Last Wednesday, the Wild Card travel team hosted its latest ‘Breakfast With’ event focusing on luxury travel brands and how they can make the most of the ever changing media landscape in 2015.

Leading freelance travel editors Lisa Grainger (The Daily Telegraph, Ultratravel and Marie Claire) and Amanda Statham (Cosmopolitan) joined us to meet an illustrious group of communications professionals from prestigious luxury hotel and travel organisations.

Following an overview of the digital and print media landscape, Lisa and Amanda led an informative Q&A giving insights into 2015 trends, how high end audiences are discovering travel in a digital age and how brands can stand out from the crowd.  Here are Lisa and Amanda’s top 10 insights:

  1. 2015 is set to be the year of ‘experiential travel’.  Holiday makers are increasingly looking to ‘better’ themselves either through education, such as learning a new skill, or discovering a unique, one-off experience such as a picnic on Mount Kilimanjaro
  2. For Amanda’s readers, the focus will be on providing ‘Facebragging’ ideas for holidays and weekends away that will leave the social community saying “I want to go there!”
  3. Luxury print travel publications are still booming.  There were more issues of Ultratravel last year than ever before.  The audience wants great ideas deliverer on a plate.  This is an audience heavily influenced by what they read
  4. Hotels with ‘stories’ will generate much greater interest than those that are simply new, refurbished or under new management. Lisa in particular wants to hear about features and experiences to be enjoyed in the local vicinity and interesting, talented or special personalities working at the property
  5. A strong story isn’t enough on its own, it has to be supported with ‘wow’ images that leave readers in awe and inspired to book. Much debate about the inclusion of people in shots… in the main, no people unless inclusion is stylised and adds glamour and interest to the shot
  6. Twitter is a powerful tool for journalists, whether it’s to offer sneak peeks of where he/she is in the world, to asking for local expertise on destinations. Interestingly, Lisa prefers to not tweet about the places she visits to keep her destinations top secret until the magazine review is published
  7. Competition is fierce between travel titles looking to be the first to cover the newest luxury experience on offer to travellers
  8. A celebrity angle for stories, such as a regular VIP visitor creates massive interest in a story, particularly online
  9. Press trips should always be tailored to the journalist unless the experience on offer is a one-off occasion, such as spending the night in a £20,000 apartment, when it simply wouldn’t be feasible to offer individual visits on multiple dates. Before approaching the journalist, familiarise yourself with their hobbies and interests so that any opportunities to include these within itinerary are done
  10. The space given to video content on online travel websites has been growing steadily in recent years and is always welcome, particularly ‘how to’ videos

Here are a selection of tweets from the event:

Wild Card is a consumer brand agency with offices in both London and Truro. Wild Card’s work spans the travel, food & drink, lifestyle and consumer health sectors.

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