Luxury Travel Podcast with Allen Suss: Recent Episodes
Allen Suss
Welcome to the luxury travel podcast website, where you will discover information on luxury travel from right around the world and hear amazing stories, tips and secrets from experts and luxury world travellers.
Your host Allen Suss has been a travel agent for more than 40 years. He has seen many changes in the travel industry, over time. He is well experienced in helping travelers with their travel arrangements. He is also available for emergencies for his clients 24/7. Allen will be making regular luxury travel podcasts, which will be available both here and on iTunes.
In this episode, Allen Suss discusses luxury travelling with Kim Vaughan of Viking Cruises
An international strategic senior travel professional with 20 years of experience innovating and creating profitable and successful product for multimillion-dollar companies across diverse portfolios.
Kim has worked extensively across Africa, Europe, South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand in diverse roles and has experience in strategic planning and implementation and is able to prioritize effectively, multi-task and achieve objectives within time and budget. Kim has worked in small group touring, overland travel, Global sports events as well as cruising.
In this episode, Allen Suss discusses luxury travelling with Jen Pagett National Accounts Manager Australia of Uni World Boutique River Cruises
Experienced account manager, who has a demonstrated history of working in the leisure, travel & tourism industry. I have exceeded sales targets, developed and implemented sales and marketing strategies and excel at training and facilitation.
I’d be tempted to answer all the amazing travel and the social aspects of our job. But the reality is the feeling of satisfaction I get from adding value to a travel partners business. I love supporting agents in driving their luxury river cruise sales.
In this episode, Allen Suss discusses luxury travelling with Susie Coughlin of Globus Family of Brands.
Susie Coughlin – Regional Sales Manager for the Globus family of brands. With over 30 years’ experience in Sales for coach touring and river cruising companies, Susie has a thorough knowledge and understanding of all things coach and river cruising.
Having experienced firsthand the waterways of Europe on several occasions, along with cruising the lower Mekong and the Yangtze, Susie is more than qualified to speak on the features and benefits of river cruising in general.
In this episode, Allen Suss discusses luxury travelling with Shirley Wright of A Yankee Leisure Group Company.
Sharleen is a travel sales & marketing professional with over ten years of experience in both retail and wholesale travel organisations, such as Rail Europe, Rail Plus, Beyond Travel, Bentours, and Flight Centre. She now holds the role of Business Development Executive for Yankee Holidays in Australia, representing the brands of Railbookers & Amtrak Vacations.
In this episode, Allen Suss discusses luxury ocean cruising with Alexandria Hruncev of Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara.
Alex is the District Sales Manager (VIC/TAS) and has been working with Royal Caribbean for 3 years. She has sailed on 20+ cruises - most with Royal Caribbean - and sometimes had 3 cruises booked in one year. You can certainly say she loves cruising! If you haven’t sailed on a cruise yet, now is the time to choose a cruise and set sail to an amazing destination.
In this episode, Allen Suss discusses luxury river cruising with John Navarro of Uniworld Boutique River Cruises.
Award-winning Uniworld—the world's ONLY authentic boutique cruise line — offers itineraries in spectacular destinations throughout Europe, Russia, Egypt and Asia. The company’s European fleet features luxurious ships with an average capacity of 130 guests, the highest staff-to-guest ratio in the river cruise industry, enticing shore excursions, world-class gourmet cuisine, impeccable hospitality and numerous other all-inclusive benefits.
In this episode, Allen Suss discusses luxury Coach Tours with Harry Sargant of InsideJapan Tours.
To those considering Japan as a holiday destination, Harry would say that it is like no other place on earth. Every country claims to have friendly locals, but the Japanese REALLY go out of their way to make you feel welcome. They are so proud of their country that they are delighted you have traveled so far to see it. In fact, in almost ten years of working at InsideJapan, Harry has only ever met one person who didn't like the place - and they're still friends!
In this episode, Allen Suss discusses luxury Coach Tours with Kate Foster of Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours.
From humble beginnings to world-renowned luxury cruise and tour operator, in 2016 Scenic celebrated 30 years as a leader in its field. The Scenic team has worked tirelessly to earn a world-class reputation for creating and delivering the ultimate cruising and touring itineraries for travelers who seek wondrous experiences and exceptional 5-star service.
In this episode, Allen Suss discusses luxury cruising with Paige Kirk of Regent Seven Seas Cruises.
Paige has done her fair share of travelling around the world and she always had a passion for creative writing and experiential travel, key strengths lie in client liaison work in the luxury travel industry, excellent relationship management, business development, and exceptional research and analysis skills.
▪ Extensive experience in the travel and tourism industry across South East Asia & Australia
▪ 8 years of experience within the travel industry
▪ 6 years as an experienced Business Development/Sales Manager
▪ Proven track record of increasing sales
With these set of skills, anyone is sure to enjoy any cruise under her management.
In this episode, Allen Suss discusses luxury cruising with Kate Foster of Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours.
From humble beginnings to world-renowned luxury cruise and tour operator, in 2016 Scenic celebrated 30 years as a leader in its field. The Scenic team has worked tirelessly to earn a world-class reputation for creating and delivering the ultimate cruising and touring itineraries for travellers who seek wondrous experiences and exceptional 5-star service.
In this episode, Allen Suss discusses luxury travelling with Toni Kosmarikas of Finnair Airlines.
Finnair is the first European airline to fly the new fabulous A350 XWB aircraft (with extra wide body). Business Class passengers, Economy Comfort passengers, and Finnair Plus Gold members can enjoy free complimentary internet access for one hour straight any time during the flight. For Finnair Plus Platinum members, there is complimentary internet for the whole flight.
In this episode, Allen Suss speaks with John Vespasian about his first time visiting Russia and the city of St. Petersburg.
John talks about the beautiful city of St. Petersburg and how it has been preserved over the past years, as well as all the amazing things he has witnessed and experienced during an 11 day visit to Russia.
In this episode, Allen Suss discusses the beauty of travelling to Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia with his friend Andrew Gelbart.
Andrew loves to travel a lot around the globe with his wife, and sometimes are accompanied by their own private photographer to capture every memorable moment during their travels.
In this episode, Allen Suss discusses luxury travelling with Adam Schwab of Luxury Escapes.
Luxury Escapes has customers across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, India, Hong Kong, the US and the UK. It is based in Melbourne and was founded in 2009 by Jeremy Same and Adam Schwab.
In this episode, Allen Suss discusses travelling to Tuscany with Ines Fabris of Tours of Tuscany.
Ines was born and raised in Melbourne of Italian parents. In 2007, Ines decided to take a study tour of Tuscany and in 2008 Tours of Tuscany was born.
In 2012 my daughter Monique joined as Marketing Manager and together they share the beauty of the region with travellers from many corners of the globe, comprising, New Zealand, USA, Canada and UK.
From small beginnings in 2008 Tours of Tuscany has become a well-known brand for unique boutique tours of the region.
In this episode, your travel captain, Allen Suss, speaks with Greg Wilson of Wide Eyed Tours about travelling to Vietnam and Cambodia.
In this podcast episode, Allen speaks with Ben Wilson, co-founder of Medical Travel Companions (MTC). MTC is a unique service that assists people with their travel needs from a local domestic or complex international journey.
In this podcast episode, Allen Suss speaks with Sara Woodroffe of Simply Stronger about the importance of preparing ourselves physically for travel, and also about the impact of our changing eating habits when we travel.
Diane Lanze is the General Manager of Sales for the Captain Cook Cruises Company. She has over 20 years experience in the travel industry and fell in love with the idyllic Fijian Islands the very first time she went there. She shares a wealth of knowledge with us and tells us about travelling to Fiji and escaping on one of their five cruise ships. They offer several different travel options, ranging from a day excursion to an overnight trip, to a three day, 7 day or even 11 day get away through the northern islands.
In this podcast episode, Allen Suss speaks with Stuart Catterson of The Golf Touring Company about golf tours available to Australians.
Love golf and love to travel? The Golf Touring Company is the perfect combination!
In this episode, Allen Suss speaks with RoomsXML Asia Pacific's Director, Mark Luckey. They talk about what roomsXML does for travellers, and also places Mark loves to travel to personally.
In this episode, Allen Suss speaks with long-time friend and travel industry colleague, Craig Hunt of SkiMax. Craig and Allen talk about the best ski vacation locations for Australians.
In this podcast episode, Allen Suss sits down with Tony Kirkhope, founder of Kirkhope Aviation, a Melbourne-based business specialising in outback tours and corporate charters.
In this podcast episode, Allen Suss speaks with Daniele Zanetti of Asia Pacific Travel Marketing Services, more commonly known as APTMS.
APTMS is a travel representation organisation founded in 1985 and is focused on catering to the needs of the Australian and New Zealand traveller through wholesalers and retailers alike. APTMS has been the sales representative in Australia for a number of clients including Alamo Rent A Car, Aston Hotels & Resorts, Howard Johnson Hotels & Lodges, Italhotels, Preferred Hotels Worldwide, Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters , Scenic Airlines, Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood and many other well-known brands.
Daniel Toby, the State Manager for AAT Kings in Victoria and Tasmania, and Allen Suss discuss what it's like to travel with AAT Kings.
Kirsty is the Director of Sales and Business Development Manager for Indochina she also looks after Indotrek, the high end adventure brand established by Indochina. Taking on board their 18 years experience in the region, Indotrek is focused more towards adventure itinerary's for Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand Vietnam and other multi-country itineraries. They have four main themes: cycling, trecking, kayaking and dirt biking. This also leads into things like bird watching in the national parks, with the possibility of riding a Vespa through the country side. Stay in a 5 star hotel, or a monastery, or get the most out of your experience by staying with the locals. In this podcast episode, Kirsty talks about how Indotrek is the high end tour group attached to IndoChina. Find out more about group bookings and doing recreational activities i.e. biking or hiking and kayaking itineraries for any fitness level.
In this Podcast Kirsty Thomas-Thoeun of "Trails of Indochina" an Ensemble on location tour specialist gives advice on how to get the most out of a visit to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. Kirsty has been a specialist in the Indochina travel industry for 20 years and shares secrets on how to get the most out of your unique travel experience, including "how-to" instructions on seeking out the real local experience and getting off the beaten track with personalised tours. You can get up front and personal with the locals and attractions, all the while having a 24/7 English speaking care team at your disposal for any inquiry no matter how small or large.
Just a few hours from Australia and New Zealand, Vanuatu is the ideal location for a romantic escape or fun-filled family holiday. Couples, families, adrenalin junkies and serenity seekers will all find plenty to do. It is a place to slow down and relax in the moment, or work up the energy to indulge in a plethora of invigorating experiences. From climbing to the rim of an active volcano, to soaking yourself under a stunning waterfall, day cruising between islands or careering through the jungle on a buggy fun adventure; Vanuatu has a wide range of activities that will make your holiday truly memorable.
In this podcast episode, Allen Suss speaks with John Vespasian about the great city Berlin.
In this episode of the Luxury Travel Podcast, Allen Suss speaks with Marilu Vitale about Discover the World luxury cruises.
It was Jonathan Milburn's dream to work in the travel industry since his early teens – as the guy that “chose what goes into travel brochures”. After spending a large chunk of his career working for wholesalers in Australia – mainly in product and marketing management roles he took the leap over the fence from buying to selling and has been in representation for the last 10 years, starting his own company Complete Travel Marketing with business partner, Charlie Ridout, 5 years ago. It has been exciting!
In this interview with Lauren Jansma of OneFineStay.com, Allen Suss and Lauren talk about the benefits of home stay accommodation.
Join Allen Suss live in Budapest, Hungary with Kempinski Hotel's Alexandra Schmidt as they discuss the great treasures this beautiful part of the world has to offer travellers.
An African safari is a MUST for your travel bucket list.
In this interview with Allen Suss, Rolf Huber of African Wildlife Safaris talks about this unique travelling experience.
In today's podcast episode, Allen Suss and Nicki Schleibs of Rail Plus continue their discussion about the advantages of travelling rail within Europe.
In today's podcast episode, Allen Suss speaks with Nicki Schleibs of Rail Plus about the advantages of travelling rail within Europe.
In this podcast interview with Stephanie Beard, we find out more about travelling with G Adventures...
What's different about G Adventures?
G Adventures specialises in small-group adventure travel. What is really special about that is that you'll be able to see areas of the world that you just can't get to on a group coach tour.
What is really special about G Adventures is that they are a sustainable travel company. They like to positively affect, through tourism, the areas they travel to.
When you travel with G, they have sustainable travel programs throughout the world that you can give back to, just by travelling to the area.
If you love cruising and want to travel in 6-star luxury, with all accommodation, food, entertainment and beverages (including alcoholic) taken care of for you... then you'll want to listen to this podcast with Annabelle Brown of Regent Seven Seas cruises.
Author and history buff, John Vespasian, shares with us his insights from his recent trip to the historical and beautiful city of Venice in Italy.
Travelling to India? In this exclusive interview, Allen Suss and Kay Hilton discuss Kay's recent trip to India.
Excellent travel tips for anyone travelling to India.
Travelling to Ireland or thinking about it? In this interview, Allen talks to long-time friend and client, Fred Gillen, about his recent trip to Ireland.
In this podcast episode, Allen Suss speaks with Ken de Mallindine of Le Cordon Bleu, a French iconic school and worldwide leader in gastronomy, hospitality and management.
Allen and Ken also discuss some of the importance tourist destinations of Paris.
Ex-Melburnian but now Sydney based, Julie Denovan established her marketing company in 2002 after spending 12 years with Peninsula Hotels, the renowned Hong Kong based hotelier.
She has worked with leading names in the luxury travel segment seeking to grow their business in Australia and New Zealand including Montage Hotel & Resorts, Huka Lodge, and the leading luxury marketing company, Virtuoso.
Julie currently represents three iconic hotels in Europe; The Ritz London, Hotel Esprit Saint Germain Paris, Grand Excelsior Vittoria Sorrento; and SeaDream Yacht Club.
She particularly enjoys working for these family owned establishments which are able to offer a special experience to their guests, rather than the ‘cookie -cutter’ service offered by large multi-nationals.
The hotels and SeaDream each have their own unique personalities and are led by visionary owners. Their staff and crew share this passion and are true professionals who do want the dreams of their guests to come true.
In this podcast interview, Allen talks with Les Cox of Albatross Tours. Albatross Tours specialise in Europe coach tours.
Les has been in the travel industry for a long, long time, and what he doesn't know is not worth knowing.
Patricia Segal has travelled to almost every place in the world you can think of. In this exclusive interview with Allen Suss, Patricia shares highlights of her most memorable travel experiences and the places she loves the most.
As creator of the Trademarked MIKE cartoon sports character, Jim Sweeney has crafted his digital innovation to become the first universal animated brand in sports.
Jim’s property has enjoyed an incredible start in digital media. In addition to penning 850+ blogs, Jim has published 38 MIKE Sports Comic Books.
The 58 year-old Sweeney still participates in sports (slowly!) as a masters athlete and serves as the Head of USA for FIMBA which runs masters basketball tournaments around the world.
Having traveled to more than 60 countries, Jim cites the Balkans as one of his favorite areas of the world to visit.
Sweeney is utilizing his lifetime experiences in sports and business as a catalyst to bring the MIKE cartoon sports character to life and develop MIKE into a sports and cultural icon.
Alex Pellizzoni has been in the minerals processing and related industries for the past thirty years and recently retired (April 2016).
He has held senior positions in Australia, Asia and Europe and since 1985 and since 1998 has been responsible for his Group's strategic raw material procurement, based in Australia but with worldwide responsibility.
Alex has travelled extensively over the years and is typically away from home around 50% of the year.
Destinations range from Asia, including China and India, South America, United States, Africa and Europe.
Alex's company is headquartered in Valencia Spain where he would visit at least five times per year, every year.
His preferred (and almost exclusive) airline for long distance travel is Singapore Airlines which, quite apart from the safety and service aspects, it is the airline which provides him with the most flexible schedule (four flights per day to/from Melbourne) and with a very wide variety of connections from Singapore to the rest of the world.
Alex plans to continue to travel, mainly for leisure and enjoyment and intends to visit more 'unusual' destinations in Middle East, Eastern Europe and in Central Asia.
Professionally, Lisa's background is within the travel and tourism industry. Having lived and breathed the industry since 2003 and excelling in all facets of the industry from product development, price contracting and negotiations, heading up several sales and marketing teams nationally as well as creating and establishing a touring brand for another company. The time naturally came when Lisa was to create her own brand, built around her unique style of travel. Lisa's genre of travel is focused on the more unique, remote, lesser known and untouched destinations as well as looking for fresh ways to explore old haunts. Adventure and experiential travel is close to Lisa's heart as she believes to truly experience a destination, you must be completely immersed in it and live like the locals do.
Peter and Pam share their unique experiences, insights and must-know tips from their recent travel to Antwerp, Belgium and Scotland.
The Basque Country is a small country with a strong identity.
Basque is the oldest language in Europe and its gastronomy is considered to be one of the best cuisines.
Privileged geographic location, in the green north of Spain, with everything in a nutshell; coastline, mountains, and wine area (Basque Rioja).
It has three capitals; Bilbao, a stimulating city, with the Guggenheim museum, San Sebastian, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, which has become European Capital of Culture in 2016, and Vitoria-Gasteiz, a beautiful city awarded the European Green Capital 2012.
Basque Country is a place of heritage, nature, spectacular landscapes, small medieval villages, cultural life, wonderful food and wine…
A paradise for the senses!!!
Cruise liners are the first point of call when travellers consider taking to the seas. Though, sometimes a different, more exclusive sea travel experience is calling. Today I'm talking with Julie Rogers from Ponant who specialise in luxurious yacht expeditions that deliver on a more intimate, and human level.
If you'd like to contact Allen about anything you found of interest in this episode send your emails to: allen.suss@travelmanagers.com.au
Matthew Edwards has over 20 years of experience working within the travel industry. Beyond his work within travel, Matthew is also an avid traveller himself. This passion brought him to Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia on what eventually became some of his favourite journeys around the globe! Ask Matthew his favourite part about world travel, and he will list his favourites: meeting wonderful people, eating delicious food and exploring fascinating history. As part of the Buffalo Tours team, he relishes the opportunity to share his love of discovery with other travellers!
If you'd like to contact Allen about anything that you found interest in the episode send your emails to: allen.suss@travelmanagers.com.au
This episodes guest is Aaron Russ founder and expedition leader of Wild Earth Travel.
Join Aaron for a special presentation where he will be showcasing the exciting opportunities for exploring the Amazon, Antarctica, and Alaska. Be inspired to explore these iconic destinations from the decks of Wild Earth Travels purpose built ships.
If you'd like to get in contact with Allen about anything you found interesting in this episode, send your emails to: Allen.Suss@travelmanagers.com.au
My guest for this episode is Greg Wilson of Cruiseco Cruising. Greg has loved cruising ever since his first cruise at 5 years old, ships and the destinations they take you.
After working at a bank for 5 years, Greg went for a job at Princess Cruises and worked on board for a number of years as Junior Assistant Purser which was fantastic; getting someone to paid to do something he loved.
In the years that followed Greg has worked on ships through a wonderful range of destinations, including Alaska, Panama, Caribbean & Europe.
When he finished with Princess, Greg became a travel agent for a while before joining Cruiseco almost ten years ago.
He is now the Sales Executive and looks after Cruiseco members all over the country.
If you want to get in contact with me regarding anything from this episode you can reach me at: allen.suss@travelmanagers.com.au
Today's special guest is Helen Eves from Seabourn Cruises. Helen is the NSW Business Development Manager for Holland America Line and Seabourn.
She has worked in the travel industry all her life, starting as a travel consultant over 30 years ago at Grace Bros Travel. Since then, Helen has worked in rental car, airlines, and various wholesale travel companies - all in Sales related roles, only joining the cruise industry about 6 years ago and admits that this was the best step she has ever taken.
If you want to get in contact with me regarding anything from this episode you can reach me at: allen.suss@travelmanagers.com.au
Matt Harris of EagleRider Motorcycles USA. Eagle Rider Motorcycles offer guided motorcycle tours across the USA with inclusive accommodation and food. They also offer tours in other countries including South America, Dubai, Singapore, and Australia.
Herbie Rosenberg moved to Australia from South Africa six years ago, is based in Melbourne and represents a prestigious selection of African products through his representation company, Africareps.
The companies he markets and represents are:
- The Blue Train
- Tintswalo Atlantic
- African Sun Hotels
- Wilderness Safaris
- Royal Zambezi Lodge
- Legacy Hotels & Resorts
- Londolozi Game Reserve
- Great Plains Conservation
The above companies encompass tourism product, resorts, hotels, game reserves, safari lodges & camps. They cumulatively span 10 African countries namely Botswana, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Seychelles, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Herbie has had over 35 years’ experience in the African travel industry, first as marketing director of Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve in the Kruger National Park region of South Africa, thereafter as a director of Africapass, a South African inbound tour operation and now as Managing Director of Africareps.
He has travelled extensively around the world, but more importantly has visited many of the countries mentioned above as well as personally visited the majority of the over 100 game reserves, lodges, camps and hotels in his portfolio.
Africareps’ role is to market and promote the companies we represent to the Australian and New Zealand travel industry.
They are effectively a GSA (General Sales Agent) and provide information, service, support, marketing collateral, brochures, images & copy for publications as well as training.
If you would like to contact me regarding anything from this episode you can do so by emailing me at Allen.Suss@travelmanagers.com.au or via my website travelmanagers.com.au/AllenSuss