Travellers are splashing out on higher-level upgrades as they look forward to returning to their holidays, more than a year after the pandemic first struck, according to tour operator Pure Luxury.  

Dubai and Barbados are among the destinations luxury travellers are investing more, including an increase of nearly 200 per cent in the average price per night of rooms booked at Sandy Lane Barbados with Gold Medal’s trade-only luxury brand.

Similarly, the average price of rooms sold at Jumeirah Dar Al Masyaf has increased by nearly a quarter, while bookings for villas at the resort grew by 14 per cent compared to a month ago. 

The bookings jump has been driven by the launch of Next Level Luxury, a campaign by Pure Luxury to help agents proactively upsell and “tap in to the desire of customers to travel in style when things reopen”. 

The operator produced a 22-page mini brochure featuring 24 offers in destinations in the Caribbean, Dubai & Arabia, the Indian Ocean and the Far East, with deals and offers also promoted across social media and via e-shots agents could share with customers.

“The Next Level Luxury brochure has gone down well, especially among those who have saved over the last year and a bit, and now want to spend more on holidays,” said David Walker, owner of agency, The Travel Snob, part of Not Just Travel. “It’s been a great tool in sending both to those clients that reached out initially to talk later about a trip, and to those regulars who I like to say book ‘wherever they fancy, whenever they want’.”

Overall average value of bookings made to key destinations such as Dubai, the Caribbean and Mauritius via Pure Luxury have been 29 per cent, 56 per cent and 67 per cent higher respectively than they were four weeks ago, suggesting agents have been able to leverage offers to encourage higher spend, said Nick Hughes, Gold Medal’s director of sales.

“It’s great to see the Next Level Luxury campaign deliver on its objectives to help agents inspire consumers to take their holiday to the next level of luxury,” he said. “We’ve heard from so many agent partners that their customers are dreaming of how they can make their next holiday extra special – whether that’s turning left on the plane as a special treat, or splashing out on bigger, better accommodation.”

The campaign was initially launched in response to the already rising numbers of high value, luxury bookings the operator was identifying – average booking value had increased by nearly a third over a four-week period.

Pure Luxury then ramped up the tools to inspire agents’ higher-spending customers, focussing on premium room types such as club, suites and villas that come with added value benefits such as club lounge access, butler service, activities or private areas, pools and beaches.