ALG Vacations this month will launch its first luxury collection, a move the wholesaler hopes will make it a premier luxury travel resource for travel advisors.
Luxe by ALG Vacations will feature nearly 450 luxury hotels and concierge services in the destinations where ALG Vacations operates, including Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe and parts of Asia and Africa.
The company said it handpicked the upscale all-inclusive resorts and five-star hotels in the collection for their level of service, industry recognition or consortia-preferred status. Some properties have been awarded AAA Five Diamond status or are members of Leading Hotels of the World.Brands such as Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton and Waldorf Astoria are represented.
Advisors can access the Luxe portfolio through its dedicated website or VAX VacationAccess, using filters to identify participating hotels.
But what will really set apart the Luxe program is its concierge service, said Jacki Marks, ALG Vacations’ global head of trade brands.
Travel advisors will have access to a dedicated team of 10 customer service representatives whose headshots and biographies will appear on the Luxe website and the VAX platform, enabling advisors to build relationships with the concierge staff.
“You’ll see who those people are, you’ll read their bios, it’s like building a relationship, just like you would with a concierge team at a hotel,” Marks said. “That is probably the thing we’re most excited about — we’re going to have an elevated level of service.”
Beyond the more well-known and larger all-inclusives, the Luxe collection will include smaller, independent boutique hotels, which Marks said advisors were instrumental in helping the company identify for the collection.
“These luxury advisors were really able to point out where we needed to have more product in each destination,” she said, adding that she was surprised about how many boutique hotels had been flying underneath ALG Vacations’ radar.
Advisors can book the Luxe collection across ALG Vacations’ six brands, including Funjet Vacations, Travel Impressions and Blue Sky Tours.
Luxe by ALG Vacations also offers exclusive amenities at select properties, providing added value for travelers. Amenities include unique experiences, bespoke tours, dining reservations and personalized services such as airport fast-track.
Luxury has not always been a term associated with ALG Vacations, nor was it a major area of focus for the brand in previous years, said Ray Snisky, ALG Group president.
The Secrets Tides Punta Cana, which opened earlier this year, will be a part of Luxe by ALG Vacations. Photo Credit: Hyatt
ALG Vacations has the resources for a luxury product
The wholesaler’s core demographic has been the “upper end of middle America,” Snisky said, with a business model that has successfully focused on volume.
But that demographic has changed since the pandemic, Snisky said, and so have their tastes, adding that people want to try new things. And ALG has new things for them to try: Over the years, the company has amassed a plethora of all-inclusive properties and vertically integrated travel services, which have grown and expanded since the company was acquired by Hyatt nearly three years ago.
There’s also a growing luxury market in the destinations ALG Vacations has primarily served, such as Mexico and the Caribbean, prompting it to want to make its brand more synonymous with luxury among advisors.
“There’s been a redefining of luxury in the traditional Mexico-Caribbean space; luxury is now going from where it used to be to where it’s becoming more available in the destinations that we predominantly serve,” Marks said, adding that travelers have long looked to Europe and elsewhere for luxury. “We jumped into luxury so much because it was becoming part of our wheelhouse.”
Travel advisors were central to the creation of the new Luxe program, Snisky said, and were intimately involved in providing feedback about what services and hotels the collection should include.
The company is still learning as it navigates deeper into the luxury space, but Snisky is confident the company will hit the target.