Luxury Escape’s Chris Brandon on balancing budgets and exclusivity

Chris Brandon is the senior vice president of retail distribution at Luxury Escapes, a platform offering over 6 million members access limited-time offers at ‘insider’ prices.

Whether you are looking for a spa holiday in Phuket, a gourmet tour of Vietnam, a family vacation to Sea World, a city escape in Singapore or a luxurious stay on a private island in Fiji, Luxury Escapes has everything you’re looking for in some of the world’s best destinations.

Luxury Escapes is a key supplier at the Travel Weekly Luxury Roadshow, taking place in Sydney on 17 March, Brisbane 18 March and Melbourne 19 March.

What are you doing to help agents within the luxury sector?

Luxury Escapes Agent Hub offers an exceptional opportunity for agents to not only access our first-class hotel products but also our customised tour and cruise products. Agents can tap into commissionable rates for Luxury Escapes’ world-beating limited time exclusive offers and exclusive small group tours, all via our agent-friendly portal. We have listened to agents and developed the program to include more; it is a full service offering with streamlined booking processes, a suite of marketing tools for promotional use and flexible payment options. We are also committed to ongoing product and technical enhancements to support our agent partners, including the likes of deposits and book & hold features to ensure they are getting the most out of the offering.

Your agent portal has been open about a year now, what has the feedback been?

We launched in Australia in March 2024, following an overwhelming expression of interest from more than 2,000 travel agents, and marking a significant milestone in Luxury Escapes’ commitment to revolutionising the travel industry. As we land in the UK for a fresh launch this month, we have over six thousand agents signed up to the program and the feedback has been overwhelming. They are embracing the opportunity to access our exclusive offers and the ease of the system itself only reinforces this, with the ability to book a deal within a few clicks. We are also receiving a fantastic response to our Luxury Escapes touring product, with agents eager to learn more and take advantage of the benefits of working with a direct operator.

How do you balance exclusivity and budget?

Luxury Escapes is a global leader in offering the world’s best travel experiences for less, offering more with every booking on exclusive offers consumers won’t find anywhere else and allowing every traveller to experience the exceptional. Our renowned limited time offers are exclusive to us for the duration of their campaign and feature our famous inclusions & rates to suit all traveller’s budgets. Agents often remark that this point of difference is what makes the Agent Hub offering so compelling and effective.

How is AI and tech being used most effectively in the luxury market?

While we are famous for our exclusive deals and phenomenal inclusions, we are also regarded as an innovative tech leader in the travel industry. We are committed to continuously improving and redefining the customer experience with Luxury Escapes through personalisation and simplifying how customers find the right offer for them. We remain proactive in understanding customer demand and securing the best inventory and prices for the market, through improved inventory utilisation and rate management. We have focussed on the reduction of wait times for customers and unlocked self-service via conversational chat, allowing for seamless changes and upgrades. This ongoing work coming out of our talented in-house tech team, and the relevant use of AI, as we continue to innovate, is passed on to agents who access Agent Hub and provides their customers a premium and unique offering.