Eye on Travel

Radio Guest List––Virtuoso Travel Week—August 19, 2017

Locations in this article:  Las Vegas, NV

This week, the Peter Greenberg Worldwide Radio Show broadcasts from the 17th annual Virtuoso Travel Week at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Virtuoso Travel Week is a conference comprised of nearly 6,000 people having more than 300,000 meetings in days four and a half days to sell, discuss, and redefine. luxury travel. This week, Arnie Weissmann, Editor-in-Chief of Travel Weekly, reveals that he’s concerned about whether people see the U.S. as a welcoming place. He expresses his curiosity regarding how Americans are perceived when they travel. Scott McCartney, Travel Editor for The Wall Street Journal, discusses airline safety and hidden carry-on fees for economy fares. Farhad Heydari, International Executive Editor of Departures magazine, discusses the travel desires of the finite two percent at the top of the travel market. There’s all this and more as the Peter Greenberg Worldwide Radio Show broadcasts from the 17th annual Virtuoso Travel Week at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Click here to listen to the show streaming live from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. ET on Saturday, August 19, 2017.

Have a travel question? Ask Peter. Email him at peter@petergreenberg.com, post on his Facebook page, or tweet your questions to @PeterSGreenberg.

Matthew Upchurch, CEO of Virtuoso, talks about Virtuoso Travel Week, where 350,000 appointments are made and 2.9 years worth of networking is done in four days. He also notes that the smartest travelers are now using travel advisers that advocate for them.

Pierre Parisien, Senior Director of Show Quality at Cirque Du Soleil, talks about celebrating the oldest cirque show “O,” which opened at the same time as the Bellagio 25 years ago. He discusses the risk of the show and confirms that security is their number one priority. He reveals that most performers are on average between the age of 22-28 and are sourced from every country.

Manfredi Lefebvre D’Ovidio, Chairman of Silversea Cruises, reveals that the traditional image of cruising has started evolving. Previously, ships were for relaxing, whereas now they are a more lively space and offer great dinner and exploration. He also shares with us the places he hasn’t yet visited but intends to.

Scott McCartney, Travel Editor for The Wall Street Journal, discusses airline safety, the amount of time it takes to deplane, and hidden carry-on fees for economy fares.

Joann Kurtz, Founder of Kurtz-Ahlers & Associates, talks about an over-the-top hotel in Tel Aviv, a new destination in Grenada, and managing the experience when visiting a new hotel.

Costas Christ, Editor-at-Large for National Geographic Traveler and Global Sustainability Strategist for Virtuoso Travel Network, discusses the pillars of sustainable travel and the difficulties of training and educating travel professionals and consumers about sustainability. He also reveals that City Center at the MGM is one of the world’s largest, most sustainable LEED-certified projects.

Gon Ben-David, CEO and Founder of Roomer, talks about innovating the underworld of hotel cancellation policies. His app Roomer connects hotel cancellations with people who want to buy them, so less travelers are losing money due to unforeseen circumstances and hotels are still making incremental revenue.

Edie Rodriguez, CEO and President of Crystal Cruises, discusses experiential luxury travel and Crystal’s marketing-driven branding, specifically how they incorporate the desires and input of their clientele. Because of this, they now have ocean, yacht, river, and submarine cruises in addition to luxury aircraft.

Farhad Heydari, International Executive Editor of Departures, discusses the finite two percent at the top of the travel market that luxury purveyors are trying to target. He says his readers now want to go to contrarian locations off the beaten path—the ones that are difficult to access. This gives a more textured level of travel to people who have the means to go anywhere.

By Mara Marski and Keefe Liu for PeterGreenberg.com