love are your thoughts on the following: How do expats book holidays here? I.E - Do you DIY it? Do you use a company in you home country? Do you use a Swiss travel agent? What sort of holidays do you take and to where? Any comments would be very useful in giving me an idea of how the travel industry differs to the UK market here. Thanks so much Sophie

There are many opportunities here especially with MICE for incoming group movement, expats here are a waste of time as you can see here by the answers. You just have to do some proper research rather than random questions on forums like this one.