Luxury travel and multi-generational trips are driving the rebound in the Caribbean & Mexico

As the Canadian representative for numerous upscale properties in the Caribbean, Elaine Carnegie is well aware that boutique resorts and villas are booking up quickly.

“Canadians are realizing that they need to book in advance to get their first choice of date, hotel, suite type, and best promotion,” the President of Canlink Travel tells Travel Courier. “Especially in the luxury market, which is what our hotels are, these choices are filling up much faster than the mass market hotels.”

Since many luxurious properties are smaller with 30 to 100 suites or villas, she notes that it doesn’t take long for space to fill up considering they’ve been available worldwide long before Canadian travel restrictions started easing up.

“We have had instances when clients of agents have been disappointed if their first choice is not available,” she says. “This is extremely important when they have a certain hotel or room choice in mind.”

To avoid disappointment, Carnegie encourages clients to book their sought after hotel and island destination “as soon as they possibly can.”

“The promotions that are available now will most likely not be in place later,” she says. “Luxury, private hotels and villas with lots of space are the No. 1 choice right now for travellers as they have missed doing this for the past one and a half years. Clients are also booking for small groups of family and friends as well. This again means these choices are booked earlier than ever.”

Similarly, Carlo Trinidad, BDM, Western & Central Canada, for AMResorts, says that tour operator capacity and availability for flights during the upcoming fall/winter season isn’t at 2019 levels.

“With the demand that we are experiencing, inventory is disappearing fast so I really recommend agents encourage their clients not to wait or else, either the flight will sell out or rooms will book up,” he says. “Canadians have been longing to go on vacation amidst the pandemic and now that restrictions are starting to ease, there’s more confidence in consumers booking their fall/winter beach vacations.”

Since travellers have been restricted from seeing their loved ones, he also reports “an influx of family and leisure groups wanting to reconnect and reunite in destination. Fortunately, we have a lot of properties in the most popular vacation destinations which allows leisure groups to have a great selection of resorts, whether adult-only or kids welcoming.”