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Virtuoso CEO Matthew Upchurch is urging travel agents to identify the value they provide to clients – and communicate it clearly to shift perceptions and increase their compensation. Upchurch made the comments in an interview with Agent@Home columnist and Azamara Cruise Line President Larry Pimentel . The interview was published in May’s issue. Click here to read the complete Agent@Home interview. “There has been no significant repositioning of ourselves as professional travel advisors, as opposed to merely transactional agents. So clients are largely unaware of the great value that a professional travel consultant brings to their ultimate vacation experience,” Upchurch said. “And because most clients simply have little to no awareness of this, they have no way to assess the tremendous value we provide and, in turn, have no willingness to compensate us for it.” Virtuoso is championing the perception shift from transactional agents to professional advisors. The network’s Agent to Ad...

Five years ago, I attended Virtuoso Travel Week, the world’s largest luxury travel event, for the first time as a journalist. It was overwhelming, in the best kind of way – hundreds of one-on-one appointments, thousands of enthusiastic travel professionals, and a surprise guest on stage at the opening session, Francis Ford Coppola. But what surprised me the most? Realizing that “luxury travel advisor” is still an actual career – a thriving and lucrative one built on something most of us dream about and love to do: exploring the world around us. I met young advisors who had left corporate positions to work in the travel industry. Some quickly became million-dollar producers and never looked back at their previous careers in law, healthcare, or real estate. Knowing luxury hotels inside and out is part of the job (Schloss Fuschl in Austria. Photo: Annie Fitzsimmons) At the time, I was writing a travel column for Forbes . I’m a long-time editor at National Geographic Traveler and have...