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 ...

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.

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!

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.

Photo courtesy BROWN+HUDSON

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