Virtuoso Travel Week by the numbers

After a week of meetings, training opportunities, cocktail receptions and lunches/dinners with suppliers, Virtuoso #TravelWeek is concluding tonight with a closing Gala Dinner at which "Best of the Best" awards will be awarded to travel advisors in a number of categories. Brownell's own Martha Gaughan has been nominated for Most Admired Advisor, and we're all pulling for her.

I left after today's final appointment as I can get back home in California before the Gala and the after-party are done! I'm writing this from the American Express Centurion Lounge at the Las Vegas airport. The above screen flashed (and Handel's Hallelujah Chorus played) at the conclusion of the final appointment at 4:25 p.m. this afternoon. These numbers give a sense of the reach and power of our network:

5,693 total attendees including travel advisors and providers
288,004 four-minute meetings
28,368 ten-minute matched appointments
22,281 room total nights booked at Bellagio, Vdara, and Aria
275,611 square feet of meeting space occupied

Travel Week is exhausting! It's also an immensely valuable opportunity for travel advisors to meet with the hotel reps and tour companies who can create WOW experiences for our clients. For instance, I was able to score a confirmed upgrade for one client at the Four Seasons George V in Paris ... and shop for a one-week stay in a villa with private plunge pool for another. I came back with lots of news, so be watching for my Top Ten List for Travel Week 2017.

This was my twelfth Travel Week, and the chance to re-connect with colleagues and providers is so worthwhile.

copyright  (c)  2017 by Ourisman Travel LLC.  All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.