Virtuoso Travel Week was truly exceptional this year!

It’s hands down one of my favorite events every year… the best of the best in the luxury travel industry all converge on Las Vegas from around the globe and there are so many moments that I will treasure and a few special touches I noticed that you might enjoy learning about too, no matter what industry you are in!

Imagine the big smile on my face when the head of Conference Services at Bellagio greeted me the second the car service pulled up, before I had said a word to anyone, and walked me straight through to their Platinum VIP check in. No line, no waiting, just someone who already knew I was arriving and had arranged for me to feel expected before I had arranged anything myself. How cool is that!!! I am so spoiled! That is our ENTICE luxury lever in its purest form, building anticipation and connection before a guest has even spoken and knowing the story you want them to remember about you and your brand. Virtuoso and Bellagio have great systems in place to create scalable, repeatable exceptional experiences like this—their team is trained to deliver it every time!

Something that made me smile even bigger was the generous and thoughtful amenity Jennifer and the Virtuoso events team sent to my room: fresh fruit and my favorite Fiji water (instead of the champagne I know they know I love but would probably not drink while I was there). They understand I would rather sleep well and stay healthy on the road. That is true intentional attention knowing someone so well that you know what they need and would value, rather than what looks good in a photo on Instagram. But you know me, of course I added it to my Instagram stories!

If you could have seen my face at the opening ceremony of Virtuoso Travel Week sitting as close to the front as I could with my eyes wide open in wonder to watch Brené Brown live as their keynote speaker. I was captivated—you already know she has been my girl-crush for years. Watching her speak live in a ballroom of 5,000 people was a genuine bucket list moment for me, the kind you do not fully believe is happening even while it is happening. I couldn’t stop smiling, I didn’t even take notes as I was just fully present in the moment watching and listening in awe. There is something about watching someone whose work you have read, watched, followed, listened to, and quoted for a decade stand in front of you in person that resets your own sense of what is possible in a room. I left energized and inspired to do more and be more, even after a week that made my heart and spirit already full. Thank you Virtuoso for making that dream come true for this happy little Aussie.

Virtuoso Travel Week is like a family reunion with all your faves from around the world in one place where you experience mind-blowing creativity, inspiring destinations, captivating story telling and world class education. Do you have an event like that in your company or industry? It’s the best feeling to see people you might only see once a year and it’s fun to be connected by something you are passionate about.

August Client Highlights

It’s been a busy month so far! Several amazing clients have shared exceptional experiences with me and I want to highlight a few of them to inspire you and your team to consider what you could do for the clients you love:

Amgen hired me to speak with a group of brilliant women about ​Exceptional Experiences​. Everyone is reading the book for their book club, and their team didn’t just host an event, they built the entire event around the book. Digital customized signage (so pretty) greeted us as we walked in. Custom pink mocktails were waiting (so delish). There was a full Exceptional Experiences Bingo game engaging people to connect with each other and the ideas before I had even taken the stage. Flowers on every table (if you know me and my story about my mum, and my love of luxury, you will know why this is SO thoughtful). Every guest left with a signed copy of the book, and a number of them wore pink in my honor. This team understood the ENTICE and INVITE levers to design an entire event around them and made me feel so special.

Flexjet was another client that made me smile so big! It was so fun working with their summer interns because they all read Exceptional Experiences and I heard they applied all the principles from the book to their capstone project—that was a proud fairy godmother moment. They sent a beautiful card containing a handwritten message from every single one of them, individually written, not a generic group message and a cozy cashmere scarf for my flights. These young professionals clearly recognized that thoughtfulness, done specifically and personally, is worth more than anything expensive. That is systemized thoughtfulness in its purest form, the exact practice I write about, choosing small, specific gestures that cost almost nothing and are remembered for years.

Northstar Meetings Group demonstrated a concierge mindset during their event in Punta Cana where every detail had clearly been chosen with the incentive planner audience in mind —it wasn’t a standard event checklist it; was a bespoke experience for those who are at the top of their field in the Incentive Events and I loved being their keynote speaker and adore that Maui Jim sunglasses were gifted to us (they even gave me the pink ones to wear on stage), they provided leather sandals suited to wear to the beach dinner, and planned food and entertainment that matched both the climate and the crowd. Nothing felt generic—it was a wonderful example of deeply knowing your audience before you plan a single detail.

So if you are sitting there thinking I have been really spoiled this month, you would be RIGHT!

Rewarding Your Top-Tier Clients

As you and your team start to think about how you can reward your top-tier client in this last quarter, here are a few things to consider:

Personalize the small things first, because a name on a sign or in an email costs nothing and gets noticed immediately.

Pick one theme and let every detail reinforce it rather than adding extras that dilute it. And before you plan a single detail, know exactly who is going to be in the room, the way Northstar did in Punta Cana and Amgen did in Tampa.

Know your clients so well you can give them what they need over what looks impressive, the way Virtuoso chose fruit and Fiji water over champagne. That is attention as a luxury good.

Build systems your whole team can deliver consistently, not just once. The Bellagio arrival worked because it is trained and repeatable, not because one person happened to have a good day.

Choose individual, handwritten gestures over one generic message when a group is involved. Flexjet’s interns each wrote their own note, and that is the difference people remember.

Give people something physical to carry the moment forward, a scarf, a pair of sunglasses, a signed book. It keeps the experience alive well after the event ends.

Create the kind of recurring gathering people build their calendar around. Virtuoso Travel Week works because people know it will happen every year, and they plan their summer travel for this event, and that anticipation is part of the magic.