Mr. Benton

Guest Service / Customer Experience Mgmt

The International Traveler: Their Special Needs

By David Benton, Vice President and General Manager, The Rittenhouse Hotel

The global travel market is one of the fastest and dynamic growth businesses on the planet. Not only are business travelers jetting around the globe attending to, and managing the globalization of commerce, but leisure travel is just as robust as the so-called 'tourists' look for more adventure and uniqueness in their limited free time.

How has the travel and hospitality industry adjusted to meet this insatiable demand for both business and leisure travel?

It was not too long ago, when the majority of business travelers visited London, New York, Paris, Rome, Hong Kong and Washington. Just visit any major airport and read the "Arrivals and Departures" boards to see the myriad of destinations that business travelers are flying in and out of...Surabaya, Yangon, Maputo, Cabinda, Porto Alegre Magnitigorsk... to name but a few of the destinations reachable by air.

Leisure travelers want a more fulfilling experience than going to an amusement park, strolling along a boardwalk or simply soaking up the sun. Climbing Macchu Picchu, diving on an ancient shipwreck in the South China Sea, or taking cooking lessons in a villa in Provence are today, quite typical of the experiences that travelers are looking for to maximize their free time with interesting content.

The enormous expansion of airline routes, cruise destinations and specialty travel operators and agencies has made what was once a dream vacation, become reality, as these travel-related businesses recognize and understand the new needs of the international traveler.

Not only have the transportation options become plentiful together with well-qualified travel specialists to offer expert assistance, but the variety of accommodation options has also multiplied.

It is not uncommon for someone traveling on a painting vacation in Tuscany, to stay in a family's home, enjoy dining at their table with all of the family members. In the morning a sumptuous picnic of momma's home made pate and hearth-baked breads, are taken into the countryside with easel and paints. Alternatively, one can rent a barge and meander down the Canal Du Midi in Southern France with just your family or friends aboard. Use the bicycles on board to discover the French countryside, purchasing local produce, sausage and cheese, which the chef on board will prepare for your dinner. Or, one can join an association that places your house in a vacation pool, swapping your house for another in the association. Choose a ski chalet in Rougemont, Switzerland, a condominium overlooking Hong Kong Bay, or a country home in Lower Slaughter in the Cotswolds.

For the very affluent, the floating condominium, The residenSea, simply plies the seven oceans on a never-ending journey around the world. Disembark from the ship in Mersin, Turkey, and join the ship later as it docks in Victoria, Seychelles, after your guided personalized tour through the Gobi Desert and spending time living in a Buddhist Monastery in Qiemo.

Other choices abound. Join, Quintess, The Leading Residences of The World. By joining the club you can book your vacation in a luxurious apartment on the Avenue d'Iena in Paris, relax at a villa on Canouan Island, or relive historic Florence in the beautiful home, Santuario Da Vinci.

Cruise ships have adapted to the insatiable demand of the traveler, adding rock-climbing walls, ice rinks, regular restaurants, botanist-led trips to the upper reaches of the Amazon, and archeological cruises through the Aegean Sea.

This adventuresome phenomenon extends to young people too. Although there are still many summer camps that include boating, swimming and archery, while living in wooden huts, upscale experiences await. In the suburbs of Philadelphia, Julian Krinsky Camps and Programs offers programs in business, film production, art appreciation in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, lifestyle curricula with chefs from the Canyon Ranch Health Resort, and fashion design .The creative owner, Julian Krinsky and his wife Tina, have also developed an intern program where over 100 high school students descend on Philadelphia and intern at establishments, including The Rittenhouse, The Philadelphia Stock Exchange, the Museum of Anthropology, Deutsche Bank, Advanta, and the Einstein Hospital, amongst many others. JKC&P have designed a model United Nations held at the University of Pennsylvania where over 110 students act as United Nations delegates and ambassadors over a four-week period, debating world affairs and attempt to solve global problems.

Not forgetting the emerging attraction to golf, a serious golfer can join groups who travel to the far ends of the earth playing the most unusual and challenging golf courses. Trips to the finest golf courses in Hua Hin, Thailand, San Lorenzo in the Algarve, Portmarnock in Ireland and the Royal Golf Clubs of Morocco, are but a few of the exotic destinations available to the avid golfer in search of a dream vacation.

Hotels and resorts are responding by hiring multi-lingual staff, hi-tech extensive 24-hour business centers, Wi-Fi in guest rooms and at the pool, portable room phones, multiple foreign language TV channels, the availability of foreign language newspapers and magazines, and food offerings that satisfy palates from Beijing to Tashkent. The forward-thinking hotels offer electrical options to facilitate foreign electric razors, hair dryers, mobile phone chargers, facilitate foreign money exchange, and have services available 24/7 to meet the needs of their international traveler. The innovative managing director of The Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, Mr. Ali Kasciki, offers check-in times around the clock, {instead of the typical 3.00 p.m.} understanding that his international clientele arrive at all times of the day and night.

The globalization of industry has stimulated the travel industry into new and unprecedented growth. More airlines, new routes, 800-seat super jets, upgraded terminals, all geared to facilitating the ever-increasing demand, closely followed by the insatiable quest for new experiences for the leisure traveler.

What's next? Underwater hotels and restaurants already exist! Is the next resort being built in the jungles of Borneo, on Mount Maromokotro in Madagascar, or on the Kerguelen Islands in the southern Indian Ocean? Wherever the next "in place" may be, we can be sure that the international traveler will find their way there, by dhow, submarine, hot air balloon or camel.

David G. Benton, serves as the vice president and general manager of The Rittenhouse Hotel and Condominium Residences. He also serves as a board member of many organizations including the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association, The Restaurant School, the Boy Scouts Cradle of Liberty Council and the Hero Scholarship Fund. He is presently vice president of the Philadelphia Art Alliance; and in the past has served on the International Visitors Council and the Arts & Business Council. Mr. Benton can be contacted at 215-790-2527 or dbenton@rittenhousehotel.com Extended Bio...

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