Difficulties getting hold of people at suppliers was an area agents often cited as an issue for them as they struggled to reorganise client’s travel plans – and then even when it came to make new bookings, there wasn’t always help at the ready either.

But luxury hotelier Belmond went the other way, seizing the pandemic as a chance to completely overhaul its global sales strategy, creating larger teams agents could call on and providing new support tools.

“From the trade, we immediately gained respect, as they appreciated we were doing something exceptional by investing in the trade when many other travel businesses have been forced to downsize, close sales offices and cut back, right at the moment when travel agents need it the most – firstly when they needed the help on refunds and rebooking, and now, when everyone needs more help travelling,” says Andrea Filippi, Belmond’s vice president, global sales for the group.

High praise indeed has come from all quarters – including Matthew Upchurch, chief executive of elite advisor network Virtuoso, who Filippi initially consulted on Belmond’s plans.

“In 2019, he gave us the seal of approval [on what we were thinking] after candid conversations, and we stole a line from him – ‘automate the predictable and humanise the exceptional’, and for us that has meant investing in the technology and also the human side, hiring great talent so that we now have a highly respected team of professionals globally.”

He also puts the move as being down to the “the pioneering mindset of the brand”. “That has always been one of the foundations of our company, and this is how we thought about this new structure.”

Belmond is part of one of the world’s biggest luxury conglomerates, LVMH, home to 75 brands such as Louis Vuitton, Fendi and Christian Dior, and a fitting umbrella for a collection of fine hotels, trains and cruises.

“We like to think long term, and that is certainly one of the key pillars at LVMH, our owning company – everything they do is really long term,” he adds. 

Filippi says the plan to reinvigorate the sales processes was on his mind since 2019, but things were always so busy. “When the pandemic started, we thought we would now have the time to reimagine our commercial organisation. We were determined to be ahead of the curve – while business was slowing down, Covid gave us opportunity to accelerate this innovation process.”

With sales teams no longer able to travel internationally during the pandemic, and few physical trade shows to attend in person, some firms might have liberated staff. But Filippi said the time was right to make positive changes, in Belmond’s eyes.

“The decision was made to double the size of our global sales teams in all key markets and rename them internally as Belmond Commercial Organisations,” he tells me over Zoom. “In the pandemic, we soon came to realise that when the business recovery would start, the professional importance of a travel advisor would be much more sought after than ever before because of the complexities and formalities, even from those guests who might not have used an agent before. We also know the trade have far more work to do with each booking these days, and so we want to support them.”

He and the team got to work on the project and rolled out the ideas externally a year ago – the success has come in many ways, including positive feedback from travel advisors and operators.

“We wanted to become more efficient in the way our sales team globally would operate and for everyone to collaborate at an even greater level [on property and in regional sales offices] and bring better sales of course – plus, Belmond truly values the partnership of the travel trade, with half of all our bookings come from agents and operators, so the ambition was to show even more the appreciation for them. Belmond has guests of course – and we have our customers, who are the advisors and tour operators. We want to make sure everyone has the best experience with us.”

Those Belmond “customers” can have a single, knowledgeable point of contact if that is what they want, for convenience, he says. “But of course if they have a great relationship with someone on property too and that’s your preference, of course we work how you want to. Now, with the more advanced system we have introduced, everything is just so much more efficient, and all the sales team know what is happening.”

There were originally four people in the UK and today there are eight focused on sales. In some markets – such as China, Canada and Switzerland among others – completely new offices have been opened.

He describes some of the technology changes as “like Santa Claus coming”: “Before, nothing was broken as such, but now we can really see which bookings are made by whom for when, and with what patterns, so we can have really useful conversations with customers so we can really see their business and work with them strategically.”

“Plus, our destinations in general are not the easiest to sell, a remote train journey, a safari in Botswana, a Peru experience – these are complex bookings and we wanted to bring even more assistance to agents.”

As international travel starts to take off again, Belmond won’t just return to old ways, he says, and has also been rethinking its strategy around roadshows.

“Our concept of the global roadshow will change, to make it much more current, niche and targeted and to really make the most of a visit from our South America portfolio for example to UK agents and operators,” he explains. “It makes more sense for these hotels to visit specialists and to also focus on creating some wonderful experiences for the agents and operators with them too.”

He adds fam trips will be more important than ever, and Belmond’s will offer an even richer experience for the trade when visiting.

“I hesitate to even call them ‘fam trips’ as what we will offer will be so much more. It was impossible to plan anything much in advance in 2020 and 2021, but in 2022, we know personal experience is going to be even more important, so our customers [agents and operators] really know what the property is like, the feeling at the hotel, and also benefit from a really exciting range of ideas and experiences that stand out on our trips.”

He says Belmond has “an obsession with guest experiences” and that is what he also wants to show agents.

“In luxury travel, the big battle to win will be achieving the recognition for best guest experiences – and we also want to give the best customer experience,” he says.

Filippi promises too that agents will not need to be constantly delivering big business to tap into Belmond’s help and appreciation.

“We can service and support anyone who has business for us – size and revenue is not important. If we recognise an agent or a niche tour operator for example who only has business for one hotel, or one destination, they will still have someone they can talk to,” he says. “Naturally, the amount of time will be proportionate of course, but there is no ‘entry level’ or target a trade partner must hit to have our attention. And in any case, much of our business is very fragmented, it’s about gaining customers’ trust so Belmond is always front of mind for them.”

To support the trade, the Belmond Pro website was also completely relaunched – there is lots more information and details that are not always available on the public site, floorplans of suites, details of guest experiences agents could suggest to clients, ability to connect with on-property concierge directly, and also a booking engine.

Also new – and very welcomed, he says – are the marketing tools, ready-to-use copy and recommended imagery for the trade to use. “We know how important social media has become but we also know how precious time is, so this helps travel advisors be inspired on what to post.”

He says “cancellations were not as huge with Omicron this time” as people seem to be getting been less reactive to news spikes and outbreaks. “Probably, we are moving now from pandemic to endemic, when people are less affected in how they live.”

Certainly, some hotels in the group have had very successful periods. “I would say we are fairly pleased with how 2021 turned out on the whole; it was not a disappointment for us, as we had different pockets of success. Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons [in Oxfordshire] had its best year ever, and it was the same in West Coast USA and Caribbean for example – these markets had a boom year. Also in Italy – once the main markets started coming back, coupled with local guests, August in Italy was the best on record for our hotels there.”

Of course, it wasn’t the same for some locations. “Sadly, there were places where not a lot could be done, such as south-east Asia, Peru and Botswana where they had zero international business and not much locally, but we are seeing recovery. For 2022 – I would say our pace is either on par or above same time in 2019, and there are not many areas where we are lower, perhaps excluding Asia.”

He promises there is much to come on the news front from the group, but the only juicy thing he can reveal for now is the reopening of Belmond Maroma Resort & Spa in Riviera Maya, Mexico, predicted to be spring 2023.

“This will be one of our most exciting developments, after being closed for a complete reimagining, it will become the most sought after and sophisticated resort with genuine local experiences,” he teases.