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Today's featured MAC Chat interview is with Dan Mahar, CEO of Tauck.
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Dan Mahar
CEO
For more information visit:
Tauck.com
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Jessica: Congratulations on your MAC award nomination!
Dan: Thanks so much Jessica. We’re thrilled to be nominated for a MAC award! Tauck will be celebrating our 85th anniversary next year, and when I reflect on Tauck’s history, I’m reminded that our partnership with the agent community is one of the key factors that’s helped us to be so successful for so long. The possibility of winning a MAC award, where agents do the voting, is really an exciting prospect for us.
Jessica: Dan, how do you define luxury?
Dan: We’ve actually gone back-and-forth about the word luxury over the years because we think it can have different meanings for different people. For some people, luxury means a certain standard of quality, service, indulgence and authenticity – and we have no issues at all with that sort of definition. However, others seem to associate “luxury” with being over-the-top or ostentatious, without any regard to practicality or value. That sense of the word luxury has always troubled us, and it’s never been an accurate way to describe our products.
At Tauck we work very hard to deliver an exceptional travel experience to our guests, backed by superior service and representing an outstanding value. That means our itineraries typically feature, among other things, five-star accommodations in the best city-center locations, fine dining, insider access to special experiences, and the industry’s finest tour leaders. Tauck trips are also among the most inclusive you’ll find.
We price our products accordingly, yet they still represent an incredible value; an independent traveler who tried to duplicate a Tauck trip would pay as much as 40% more than they would by traveling with us. Nothing about a Tauck trip is superfluous or showy for the sake of being showy. We deliver an exceptional experience at a fair price, backed by superior service at a great value. Hopefully that message gets communicated clearly to our agents and to consumers, whether we label our products as luxury, premium, upscale or whatever.
Jessica: Can you please share with us some of the benefits of traveling with Tauck?
Dan: Well, our guests tell us there are several! Before the trip, we save our guests from having to do all of the research and planning that they’d otherwise have to do in order to make the most of their vacation. “What are the best hotels?” “Where should we have dinner?” “What sites should we see – and which are a waste of time?” We have extensive experience in 60+ countries, so we know the answers to these questions and more, so our guests don’t have to worry about them.
Once they’re on a Tauck trip, our guests can really relax and get the most out of the experience. We handle their luggage for them, we make their dinner reservations, we get them from place-to-place with no worries about navigating in a strange destination… There’s also the convenience and peace of mind that comes from knowing that virtually everything on the trip is paid for in advance, so there’s never any worry about out-of-pocket expenses or mounting on-tour costs to detract from the experience.
Finally, our guests get a deeper, richer and more authentic experience within the destination by traveling with Tauck. We take guests off-the-beaten-path to discover unique experiences that are either unknown or unavailable to most travelers – like enjoying a private tour of a Loire Valley chateau and a cocktail reception with the baron whose family has lived there since the 1700s. We also arrange special insider access at popular attractions, like being able to experience the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel up-close and without crowds during a private after-hours tour. And our guests benefit from the incredible knowledge and experience of our tour directors – we actually call them “Tauck Directors” – who average over 10 years with our company.
Jessica: What is the best advice you can give agents who want to focus more on luxury travel?
Dan: There’s been something of a backlash against the concept of luxury products as a result of the current economy, and agents need to use the word luxury with great care. As I mentioned earlier, for some people “luxury” implies a sort of lavish, overpriced impracticality – think a $600 bottle of scotch, for example – and that conspicuous consumption is what people have turned away from.
At Tauck, our experience during this downturn tells us that people are still willing to spend more for a premium product, if they know they’re getting a commensurately high level of quality that represents a good value. We’ve seen that our agents can certainly still sell high-end experiences, but they need to be prepared to demonstrate how their clients will benefit by spending the extra money. What services does the more costly hotel offer that aren’t available at a less expensive option? What’s better about a premium quality cruise, versus a mass-market cruise at a lesser price?
A bit closer to home for Tauck, agents need to be ready to explain what an upscale or premium tour provides to justify the higher cost. With Tauck some of the easiest things to point to are the high number of inclusions (particularly meals), the quality of the hotels we use, the experience and expertise of our Tauck Directors, and the overall quality of the entire experience. Over half of our travelers each year are repeat Tauck guests, and they wouldn’t be returning if they felt their vacation experiences weren’t worth the price.
Jessica: Do you have any current promotions you would like to share with our travel agents?
Dan: Absolutely. We know that travelers today are looking for incentives and promotions, so we’ve arranged several to help our agents sell Tauck to their clients.
For example, we’re offering companion air for just $199 on two of our Asia itineraries, “China, the Yangtze River & Hong Kong” and “Vietnam, Cambodia & Thailand.” We also have companion air for just $499 on selected African safaris and itineraries in India, Japan and Australia. Or, guests can save $2,000 per couple on business class air on these trips instead.
We’ve also worked closely with our hoteliers and other suppliers in Europe and western Canada to negotiate savings that we’re passing along to Tauck guests. Couples traveling on any of our Yellow Roads of Europe land journeys will save $380, while guests traveling with us in western Canada will save up to $580 per couple. These savings are for 2009 departures only, and details on these and other offers can be found at Tauck.com/special-savings.
Thank you Dan for taking time to share more about Tauck with us.
Please feel free to submit comments below.
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