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In 2023, Virtuoso’s September volume was 79% of its August volume.
By 2025, it was 92%.
Over those two years, September grew nearly three times faster than August.
Last week I wrote about a calendar that drifted for 1,600 years. September drifted in two.
If your fall pitch still calls it the quiet, easy-on-the-wallet month, you’re describing the old September.
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What Virtuoso is seeing
At Virtuoso Travel Week in August, Misty Belles said shoulder season is now peak season, and that a September bargain is unlikely.
The numbers behind it: Virtuoso’s bookings to Europe this fall are up 49%. Hotel rates are up a little more than 7%, and sales are up 64%. November bookings and sales are each up 70%.
Clients aren’t waiting for a discount. They’re paying full rate for something else.
Three things that change for you
A busy shoulder season changes how you advise. These are the three shifts I’d make.
1. Talk about timing earlier
Virtuoso says bookings one to two years out are about 50% higher than at this point last year. Trips worth $50,000 or more are up 47%. Suites, villas, and tables with the best views go first. If a client calls in September about November, you may be competing for what’s left. Tell clients how early they need to decide.
2. Sell the reason for the month
Without a discount to offer, you need something else. Pick the month for the plan: a harvest week at a winery, a city you can walk all day in cooler weather, a festival that only runs that month. Name the one thing the month makes possible.
3. Show what you can get
When the calendar fills, the hard-to-get thing is the product. Three-quarters of Virtuoso clients say their advisor’s accommodation and destination expertise is a key benefit. In a busy month, that expertise decides who gets the table, the guide, and the room. So list the three hardest things you can secure in each destination you sell. Put one of them in every fall proposal, with a line on how you get it. A client can’t value access you never mention.
A check for this week
Open your last three emails or web pages about fall travel. Count how often they lead with a rate, a deal, or “fewer crowds.” Rewrite one around the reason a client should pick that month.
A bigger-picture option
If your marketing still sells the calendar, clients can feel it before you say a word. That’s the kind of constraint I look for in M.A.P., the Marketing Advancement Program for Luxury Travel Businesses. It’s an eight-week private program. We find the marketing constraint that matters most, build the strategy and assets, and you leave with a 90-day plan.
If you’re curious, reply MAP and I’ll send you the program details document.
Your marketing should make it easier to grow your business.
Alex
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