São Paulo – The luxury travel market in Brazil is still small. There are few hotels, companies and professionals dedicated to the sector, but for tourists who can make use of these services, the commodity, comfort and fun are great, very great.
Starting with hotels, luxury tourists find exclusive accommodation and services, like 24-hour personal cuisine, in which they may choose dishes that are not in the menu, personal concierge, who will schedule trips, make restaurant reservation, get tickets for shows or whatever else the guest desires. The service may even include chefs to cook within the suite itself.
"The global concept of luxury hospitality is attuned to the service the tourist needs when he is in the city," said businessman Roberto Miranda, who owns Roberto Miranda Educação Corporativa, a school that offers an MBA in Luxury Hotel Management.
At Fasano Hotel, in São Paulo, for example, even before the client begins his stay, an employee responsible for the reservation gets in contact with the guest to learn about his preferences. "We study the client so we can provide everything to his taste," said Dominic Laeet, Sales and Marketing director at Fasano São Paulo.
Laeet explains that hotel employees are aware of details ranging from which side of the bed the customer prefers to sleep on to what he eats for breakfast, how he likes his clothes ironed, changes he made to the bedroom, etc. All of this for the hotel to adapt services to the customer’s taste. "For Arab clients, we place dried fruit in the room, like dates and apricots, and show the direction of Mecca," said Laeet. If the client asks for it, the hotel may also offer halal meats.
According to Miranda, hotels with fewer apartments are the most luxurious. At Fasano, the 60 apartments are distributed over 20 floors, with a maximum of four apartments per floor, and the price is proportional to the exclusiveness of hostelling. Just one night stay at the luxury hotel in São Paulo costs 3,500 Brazilian reals or US$ 2,000. At the hotel, guests also have a spa, bar and gym, as well as massage services, beauty treatment, skin cleaning and access to the renowned Fasano restaurant, alongside dozens of other services that the luxury hotel concept brings with it.
Checking out
To see the country, tourists may count on the service of luxury travel agencies. Established in 2002, Matueté is a personal travel promoter, offering planned routes and trips tailored to the customer’s wishes. "We customise the trip according to the customer’s desires," said Robert Betenson, one of the partners at the agency.
Matueté receives around 400 foreign tourists a year. According to Betenson, the most sought destinations are the Amazon, Rio de Janeiro and Bahia. To supply all the desires of clients who decide for a personalized trip, the agency makes available an employee, the host, who is available throughout the trip, offering services that range from reservations at restaurants to renting a helicopter at the last minute.
"Luxury tourism in Brazil is much connected to experiences," said Betenson. Among the experiences that the businessman has already supplied are a helicopter tour of the whole Brazilian coast, visits to samba schools and even balloon trips in Chapada Diamantina, a region of plateaus and valleys in northeastern Brazil.
To tourists who like knowing the city they visit more intimately, another service is that of the personal guide, who accompanies visitors to sites that differ from those traditionally visited by common tourists.
In São Paulo, for example, Flávia Liz Di Paolo takes visitors on themed trips like the "City of Flavour", for gastronomy fans, "Shopping Day", for those who want to make use of the several shops the city offers, and "Futesampa", whose theme is football.
"Zapping SP", which takes tourists to the main attractions in São Paulo, is the most sought by Flávia’s clients. "It is a presentation of Brazil through the history of São Paulo," she said. "It is truly chronological. It starts at Pátio do Colégio [where the city was founded], crosses the old city centre, the new city centre, Higienópolis, Paulista, Pacaembu, etc.".
Flávia explains that she usually works with executives, authorities, military officers and foreign journalists of large publications. "I am generally alone with the executive, or with him and his wife," she explained.
Most of the clients are European or North American. But, to provide better services to the tourists of the Middle East and North Africa, Flávia participated, late last year, in a training course focussed mainly on Arab tourists, promoted by the São Paulo Convention & Visitors Bureau in partnership with the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. The most important Arab client that she has already guided, she recalls, was a Saudi sheikh – whose name she does not reveal – and who provided a memorable experience. "He gave me a 3,000 real (US$ 1,800) tip," she revealed.
Flávia has a site showing the routes she offers, but she also produces others, according to what the tourists wants to know. To the Arabs, she recommends the jewellery tour. "I take them to Brazil’s most awarded jewellery designer’s workshops. I schedule a chat with my clients, in which they discuss how the jewellery is produced, etc., and there is sometimes a cocktail party," she reported.
And as luxury is never too much, there are other options for hospitality and operators on the Brazilian Luxury Travel Association (www.blta.com.br) site. Choose and enjoy your trip.
Service
Hotel Fasano
Site: www.fasano.com.br
Matueté
www.matuete.com.br
Flávia Liz Di Paolo
www.uniqueinsp.com
*Translated by Mark Ament
