NYC & Company Luxury Sales Mission 2019

NYC & Company UK’s team partnered with British Airways to conduct the first of its kind Luxury Sales Mission in New York City, in January 2019. This was part of a larger Luxury Sales Mission that saw six markets, including the UK, bring a delegation of senior product decision makers from luxury tour operators to New York City to experience the plethora of luxury product and experiences available in the City. The objective was to showcase the new and classic NYC luxury product to both in terms of hotel and experiences, to aid luxury product development and provide new ideas and inspiration for these luxury operators NYC portfolio.

This was the first time that NYC & Company had hosted a multi-market Sales Mission in destination, and the focus was on luxury given that the City welcomes over 300,000 affluent visitors from the six established markets that attended (UK, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain). Particular focus was on the UK market given over 1/3 of these affluent visitors were from the UK, with 8% of our total UK visitors to NYC qualifying as affluent. The UK is also identified as having a much higher proportion of duty-free shoppers than other international markets, with jewellery store visits especially popular.

As part of this Sales Mission, a five-day programme was split across meetings and presentations and visits to key luxury experiences around the City. The UK group was hosted by The Plaza Hotel and the Lotte New York Palace, and was provided with Club Class flights from British Airways to the four delegates that attended. MySedan were then on hand to provide ultra-luxury transfers to and from the airport for each leg of the journey.

The two days of meetings were mixed across hotels and experiences, with hotel presentations and one-on-one meetings with each tour operator, attended by leading luxury properties such as 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, The Beekman, Mandarin Oriental New York and The Surrey Hotel. The products and experiences included the likes of exciting development Hudson Yards, BSE Global (Brooklyn Centre), New York City Ballet and Patina Restaurant Group. These meetings were hosted at the fantastic High Line Nine Art Gallery and then the Whitney Museum of American Art, both of which gave delegates the chance to experience their offering too.

After these two days of busy meetings and presentations, which also included a Welcome Reception at The Sea Grill with NYC & Company members, the attendees were split into groups and were given the chance to see the luxury product first hand.

This started with a stunning Sunrise Experience at the Empire State Building, which also showed off the brand new ESB customer entrance that has recently opened. Following this, the group visited Saks Fifth Avenue plus Shimansky Diamonds for leading luxury retail experiences, and also enjoyed the hugely popular shopping destination of Madison Avenue after lunch at Café Boulud. A busy day was finished off with the choice between The Metropolitan Opera or the New York Philharmonic at the stunning Lincoln Center.

The rest of the trip was spent with further visits, including to Downtown Manhattan shopping centre Brookfield Place and also an experience with Beyond Times Square, who took the delegates to Brooklyn Heights and Dumbo, before a closing event dinner was held at Manhatta Restaurant with stunning night time views of Downtown.

The trip ended with some final hotel visits, including The Penninsula Hotel that treated our group to an excellent experience on their roof top bar.

The outcome of this Sales Mission was a first hand and first class luxury experience for key decision makers in New York City, showcasing a wide variety of new and existing luxury product for the operators to connect, experience and ultimately work with.