Skip to main content

Thank You 500,000 readers

What does `VIP´ really mean?

In general a person considered as `VIP´ (Very Important Person) is someone from the aristocracy, a real film star or owner of a huge fortune. And normally not keen to seen in tabloids or TV screens, neither "shot" by bygoer´s mobilephones.
If a person is classified as a VIP or feel like one, you should not have to let the ordinary spectator stare at you, if he doesn't appreciate this for once, and he will find himself in the appropriate box in a stdium, entrance to a hotel and suite via secret stairs, or discrete boarded on a ship.
I continue to hear that suppliers are frustrated with advisor requests to `VIP´ their clients without receiving any specifics on what would actually make the guest feel like a VIP. But `VIP´ is used in the same way inflationary as `Luxury´, but too often it is neither a VIP nor Luxury.
by Earl of Cruise
VIP - Is it a special greeting from the general manager as they walk through the front door?
VIP - Is it a bottle of wine or an upgrade to a top suite?
VIP - Is it maybe the giant chocolate chip cookie with their name spelled out on it would make them swoon.
We all have different backgrounds, things that push our "I feel special" button!
Or is it in the end a marketing gadget throw after one only to get into your poket?

A V.I.P. is

V.I.P.s include celebrities, heads of state or heads of government, other politicians, major employers, high rollers, high-level corporate officers, wealthy individuals, or any other socially notable person who receives special treatment for any reason. The special treatment usually involves separation from common people, and a higher level of comfort or service.
... anyboday else is only an extra charged VIP ...
What does VIP really mean
Photo by Say-Cheese/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
In some cases, such as with tickets, VIP may be used as a title in a similar way to premium."These "VIP tickets" can be purchased by anyone, but still meaning separation from other customers, own security checks etc. The term VVIP (Very Very Important Person) is also used, especially with reference to VIPs with very high spending power.

V.I.P. - The Origin

The term "V. I. P.", which emerged in the aviation sector, was coined by Russian emigrants in the 1920s and ´30s. Most of them were aristocrats who had lost some of their former high status during their lives in emigration, in France and United Kingdom. In 1927, tickets of the "Paris - London" line were advertised with "wiesima imenitaja persona" in the Parisian newspaper of the Russian diaspora. In a certain sense this advertising step was successful and the term "V.I.P." has spread in the circle of Russian-speaking emigration and their associated high class members in France and United Kingdom.
Preferred treatment, which is granted to a person regardless of his or her status only for an additional fee, is often offered under the name of "VIP Service" added with an extra charge. Luxury finishes of objects are highlighted by advertising as "VIP models". "VIP-Shopping" is a retail marketing tool that appeals to specific customers.
In aviation, business aircraft with VIP equipment and VIP flight attendants are marketed. The V,V.I.P. model (very, very important person) is also used for a copy of the aircraft, whose interior design is particularly generous and homely.


VIP
Monaco Casino - courtesy Société des Bains
Very often, the things that will make a person smile on a trip don’t cost a lot. It’s recognition of the human kind - an immediate sense that the hotel or the ship they’re on is a safe place, filled with individuals who are there to make them feel cocooned and pampered in an atmosphere of luxury.
But luxury is for certain more than a label, that you put on a Me-Too product - weather it is a stateroom on board or a chamber/bedroom in a hotel, even if both are outfitted with exquisite furniture and more. It is a grade of privacy and space, and staff serving you.
If you are classified as a VIP or feel like one, you don't have to let the ordinary spectator stare at you, if you don't appreciate this for once, and you will find yourself in the appropriate box via secret stairs. But this service comes with extra charge.

In my mind, if an advisor makes such a vague request to `VIP´ a client, they don’t know their client that well and that’s a problem that requires going back to the basics. When you qualify a client, ask them what makes them feel important in general and what has made them feel welcome during past hotel stays. What do they do in their free time that makes them feel happy? But don´t ask blunt: "Are you a VIP?" Faux Pas in first grade!

VIP
Luxury V.I.P. travel
Now, write down a list of at least three things a ships crew or a hotel could reasonably do for this client to `VIP´ them and share it every time you make a booking for them. If a client is into fashion design, good Scotch and horses, tell the booking departments of ships or hotels so they can get creative. More and more great hotels have in-house libraries to draw from, allowing them the chance to place books in your client’s suite. A certain advantage for nowadays cruise ships, as they are lacking most a true library. But a line can be inventive, if able for. Imagine as your client walks in to their room and sees coffee table volumes on mid-century fashion and great equestrians, along with a bottle of Pinch next to them. Total cost to the hotel? Probably $50. Wow factor for the guest? You can’t put a number on it!

Surprising with unexpected gifts, is a far better marketing tool and guest relation program point than any bargin ... as the bargain he has forgotten, only the gifts surprising him, they will remind your misunderstood customer.

You can’t have an in-depth conversation with every single hotel about your client’s favorite things, but you can communicate this little cheat sheet to them in that same sentence you’re writing to request they receive `VIP´ recognition. It takes another 30 seconds to write, "Likes fashion, horses and Scotch." Really good hotels want to please the guests. If they ignore your careful request, consider another hotel or pick up the phone to have a conversation with the head of luxury sales or the general manager.

This is for real NO thing for VIP-ying someone, it shoulf be the normal treatment for guests on board any good rated ship or hotel!

While you’re at it, include information on what your client doesn’t like. That bottle of wine in the room is the worst thing you could give to someone who has just quit drinking, and that plate of chocolates could be a horrible offering to someone who has just lost a lot of weight.
Customers like to know that their travel advisor has their back. You can prove this in small, caring moments such as these or you can be an all-out hero and rescue them from true crises when their good vacation has gone bad because of poor weather or other disruptions. 
Take the time to protect them in these little ways and you’ll end up garnering a loyalty that will pay you back for years and years to come.

VIP
Photo courtesy BROWN+HUDSON


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ocean Liners in Movies or Films at Sea (updated Nov 2017)

For liners and the shipping companies movies and films had been a top marketing tool Movies or Films and liners at sea, had been intriguing me since I have read about in my youth in LUXUSLINER - BILDER EINER GROSSEN ZEIT by Lee Server ( THE GOLDEN AGE OF OCEAN LINERS ). But earlier, mot only since my first crossing, I was keen watching movies with liners in it, and disapointed, which was an understatement, when I realized the films have been made in a set ashore in some movie "factory". That was after my first crossing.   by Earl of Cruise an essay in progress `Sabrina´, Humphrey Bogart in the office, while LIBERTÉ is sailing out of New York harbor - screenshot Ocean liners, especially those of the luxury category, had been the location of dramas, love stories, thrillers, suspense and catastrophies sinde film was born, or nearly. In this list, the most descriptions are taken from Wikipedia, as I guess no one can expect having seen all these films ... otherwise I w...

HISTORY - ts / ss BREMEN and ts / ss EUROPA

Germany’s two luxury liners, BREMEN and EUROPA , have not only played an important part in their country’s mercantile revival, but have added also an immortal chapter to the history of transatlantic travel. Copy from Shipping Wonders of the World   From part 6 , published 17 March 1936 editing by Earl of Cruise ss / ts BREMEN in her early years - Source: Shipping Wonders of the World/Bundespresse Archiv The PRIDE OF A NATION - the NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD quadruple-screw turbine express liner BREMEN . The keel of this ship was laid in June 1927. Her launch took place in August, 1928. In less than a year later, the Bremen made her first voyage to America, when she crossed the Atlantic from Cherbourg to New York in four days seventeen hours forty-two minutes, thus setting up a new record and gaining the coveted “Blue Riband”. During the passage the Bremen attained an average speed of 27.83 knots. ss / ts BREMEN in her early years - Source: W ikipedia For the pop...

ss NORMANDIE 1935 - 1942 IX

s s / te NORMANDIE starting from cold Owners: COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE BUILDERS: PENH Ö ET, St. Nazaire, France   by Stephen Carey © , editing by Earl of Cruise   This document is almost exclusively about the engineering aspects of NORMANDIE , mainly on how to start her up from cold. If you are looking for photos of the passenger spaces, there is a plethora of them on the web, in Facebook groups - Admirers of the ss Normandie , ss Normandie photographic file , The French Ocean Liners / Les Paquebots Fran ç ais , ss Normandie , GREAT LINERS OF THE PAST & PRESENT , and others, Pinterest and in articles about NORMANDIE here in the blog, please see at the end of the article. Using "ss" for NORMANDIE is quite incorrect, as NORMANDIE was a Turbo Electric vessel and not a steamship, therefore NORMANDIE should be adressed as "te".   by Earl of Cruise te / ss NORMANDIE berthed in Le Havre, Gare Maritime May 29th, 1935 - colouring courtesy ...

HISTORY - The CUNARD - WHITE STAR Liner rms QUEEN ELIZABETH (1938-1972)

Over years, in my early youth, the QUEEN ELIZABETH was shaping my mind for the perfect ocean liner, despite having made my first experiences with a liner onboard the HANSEATIC (1), ex EMPRESS OF SCOTLAND, ex EMPRESS OF JAPAN. When leaning at the rail of HANSEATIC entering the port, my eyes where every where and I wished to by a camera, I took all in. And when seeing the QUEEN ELIZABETH with my own eyes, the nice behaving young boy turned into a tomboy, that my grandmére was no longer able to tame ... I did draw quite a lot of looks, back then. I found, while on research, this article and thought it interesting publishing in my blog: written and published by John Sheperd at liverpoolships.org editing and comments by Earl of Cruise I ( John Shepard ) joined the CUNARD LINE in March 1962 as an Assistant Purser and sailed the QUEEN ELIZABETH throughout that year, before transferring to the Liverpool-based CARINTHIA in November, where I remained as Crew Purser for the next five...

Thank You 500,000 readers

HISTORY - RHEINGOLD the German luxury day express train

Between May 1928 and August 1939 the luxury day express train RHEINGOLD operated between Hoek van Holland and Basel as a FFD Pullman train of DEUTSCHE REICHSBAHN GESELLSCHAFT (DRG) and MITROPA. The name was mystic and elitarian. by Earl of Cruise   RHEINGOLD, the name of the most luxurious train ever of Germany - detail, own photo On May 15th, 1928 the luxury express train RHEINGOLD started for the first time, connecting Hoek von Holland, Netherlands, and Amsterdamn with Basel, Suisse. Name giving was the legendary treasure of the Nibelungen. This special service for most international travelers was an immidiate success. Advertisment for the RHEINGOLD created by Frank Newbould - collection Earl of Cruise For the most travelers in the RHEINGOLD meant the voyage in the luxury train more than being transported in high comfort. From their soft armchairs they could watch the pitoresque Rhine landscape, with wine villages, vine-growing slopes, forteresses and castles, and th...

Deluxe - KUNGSHOLM V (2020+) of SWEDISH AMERICAN LINE

There is the idea of a new KUNGSHOLM, initiated by SWEDISH AMERICAN LINE . The bygone KUNGSHOLM IV was a design icon, really hard missed by shiplovers and those who are design afficionados. And those who just love to see the ship, with its beautiful lines in harmony designed by Claes Feder, the KUNGSHOLM IV . by Earl of Cruise When loosing the HAMBURG to the breakers I did start developing a new HAMBURG, but what it would be today. The very same was done by Johnny Sid - he started developing a new KUNGSHOLM and revived the SVENSKA AMERKA LINIEN as SWEDISH AMERICAN LINE. Theo Anderson created for SWEDISH AMERICAN LINE a design what a new, a KUNGSHOLM V , could be. Potential new KUNGSHOLM V , rendering by Theo Anderson - courtsey Theo Anderson / SWEDISH AMERICAN LINE Potential new KUNGSHOLM V , rendering by Theo Anderson - courtsey Theo Anderson / SWEDISH AMERICAN LINE Potential new KUNGSHOLM V , rendering by Theo Anderson - courtsey Theo Anderson / SWEDISH AMERI...

HISTORY - rms MAJESTIC - Hand in Hand with rms TITANIC

TITANIC and MAJESTIC (1890), both Royal Mail Ships, hand in hand? How so? The review of João Martins will show. by João Martins , editing by Earl of Cruise And WHITE STAR LINE was more than only a shipping line which employed rms TITANIC. WHITE STAR was company with a great heritage and introduced many innovations which became standards. Founded by Thomas Henry Ismay , originally from Maryport, and shareholders amoung whom had been HARLAND&WOLFF . Later the Irish shipbuilder, located in Belfast, built all ships for WHITE STAR. rms MAJESTIC as built by HARLAND&WOLFF - Sour ce: Wikipedia ( original seize ) T he rms MAJESTIC was a 9,965 GRT British ocean liner built by HARLAND & WOLFF for WHITE STAR LINE and completed in 1890. Her career was profoundly intertwined with rms TITANIC. In the late 1880s competition for the Blue Riband, the award for the fastest Atlantic crossing, was fierce amongst the major shipping lines. At the time the prize belonged to CUNA RD...

ss NORMANDIE 1935-1942 XII - The Most Beautiful Ocean Liner Ever Built

For many, or should I say for "a great many" Ocean Liner Lovers, NORMANDIE is the most beautiful liner ever built. Me, I am among those aficionados.   NORMANDIE was technically decades ahead of time. The vessel got implemented technologies that would have been copied by others, who then claimed to be the first to have. Alternative facts are not a modern days invention of a certain chrétien and his backward oriented entourage ... NORMANDIE´s interior was the peak of ART DECO in France, and was, still is, the peak of chic. Never again any liner, or passenger vessel, except NIEUW AMSTERDAM had been designed exterior and interior that strict in the "guide lines" of the ART DECO (Link in German) movement - as ART DECO is "only" a movement and not a school like BAUHAUS . Therefore the style was in a permanent "move" and development. NORMANDIE, the perfect ocean liner, Le Vaisseau de Lumière, Le Deesse de la Mer - courtsey coloured by Dary...

HISTORY - AUSTRO AMERICANA the Austro-Hungary shipping line into the new world

Not many know about the Austro-Hungary shipping line, AUSTRO AMERICANA , which sailed out of Trieste to the Americas. Austro-Hungary and shipping? You may ask ... you may have heard about Vienna Walz, coffe house culture, Hotel Sacher and its famous chocolate cake, the Prater, chateau Schönbrunn, the Fiakers - the famous horse carriages and such things. But passenger shipping lines? There has been AUSTRO AMERICANA and ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD , renamed in LLOYD TRIESTINO after 1918 and after purchased by EVERGREEN renamed in Italia Marittima. The actual company ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD is a new formed management company situated in Austria.   by Earl of Cruise KAISER FRANZ JOSEH I. the biggest liner of AUSTRO AMERICANA - own collextion Parts of my family lived for a long time in the Austro-Hungary empire, which can be qualified as a "United Nations of the Balkan". Having traces into Austria-Hungay, the realm of Hungary in special, it is a pleasure for me making thes...