The luxury concierge service, which is an independent brand within ITC Travel Group, was set up in 2018 by Geoff Moss, the former owner of Elegant Resorts, and is run by managing director David Gearie.

Brand ambassador Jo Hilton‑Blackman (pictured above, far right) told TTG Luxury that Elite had been set up to take luxury travel “back to basics” by offering agents and clients a highly personalised service and “attention to detail”.

Elite, which is based in Chester and currently has a team of 10 experienced luxury travel professionals, currently works with around 50 to 100 agents.

“Once an agent books with us, everything is done for them,” explained Hilton‑Blackman. “We offer meet and greet, fast-track through the airport, lounge access and private transfers for their clients.

“We also book restaurants and theatre tickets, as well as dealing with special requests. We recently had clients staying in a villa in Tuscany who were celebrating a birthday and we arranged for an opera singer to come and give them a private performance at their villa.”

Elite currently has annual sales of £10 million but hopes to double this in the next three to five years, and agents could play a big part in fuelling this growth.

“It’s an ambitious target,” admitted Hilton‑Blackman. “Most of our business is very organic and comes through referrals and word of mouth.

“The trade is hugely important to us. There’s a lot of tour operators out there that go under the guise of luxury but are not a true luxury operator.

“Working with travel agents, you’ve got to get it right as there’s so much competition out there. We’re pleased that a lot of agents already deal with us but we would like to welcome more agents into our little club.”

Elite puts together its own holidays using ITC’s contracts and has an average booking value of £22,000, including regular sales of between £100,000 and £200,000.

“We’ve recovered quite quickly from Covid and we’re really pleased with how it’s going,” added Hilton‑Blackman. “The pattern has changed and it’s still very mixed. There’s lots of last-minute business and you also get clients booking further and further in advance, particularly families when there are multi-generational groups.”