62 Days…

Dear Advisor Partners,

Every year around this time, the procrastinators begin to appear…you know who I’m talking about, and it is definitely ok to laugh, maybe even shake your head. Truth is, when planning our own holiday trips, those of us in this industry may be the worst of the last-minute bunch. Well, much like the Budweiser Superbowl commercials, this blog is for you, the “wait until the last-minute person.”

Kidding aside, we know things come up and not everyone can plan for the festive season as far in advance as we would like. You can try to force these clients to book early through tactics like raising prices or incentivizing early booking. Or you can diligently prepare for when those clients do finally start planning, after all we are not talking about a widget here, we are talking about an investment. This is especially true for clients who are willing to get off the beaten track to where the masses don’t know about. When you get remote, the properties are smaller, meaning they fill up faster, so planning ahead is usually essential. However, right around this time, if you have just a little flexibility, the miracle occurs, and space clears up in a certain order. Now it doesn’t happen everywhere, otherwise it wouldn’t be called a miracle. We are currently assisting guests that had their advisor check a few months back with no luck, now trying again, and we are getting in some cases, a different outcome.

This could be in Peru, Guatemala, Argentina, South Africa, Tanzania, or Kenya. It may not be for places that we know are full, but where we can’t get our A-Team guides as that is equally important, and we will let you know where that is. One of the places that illustrates this best is India. The Golden Triangle circuit and the traditional Rajasthan route is quite busy. However Big Five has, for years, talked about getting beyond that circuit to the real India like the Nagarhole Forest or the northeast. It’s the main reason we chose this video for the week, to showcase a part of India few truly know about. For those late planners, perhaps the best experience is awaiting.

With 62 days before the festive travel season officially kicks off, let us know if you need a miracle or two. You never know what could happen. Be sure to check airfare first as well, because even miracles have to deal with seat availability. So come on, let’s help “last-minute Sally” and “living-on-the-edge Larry” find the needle in the haystack holiday space. Enjoy this weeks video.