FOUNDER LITTLE EMPERORS & CO

LITTLE EMPERORS
MEMBERS-ONLY HOTEL CLUB FOR LUXURY LOVERS

Little Emperors is a private members hotel club, offering access to preferred rates and guaranteed benefits at the most exclusive hotels around the globe, handpicked by a team of travel advisors and luxury experts. With both a web and app-based presence, Little Emperors is the essential travel companion to both frequent jet setters and one off luxury seekers.

Little Emperors invites you to become a member by waiving the travel membership fee of $325 for the first year. All hotel contracts come with lowest rate guarantee, Little Emperors promises to bring value to luxury. If you find any lower rates, they will match it and add something (hotel credit or upgrade). Taking luxury the extra #MyLE

Join the club and use code: voltatravel

Kamiar Maleki: Rebecca, tell us a bit about yourself and why you founded Little Emperors back in 2009?

Rebecca Masri: I have always loved to travel. It has provided me with the best real-life education. All my favorite memories involve traveling, and creating Little Emperors, a hotel club of like-minded members, has been quite a journey..

In 2008, the market took a tumble, and the world headed into a global recession. At this time, I was working at Goldman Sachs. Needless to say corporate travel was enormously impacted by the crash, with a large and fast shift away from anything perceived as ‘luxury’. One by one luxury hotel contracts were terminated, and as employees of larger organizations were let go, there was a sharp rise in newly formed SMEs. An opportunity was presented. In 2009, together with some friends from University, I created Little Emperors. These new small businesses gave me the buying power to negotiate rates in hotels, giving hotels back the business they had lost, and providing small companies with ‘corporate rates’ which they would not normally have access to. And so, after almost 10 years in world of finance, my career took an entirely new direction and I joined the travel industry. The company’s mission - to bring our members’ value – value that what you can’t get without us, provide corporate rates to SMEs, and actual benefits, saving money, and also saving time through our booking technology.

KM: How will the pandemic shape the future of travel long term?

RM: There are so many opportunities for change, some of which were already happening pre-Covid, and some triggered by the pandemic. I guess the first thing, the obvious one, will be sanitization, to ensure the safety of guests leads the changes in the industry. Regular cleaning, with stronger cleaning products. It is quite amazing, the number of zoom calls and webinars my team and I have participated in focusing on new hotel measures, really made us think that surely most of these measures should have been in place anyway. The hotels will need to balance between clinical and luxury, fewer touch points, buffets breakfasts a thing of the past, new designs, These are all present in hotels as they are re-opening in a ‘new era’, and have become the new normal way of travel.

We also anticipate in increase in the use of technology in hotels. A sector traditionally characterized by human interactions will now have to provide the same valuable intangible aspects through more touch less methods in a more digitalized world. Keyless entry, checking in and out on your app, in-app chats, in-room dining and restaurant menus – you can literally control everything from your phone. Four Seasons leads this right now, with their focus on tech and the Four Seasons app enabling guests to have as much or as little personal contact as they would like, and perhaps deem ‘safe’ in today’s world. Some hotel apps even allow you to control in-room features such as the tv, even the blinds!

“We have already seen a change in booking behaviors, dominated by longer stays as offices remain closed, the new ‘work from holiday’, and short lead times. If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that nothing is certain.”

With so much uncertainty, and rules changes all the time. People are not planning in advance so much. Despite more flexible cancellation policies, people want to wait and see what happens before they commit to book, particularly with hotels that want a deposit up front. Then we have this concept of ‘Slow Travel’. There has been a revolution in everyday lifestyles. With the majority of people’s lives moving at a much slower pace and with many now working from home, affluent travelers will want to travel to places for a little bit longer, rush around less. We are seeing a demand for more immersive trips, spending more time in your destination, and really exploring where you are. Single flight destinations are more popular, and perhaps worth mentioning is the demand for places with good healthcare options. This has become a consideration for travel nowadays and may continue to be for a while. It has also prompted our members to travel to places they are familiar with before trying somewhere new.

We anticipate less business travel for a long time to come. Bill Gates has said business travel will see a 50% decline, forever (he does own Microsoft so online meetings probably suits him better!). People have had to meet virtually and become accustomed to it. Although there is definitely many advantages of meeting in person, building relationships over meals, in meeting rooms, or even a simple handshake that creates a bond , it can be argued that the ‘virtual’ way is of course cheaper, and can also be effective and avoids the risk of to health or simple stress of international travel. Business travel programs have historically focused controlling costs but in 2021 there will be a major shift towards traveler wellbeing and duty of care.

The majority of people have been cooped up in a densely populated cities, left dreaming of escapism Towards the start of the pandemic, a lot of Europeans could only leave their houses once a day, either for essential shopping or exercise. It felt as though everyone was suddenly really into exercising. . The demand for fresh sea air, mountains have become a trend, and we have seen in increase in demand for places like Switzerland, and coastal destinations.

And lastly, but possibly most importantly – the increase in demand for Wellness Travel, which was already an existing trend, strengthened as health has been the forefront of peoples mind. Well-being is a really crowded space what does it mean – go to gym? Go to an ashram in India? It’s many things – the most meaningful way to approach this is having mindfulness as the centre and core of wellbeing. The pandemic has underlined that health is the new wealth, giving rise to increased demand for highly tailored therapies and treatments with expert instruction. Meaningful travel renewal, recovery, mindfulness wellbeing with a focus on both physical and mental wellbeing.

KM: What makes you decide to add a hotel to Little Emperors’ portfolio? And which new hotels would you recommend for 2021?

RM: Our membership base determines our hotel partners. An average Little Emperors member is 35 – 50, generally quite ‘trendy’, entrepreneur, a lot of French and English members, and the majority men or young families. Our hotels range from luxury 5 star Four Seasons style hotels, to trendy design boutique properties. We select an average of 5 hotels per city, and channel volumes into these properties in order to ensure the best rates and benefits year on year. ‘Luxury’ is the key to all our hotel partners, and the hotels we book the most often have a strong sense of identity to their location. There are some exciting new hotel openings for 2021! Four Seasons is opening in Taormina, Sicily, and have just announced another new opening in Puglia. Over in St Barths, Rosewood is opening their new Rosewood Le Guanahani. In France, Airelles Group will open Airelles Château de Versailles, Le Grand Contrôle, the perfect weekend break for our Parisian members. Oetker Collection plan to introduce their newest Pearl, The Woodward in Geneva, an all-suite hotel with a phenomenal spa, and have also announced their new property in Capri – Hotel La Palma.

KM: How can Little Emperors and VOLTA benefit from each other and what can our audience expect when becoming a member?

RM: Little Emperors is a private members hotel club, offering access to preferred rates and guaranteed benefits at the most exclusive hotels around the globe, handpicked by a team of travel advisors and luxury experts. With both a web and app-based presence, we are the essential travel companion to both frequent jet setters and one-off luxury seekers. The focus for us is value – with our ‘lowest rate guaranteed’ policy, our members can book easily knowing that we ensure the lowest rates with the best benefits at all our hotel partners, and if there is a lower offer elsewhere, we guarantee to match it and add to it. VOLTA’s user base will benefit from all of this, and access to our app to make and manage reservations, as well as our new WhatsApp service connecting you directly to our team.

KM: What is your favorite place to spend time away from home?

RM: I guess you are expecting me to say some remote beach… Well, with the year we have had being just so remote in general, I actually really miss city life. New York! Pre-Covid NYC, the buzz, the shopping, theatre, arts, people, nightlife, restaurants, and people, people everywhere! I do miss that city and try to spend as much time there as possible.

LITTLE EMPERORS
MEMBERS-ONLY HOTEL CLUB FOR LUXURY LOVERS

Little Emperors is a private members hotel club, offering access to preferred rates and guaranteed benefits at the most exclusive hotels around the globe, handpicked by a team of travel advisors and luxury experts. With both a web and app-based presence, Little Emperors is the essential travel companion to both frequent jet setters and one off luxury seekers.

Little Emperors invites you to become a member by waiving the travel membership fee of $325 for the first year. All hotel contracts come with lowest rate guarantee, Little Emperors promises to bring value to luxury. If you find any lower rates, they will match it and add something (hotel credit or upgrade). Taking luxury the extra #MyLE

Join the club and use code: voltatravel

Follow Little Emperors on Instagram at @littleemperors.