Do you dream of a career within the luxury travel sector? Are you passionate about helping people locate high-quality accommodation that caters to their needs?
If so, a career as a luxury hotel advisor could be for you.
Whether you are hoping to learn more about the qualifications you require or wish to understand how to start your career in luxury travel, we explore how to become a luxury hotel advisor and answer some frequently asked questions in this article.
What does a luxury hotel advisor do?
The role of a luxury hotel advisor is diverse. Usually, those fulfilling this role often complete duties such as these:
- Researching and reviewing luxury hotels: Researching luxury hotels enables a luxury hotel advisor to determine whether they’re suitable for their client base.
- Recommending hotels to clients: Based on their research, luxury hotel advisors recommend hotels to their clients.
- Liaising with luxury hotels: Forming working relationships and liaising with luxury hotels ensures they can accommodate the client’s needs.
These needs could include food and beverage packages, excursions, room service, concierge, and car services.
What do luxury travel advisors do?
To help you uncover more about this unique career path, we share some insight into the responsibilities and duties of a luxury travel advisor below.
Definition of a Luxury Travel Advisor
Also known as a luxury travel consultant, a luxury travel advisor supports clients in planning bespoke holiday packages.
If you have a client that desires a tranquil vacation to a destination such as the Maldives or St Lucia, or perhaps a five-star all-inclusive safari break,
Your role as a luxury travel advisor would be to ensure that a memorable trip is planned and runs smoothly from the moment the client departs their origin country.
Responsibilities and duties
In addition to supporting clients in curating bespoke holiday packages, luxury travel and hotel advisors have many other responsibilities and duties. These include but are not limited to the following:
- Listening to clients’ needs
- Researching luxury travel destinations
- Preparing and proposing bespoke itineraries
- Advising clients on the best travel insurance providers
- Ensuring clients meet visa requirements
- Arranging luxury hotel accommodation
- Booking flights and any other transport the client needs during their vacation
- Recommending and arranging memorable experiences
- Working with luxury hotels and resorts to ensure the clients’ stay runs smoothly
- Supporting clients with any unexpected changes
- Maintaining communication with the client during and after their trip.
The difference between a luxury travel advisor and a regular travel agent
When considering ‘what is a luxury travel advisor’, you might wonder how they differ from a regular travel agent. There are several dissimilarities between the two.
- The types of holidays and trips they specialize in: Often, a client that requests the support of a luxury travel advisor is wealthy and will have a considerable budget.
They may be looking to book a trip for a honeymoon, wedding, or special event. In contrast, a regular travel agent may work with clients looking to book a more affordable trip, such as a city break. - Relationships formed with clients: Another difference between a luxury travel advisor and a regular travel agent regards the relationship formed with a client.
Luxury travel advisors often spend a great deal of time building a returning client base who trusts them. Meanwhile, a regular travel agent may only form basic relationships with clients or work with clients on a one-off basis.
Skills and knowledge: Another difference to bear in mind when wondering what is a luxury travel advisor and
how they differ from a regular travel agent is that luxury travel consultants and advisors often have expert knowledge and insight to share with clients, having visited many luxury destinations themselves.
How to become a luxury travel advisor?
As you turn your thoughts to how to become a luxury travel advisor, considering the qualifications, skills, and qualities you’ll require is beneficial. Below, we share more about these.
Qualifications and skills
When wondering how to become a luxury travel advisor, ensuring you have the right qualifications and skills is essential.
Like many other careers within the luxury travel sector, the qualifications and skills you require to become a luxury hotel advisor will differ depending on the organization you wish to work for.
Some may require a hospitality degree, while others may look for work experience from prior hospitality careers.
Some luxury travel consultants begin working within the travel and tourism industry after completing a high school diploma, while others will study higher education programs before commencing their careers.
Education and training
Whether you are finishing your high school diploma and considering which bachelor’s degrees are available in the luxury travel industry or looking to further your skills with a master’s degree,
Education and training can boost your chances of securing a role as a luxury hotel advisor.
Here at Les Roches, we have numerous courses that can support you in your education and training.
This bachelor’s degree equips you with the knowledge and practical experience required to begin your career as a luxury hotel advisor or luxury travel advisor.
Required skills
Most luxury travel organizations will consider the following skills as essential when hiring a luxury travel consultant:
- Excellent communication and listening skills
- Leading industry and trend knowledge
- Problem-solving skills
- The ability to work well under pressure
- Outstanding customer service and sales skills
- Advanced computer skills.
Personal qualities
Choosing a career as a luxury hotel advisor or travel consultant will see you support clients and work with other people, such as hotel managers.
With this in mind, you’ll need to have a friendly personality, be approachable, and be trustworthy.
In addition, you’ll need to be passionate about the travel industry, patient, confident, driven, authentic, and hard-working.
Career paths and advancement opportunities
When researching how to become a luxury travel advisor, remember that various career paths and opportunities can assist you in advancing your skills. The most common include the following.
Entry-level positions
Upon graduating, the first step in becoming a luxury hotel advisor is to apply for entry-level positions. These include trainee travel agent and hotel assistant roles.
Advancement opportunities
As you gain momentum in your career in the luxury travel sector, you’ll find that you have numerous opportunities to advance your opportunities.
Progressing your career may include applying for promotions, applying for managerial positions, completing professional development diplomas, or attending summer programs.
Specializations
Your chosen career path may see you specialize in a particular role, such as hospitality management.
If you complete our BBA in Global Hospitality Management and secure an entry-level role as a travel consultant, you may go on to specialize as a luxury hotel advisor or work in
hotel management, luxury management, or luxury marketing if you’re looking for a career in travel advising.
How to build a successful career as a luxury travel advisor
While completing qualifications and relevant training is essential, these may be the building blocks of a successful career as a luxury travel advisor.
A solid foundation enables you to begin your career. But how can you excel in your role and build a reputation for excellence as a luxury travel advisor? Here are a few tips.
Networking and building relationships
Networking and building relationships with others within the luxury travel sector enables you to develop positive working relationships with luxury hotels and resort managers, and meet potential clients.
Staying current with industry trends
Being in the know about industry trends is vital to building a successful luxury travel or hotel advisor career. The more up-to-date you are with current trends, the better you can serve your clients.
Marketing and promoting yourself
Like networking, promoting yourself and your skills on social media, for example, enables you to connect with potential clients and those who already work in luxury travel.
LinkedIn is especially beneficial if you dream of building a successful career as a luxury travel advisor. Designed for professionals, the platform currently has over
900 million members across the globe and a huge community of travel experts.
Do you see yourself setting up your own business? If so, consider exhibiting at a luxury travel event or fair, such as the Luxury Travel Expo or ILTM Cannes.
These events are attended by clients looking for a luxury hotel advisor or luxury travel consultant, as well as luxury hotels and resorts.
Starting a luxury travel blog or a website advertising your skills as a luxury hotel advisor is also highly beneficial.
You could work with luxury travel influencers and ask them to share your website for more visibility.
Summary: How to become a luxury hotel advisor
From researching and proposing world-renowned hotels that can cater to your client’s needs to ensuring that their stay goes smoothly, the role of a luxury hotel advisor is exceptionally fulfilling and exciting.
If you dream of becoming a luxury hotel advisor, the first step is to study for a relevant hospitality degree, such as our BBA in Global Hospitality Management.
From here, you can develop your network, expand your skills, and promote yourself to ensure you connect with your desired client base.
Photo credits
Main image: Thomas Barwick/DigitalVision via Getty Images
A Les Roches Master’s degree equips you with insight and knowledge to develop and implement marketing and management plans to support luxury hotels and organizations in reaching their target customer.
