Today, Travel + Leisure, the world’s leading travel magazine brand, and Luxury Link, the leader in online luxury travel, announced the launch of Vacationist (www.vacationist.com), an invitation-only, private-sale travel website for luxury travelers, at the American Express Publishing Luxury Summit at the Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas. The site will present a number of exclusive hotel and resort offerings each week and will launch its first sales with a mix of exotic and urban destinations, including Turtle Island in Fiji, The Surrey in New York City, and The James Hotel in Chicago.
Vacationist offers exclusive luxury hotel and resort rooms available for purchase to its members at 25 to 40 percent off for limited periods of time. Each property featured on Vacationist, which will be hosted and powered by Luxury Link, will have insider tips and expert reporting by the editors of Travel + Leisure who are dedicated to helping readers access the best travel experiences. Invitees to Vacationist will initially be limited to Travel + Leisure customers and Luxury Link members.
Mark Stanich, Chief Marketing Officer and President, Digital Media, American Express Publishing, said: “Our loyal customer relationships are critically important to us, and we have worked relentlessly to deliver new products that serve their evolving needs. Vacationist is no exception — as our first significant e-commerce venture, it will provide the extraordinary experience and value our customers seek, with the aesthetic and sensibility they have come to expect from Travel + Leisure. Luxury Link is absolutely the perfect partner for us, as we strive to create this best-in-class product for savvy, sophisticated, and passionate travelers. Importantly, Vacationist is also a way for us to support our hotel and resort partners in the travel industry by delivering a smart, effective, tactical solution.”
“We are excited to partner with American Express Publishing and Travel + Leisure because their brand, their content, and their marketing strengths complement our strengths in working closely with hoteliers around the world to bring great value to discerning travelers. We share a passion for creating new services that meet the needs of our consumers and hotel clients, which is just what Vacationist does,” states Drew Marich, CEO of Luxury Link, LLC.
With the launch of Vacationist, Travel + Leisure and Luxury Link begin their partnership with a clear understanding of consumer travel trends to deliver what customers want. According to a recent study by Ypartnership/Harrison Group, almost three out of ten (27%) active travelers took at least one “last minute” leisure trip last year and one out of seven (14%) purchased a travel service as a result of receiving an unexpected email from a travel service supplier. In addition to the high quality of the selected hotels, the featured room rates on Vacationist will be the lowest available at the time of the offer.