Over 55 mins Nigel chronicles his career at the forefront of luxury travel and tourism. 

Starting off as an advertising sales manager with the Far Eastern Review, Nigel set off to Hong Kong in his mid-20s, covering the full Asia region with advertisers from many industries and key Asian Cities. Quite early on Nigel discovered his element, which was a love from travel and hospitality. Following a brief return to Blighty, Nigel joined Institutional Investor and very quickly became universally known for his role in heading up the Industry Gold Standard, Institutional Investor top 100 list. 

Nigel launched in earnest Worlds Best Hotels in 2001 utilizing the II survey and additionally went into pubishing with The Chic Collection starting with Mexico Chic managed to grow to as large as 30 different books. For the past number of years Nigel has moved to France and has launched Bolder Travel complete with a very successful blog with interviews with some of travel and hospitality’s bold and interesting leaders around the world.

Matthew Upchurch talks about Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas, International expansion to 55 Countries and growing, partnering with Sir Richard Branson to sell places on Virgin Galactic via the Preferred Space Accreditation Program and concludes with his thoughts for what 2021 may bring as well as introducing a new term - 'Revenge Travel'.

In this edition we talk to Matthew Upchurch, the inspirational CEO of luxury Travel Network, Virtuoso. Matthew sits on many Industry and Customer Advisory Boards and is in the Travel and Cruise Hall of Fames. Matthew talks about the early years of Upchurch Travel, Allied and Percival and ultimately the launch of Virtuoso. Matthew covers some key milestones, strategic decisions and a little luck that allowed Virtuoso to grow exponentially in the face of challenges including: the removal of airline commissions, global events such as 9/11 and the advent of the Internet and introduction of online power houses: Expedia and Travelocity. Enjoy the first part of this fascinating travel success story !

Over 45 mins Mike tells the story of Dubai’s legendary Barasti Bar. 

Mike covers the early days from Barasti’s formation as the clubhouse for Power Boat racing in the late 90s– its considerable growth and some of the important external drivers behind it including the South African Channel M-Net, the impact of tourism post 9/11 which saw Le Meridien and Barasti look local and firmly position itself as the place to be in the Arabian Gulf every Friday which eventually became everyday. 

Mike also talks about how he managed to drive revenues when running at full capacity and how Barasti managed to break through the million dirhams per night ceiling which becoming known as ‘The World’s busiest Beach bar’. 

Sep 2020