VISION Destinations offers a unique collection of personally selected luxury hotels around the world and a digital travel inspiration magazine. We sat down with Thibault Duret and Charley Arod, the founders of the company, to find out more.
Tell us about your background and the creation of your company?
Thibault: I started out as a tour manager for international artists, I have travelled a lot, from New York, London, to Tokyo and Madrid. That’s what shaped my taste for travel and prestigious hotels. I then turned to content creation and then to digital and that’s how VISION Destinations was born. Combining digital and hotels to create a unique collection.
Charley: My career path is more traditional. I started out in the private sector in Paris after my studies, as a consultant in private banking. Creating my own business has always animated me as I had digital activities on my own in CPA Marketing in parallel to my two-year Masters in 2015.
At the time, this niche activity was very lucrative for the student that I was, and allowed me to make many trips around the world. I was lucky enough to be able to try out some of the more prestigious hotels, and I remember how each experience impressed me, it was all about the unique atmosphere and the feeling of well-being. A high level of service and comfort that I liked to compare with each new experience.
I had already been friends with Thibault for a few years, and we had collaborated together on other digital projects in addition to my salaried activity, with varying degrees of seriousness, but with a lot of common convictions and super complementary skills. When he consulted me about launching VISION Destinations in 2019, it didn’t take long for me to accept the project.
What is the specificity of VISION Destinations?
VISION Destinations is first and foremost a platform for inspiration. We did not want to become yet another OTA (online travel agency). There are already many OTAs on the market with varying degrees of success and notoriety.
Being relatively close to hoteliers for several years for the other services we offer, we are well aware of the growing discontent regarding the ever-changing commissions of booking platforms. So we wanted to create a model that is transparent and virtuous. In order to encourage sales directly to hoteliers and not make them dependent on commissions. This is the most innovative approach.
We communicate a lot on social networks with a very strong community on Instagram with more than 180,000 followers and we have taken the bet to develop our visibility on Linkedin in order to talk with an audience in the target of the luxury hotel industry. For the moment it’s a winning bet since we are the first travel page on the platform with more than 40,000 followers.
Tell us about the other services you offer
Yes, as we mentioned, we are close to hoteliers because we offer them various services, such as content creation, and the management of their digital strategy, thanks to VISION Agency, our creative subsidiary of VISION Destinations. In short, thanks to our digital expertise and our knowledge of the hotel industry, we offer communication services targeted to this sector.
How many hotels did you start with?
We started with about 20 hotels.
On the basis of what criteria do you choose the hotels to be part of the collection?
It’s a clever mix of many criteria, whether it’s related to the welcome, the place, its history, the quality of the infrastructure, the design, the atmosphere, but it’s also elements related to communication, image and customer service. Everything must be impeccable down to the smallest detail. That’s why every year we travel the world to anonymously visit the establishments in our collection to make sure they meet our specifications. But we also travel and discover establishments that are not present in order to constantly improve our collection.
Have you ever not renewed hotels?
To be completely transparent, it has happened once. It is extremely rare because these establishments are often monuments of the hotel industry, the managers are experts and it is not very frequent that the service deteriorates from one year to the next. But it did happen once, an establishment that we visited anonymously and for which nothing was going well. So we decided not to renew it and to remove it from our collection. We take great care in the establishments we propose so that our audience is never disappointed. It’s a question of image and commitment, the VISION Destinations collection only include the best hotels.
What is the latest news from VISION Destinations?
Last year, tourism was particularly affected by the crisis with Covid. We have worked on our digital strategy to gain even more visibility, and we have redesigned our visual identity. And in the coming months we will open our collection to private villas and properties. We are also working on a new website to increase the fluidity. And many other projects.
Which luxury hotel do you consider to be the benchmark for excellence and service?
Without a doubt, it would be the Plaza Hotel in New York, because of its history, its location and its services. It is a true myth in the hotel industry. It has appeared in a number of cult movies which has helped to forge its legend.
How do you combine technology and luxury?
Things have evolved, luxury is now synonymous with technology. Digital is now at the service of luxury and the customer experience has also become digitalized. It brings inspiration, transparency and fluidity. Thanks to technology and digital, the entire pre-stay process has been transformed to save travellers time. Isn’t that what real luxury is all about?
All imagery used in this article supplied by VISION Destinations
