May 3, 2025 • 53 mins
In this episode of our Small Town-Big Luxury series, host Terrie Dean is joined by Steve Lassman, Vice President of Villa Product and Agency Relations for World Travel Holdings' luxury villa division.
Discover the allure of high-end vacation rentals, explore stunning properties, and learn about the unique experiences that make these villas truly exceptional. Whether you're dreaming of your next getaway or simply curious about luxury travel, this episode is packed with insights and inspiration.
Discover the allure of high-end vacation rentals, explore stunning properties, and learn about the unique experiences that make these villas truly exceptional. Whether you're dreaming of your next getaway or simply curious about luxury travel, this episode is packed with insights and inspiration.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a Lifeless Ordinary, the travel show and podcasts
from your friends at the wishing Well two forty three
f Avenue in harsmerg and online at the wishing Well
dot biz. The wishing Well is your ultimate luxury concierge
travel agency and A Lifeless Ordinary is a travel show
and podcast posted by Terry Dean, bringing her over forty
years of experience in the travel industry to help guide
(00:21):
you to great experiences in your travel, whether it be
around the block, around the country, or around the world.
Let's bring in Terry Dean and say hello.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Chris hell in the world. Are you this wonderful, wonderful Saturday?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
You know what, I'm enjoying it my day. We had
a good week. Yeah, summertime feels like it arrives somewhere
along the way.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I want to tell you this whole week for me
was a blur. It's been as busy as I can
ever remember it being since the first of the year. Well, good, crazy,
busy week, but a good week we have. And we're
leading up of course to Mother's Day. Kind of love
that you know, and God has smiled on us. We
have some fabulous weather, have we not.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I'm glad you mentioned Mother's Day. I think I might
have forgotten that.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
No, no, no, no, no, Chris, that's a hard noe. Yes,
it is, it is. It is Sunday the eleventh, So
do remember your mothers exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Well, it's good to see you, too, Good to see you,
and I'm excited about today's show.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
I am too.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
We we have been actually working on a continuous information
stream through small towns big luxury. I've had a ball
working through that with some of the special guests that
we've had. We've had folks here from Nemicol and we
had folks here from Colopye Collections. It was great fun
(01:37):
learning about and hearing about all of these fabulous, luxurious
properties that are in the most unlikely of places. Last
week we spent some time working and talking through back roads,
which is one of our luxury lesser known, lesser traveled
type of accommodations, and luxury travel, as we know it
(02:02):
is continuing to evolve. It's no longer just about resorts.
We know that, and today's client, Chris, really wants to
and expects a whole whole lot more. They want personalized service,
they want seamless planning, They want unique experiences that all
start before takeoff and extend far beyond their checkout. Now
(02:25):
we've been continuing this ongoing series, I'm especially excited today
to bring in yet another approach to these discussions. Today,
we know from our previous episodes that luxury can be
found in the smallest of places, but that in no
way limits the incredible experiences that you can enjoy with
(02:48):
your experience. So we're going to explore luxury actually through
the lens of Villa Accommodations today. Where they can be found?
Are they really able to be located in intimate, small locations?
Why in the world would you choose them over an
all inclusive resort, What are the major advantages to you
(03:08):
as a consumer, and even more importantly, how is your
travel experience elevated by choosing Villa Accommodations. I'm excited so
for a topic that I think requires a really good
knowledge base and years of experience in this very specific subject,
I thought I should reach out to the experts. So
(03:32):
joining me today on a lifeless ordinary as a gentleman
by the name of Steve Lassman. Steve serves as vice
president of Villa Product and Agency Relations for World Travel Holdings.
That's the company Luxury Villa division and Steve oversees travel
agent engagement. Thank you, Steve, and is also responsible for
(03:55):
strengthening the division's relationships with external agency community and the
Villa product. And prior to joining World Travel Holding, Steve,
you had a very diverse career in luxury travel outlets.
I know you're a graduate of the University of South
Florida and that you were nominated by our guys, the
Virtuoso Travel Network as an ambassador for Best of the
(04:18):
Best in twenty nineteen. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to a lifeless ordinary,
my friend.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Well, thank you so very much. Terry makes me feel
like I was on that old TV show you know
about your life, because you made me sound really old.
All with all of that, Yes, I've had quite the
career in travel. This is I've been doing this for
over forty years. I do want to start because I
(04:48):
was listening to you guys speak. Actually, I just was
at the Neiman Colon Resort last month.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Oh incredible place. I actually you were there when I
was there.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
That's that is correct, and we saw each other there.
But well, I just wanted to give them the shameless
plug because I was very impressed with it. And also,
I don't know if we spoke about, but I also
heard you giving another plug, so I'm gonna shamelessly plug
them as well. I did a back roads bike tour
of the Bourbon Trail and rode a bicycle from Louisville
(05:21):
to Lexington.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
I'm so fantastic.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
So yeah, so you you definitely hit two highlighted trips.
You know, obviously we're here to talk about the Villa
product and the Villa the world of Villas, and I
love that, and you know, I'm just happy to be
here and thank you again and fire away.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, and I'll tell you this show a lifeless ord
near Steve is all about bringing people up to and
putting their knees under the table of luxury. I mean
that for me is where I live, breeze, eat and
sleep every single day of my life. I've done this
for about, you know, forty five plus years. I don't
(06:01):
I don't want to talk about that too much because,
like you said, it makes you sound really really old.
But I choose to actually say mature or wise. Let's
use that word because we can all benefit wisdom.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
We're definitely wise in our years It's interesting you talked
about luxury, and you know everyone always says, well, what
is luxury? And I know I'm going off my going
off here a little bit, but you know, luxury is
whatever is in your mind. What is your luxury? You know,
luxury is not one. You know, what's luxury to me
may be different and luxurious to you. You know, we
(06:40):
may have different thoughts. So I love the topic because
it means something to everyone else. And we together yourself,
you know, as a travel advisor, and I said, thillo
is a distinction. We can create that personalized luxury, you know,
for the listeners, for your guest.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah. And I want to actually begin today by letting
our listeners behind the curtain of where our conversation might
take us today. And I don't want to disappoint them
because this is a really exciting topic. It is for me,
but especially in today's world of travel, and it's very
very timely. And since we've been following these crumbs of
(07:18):
small towns, big luxury, Steve help us understand where exactly
we can find some of these luxurious villas.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
So as you know, we are located worldwide, we're everywhere
we think we need to be. So we have villas
ranging from sizes of one bedroom all the way up
to fifty one bedrooms. Now that fifty one bedroom is
four different homes that sit next to each other, because
if it was one building, that would be a hotel.
(07:50):
But we have one right one group of villas, the
haciendas in Mexico, which we can talk more about later,
that sit next to each other in a beautiful gated community,
one right next to the other. And when I talk
about fifty one bedrooms, you don't have to take all
fifty one. You can take one house, two houses, three houses,
or all four houses combined to get to that fifty
(08:13):
one bedroom. But we'll come back to that in the moment.
So we are all throughout the Caribbean, we're all throughout Mexico,
We're in Central America, we are in Southeast asiare both
in Thailand, and we've just added villas in the Seco
Japan that we're very excited about it.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
We are in the United States, and of course probably
one of the most popular other than the Caribbean would
be Europe. So we are all throughout Italy. Obviously, everyone
knows about Italy, knows about the villas in Italy due
to the many movies and shows that have been about Italy,
also about Greece, but there's been many movies in Greece.
(08:55):
So we're in Greece, we're in Italy, we're in France,
we're in Spain, we're in Portugal, we're in Croatia, or
we're in Scotland. We're in the UK, and we do
have one villa in Brazil in Peditee. And for any
of your listeners out there that are Twilight movie fans,
the last Twilight movie was filmed at this particular villa
(09:17):
that we have in Brazil and Partee if you remember
the Honeymoon scene, they were in one of the areas
of the villa that was filmed there. So that's where
we're at. And we're always looking, you know, for more
product to add, but we're never we're never going to
be too big that we can't really make sure that
(09:37):
we have the best product. As you well know, Terry,
we don't want to have the most villas. We just
want to have the best village.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yes, and you do. I mean you are. Your company
is really my go to when I am selling or
I'm even thinking that a villa opportunity might be great
for my clients. I spend a lot of time, I think,
walking through the educational process of that, and I don't
mind that. I love that. That's you know, that's what
(10:08):
I'm for, That's what my expertise is for. That's why
clients come to me. But why do you think, Steve,
some travelers don't first of all, consider the idea of
a villa retreat as a vacation option.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Well, I want to say, first off, you're one hundred
percent correct. A travel advisor is the best option in
the world for any consumer, and we'll talk more about
that in a little bit. I think a lot of
people avoid it. It's very unfamiliar to them. You know,
it's like there's no brand equity in villas. What do
I mean by that? You know, you read about the
(10:45):
Four Seasons, you read about rich Carlton, you read about Hyatt,
you read about Marriott. There's brand equity people can relate to. Oh,
if I stay at a four Season, I know what
it's going to be like. Or if I'm you know,
if I'm sailing on a Crystal Cruise or I'm sailing
on Oceania, I know what I get because there's that
brand equity with villas. There is no brand equity. Every
(11:08):
villa is completely different. There are no two that are
exactly the same. So the fear of that of the unknown,
the fear of and I know the media loves to,
you know, create fear in travel, as we both know.
So I think it's the media creating this fear and travel,
This unfamiliarity, the remoteness of some of these villas, the
(11:33):
idea of a client getting someplace and there's no front desk,
who they going to talk to? You know, these are
things that they don't know about villas. The other thing
that's interesting is because I know they know the names
the r BO, Airbnb. They see these brands, these big
(11:53):
do it yourself brands that consumers can go to on
on the internet. Now they are big brands, and they
and as we know, we've read a lot of horror
stories throughout the years. You know, things that have happened
to people, saved.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
People from some of those horror stories.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Yes, so it's important to know, you know, when you're
comparing us and you as a travel advisor to somebody
who like these big box consumer brands, you know, they
don't even hide the fact that they've never stepped foot
in a single one of their homes. They have over
seven and a half million homes in their inventory. That
(12:32):
you know, if you or I said, hey, one day,
I just want to put my house on the market,
you know, you might go through some steps with them,
but no one's ever coming to your house to check
it out. With us. As I mentioned earlier, we don't
want to have the most so we bet inspect and
guarantee the quality of everything that we offer to a
travel advisor to your consumer. So you know that when
(12:56):
you look at the pictures, when you read the descriptions,
when your travel advisor, like Terry says hey this is
a great location, or this has this or this has that,
you know you're, for all intentsive purposes, you're going to
get what you imagined you were going to get. So
people have that fear of the unknown. It's our job,
together Terry, to make sure that we fill them with
(13:19):
so much information, like you said, educate them on what
a great vacation this is, that they won't have that
fear of the unknown, the fear of no brand equity,
and another big difference for us, and I know you
talk about it all the time, and we spoke about
it when we were in Neiman Cohen. We're not just
a billa rental company. That's what you know, these do
(13:41):
it yourself sites are. We together are a villa vacation
experience company. Together, we create the experience that the guest
is looking for. So we want to know. You want
to know. I know. One of the first things you'll
always ask the guest is you know, what is the
experience you're looking at?
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Exactly?
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Exactly we can always find a place for people to sleep.
We want to know what kind of experience people want
to have, and this way we can always pick the
best location, the best villa. And that's another great reason
for a travel advisor. You and I only have one
common goal, and that's to make sure that we provide
a remarkable experience to your guest. When your client is
(14:21):
online and googling and working with these doing yourself sites,
who's the most important part of that equation Exactly the homeowner.
You bet the homeowner is because they want to fill
their calendar, they want to sell the space.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
We are not beholden to any particular owner. We're not
beholden to any home. We are only beholden together to
the guest, and that's the guarantee that you, as a
travel advisor working with us, we can provide to the client.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah, and I love the way when I, as a
travel provider, do call in or need to reach out
to Villas of Distinction, and your res agents are fantastic.
By the way, I know that our listener never have
the opportunity to set in on that, and that's a
shame because they're so helpful and they provide such guidance.
(15:10):
What I do is extract the information necessary from my
client's Like you said, Steve, what kind of experience do
these people want to have when they travel? Well, you
know they communicate that to me and I immediately then
go to my vendors, I e. But Villas of Distinction
and say, this is the kind of experience my travelers want.
(15:31):
I'm looking at this property many times and I will
tell you this. They'll say to me, you know, that's
a great choice. However, consider this property. Put this in
the mix. And here's why I love that, because now
we're collaborating, and we're collaborating on the client's experience. We
(15:52):
are working together to make sure these clients have the
very best experience when they travel that they can. And
there are also you know, we did a show a
couple of weeks ago on how TV and what we
watch has influenced these You talk about villa's not really
having that brand equity, But I am so grateful for
(16:14):
TV shows like even the ones you mentioned, that bring
villa experiences into the forefront of people's minds. Now they're
starting to think about them, you know. So it's great.
There are some true cost efficiencies to villa vacations. People
may not know that. So why really, why might someone families, couples,
(16:37):
wedding parties, why should they steve? Why should they choose
a villa over an all inclusive resort. Let's talk about
that for a minute.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Okay, well, I'm going to start with the value. Okay,
let's start there. Let's do the value of a villa
if you can. If you compare a luxury resort to
a luxury villa dollar for dollar, you're let's do let's,
just for argument's sake, say you're spending the same dollars. Okay,
I know you're going to spend less in a villa,
but what are you getting at a resort, you're getting
(17:08):
a bedroom and a bathroom. At a villa, we like
to say you're getting your bedroom and bathroom for similar
or less cost, and you're getting your kitchen, your full kitchen,
your living room, your dining room, your private pool, all
complimentary because you're getting that for you know, at x
(17:30):
no additional charge. And many of our villas come fully staffed.
And by fully staffed, I mean you will have a
staff member such as a butler, your own private chef,
your own housekeeping. Many of them come with laundresses so
they can do your laundry. Which think about the cost savings.
If you're going away for a week, you can bring
(17:51):
a carry on bag instead of checking a bag and
paying for your check baggage. Because you have a laundress
doing your laundry every day, there's another cost saving. Okay,
you're also you know you're also not you know you
talked about celebrations, you talked about weddings. You know, families,
you know, multi gen families going away. When you go
(18:12):
to a resort, you are sharing all of the amenities
with hundreds or thousands of other people at a villa,
the entire villa, the private pool, the kitchen, that's all yours.
So at a villa, let me ask you a question.
When you go to a resort, what happens the bar closes,
(18:32):
the pool closed, exactly, the restaurants close. Well, guess what
at a villa, the bar never closes, the pool never closes,
the kitchen never closes. So again, it's talking about the
experience that you're looking for, and we can create all
sorts of experiences. Everything we do is, as you know, Terry,
(18:53):
we provide a full service concierge to the client. So
let's just talk about the chef and a cost of
food at the moment. Let's look at a destination that's
very popular in the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic. That's great, right,
the Dominican Republic. All of our villas in put to
the Kana and Capkana are fully staffed. So that comes
(19:15):
with your chef and your butler. So the average cost
for food and beverage, because remember we're buying food from
the grocery store, not from a restaurant every meal, right,
and it's being prepared by your chef, which means you're
menuing what the chef is preparing. You're not walking into
a restaurant that says, here's what we're serving. No, no, no, no,
(19:38):
before they even get there. Terry is you know you're
going to work with us. We're going to either before
they get there, or some people like to go shopping
with the chef. Some people want to do menu designing
when they get there. Again, what does the client experience
want to be? You want to go in Italy with
the chef to the local market, not a problem. But
if you want us to pre stock everything in advance,
(19:59):
we can do that as well well. And again, if
clients have dietary needs, Let's say you know you're gluten
free or you have an allergy. Once you tell that chef,
you never have to worry about it again because they know.
You know Terry, you know is gluten free, she can't
have anything with gluten. I have a particular allergy. I've
been to this one villa in Hacienda Jaguar in the
(20:21):
Rivi Eramaya. They know every time I come, I can't
have a certain ingredient. So they'll always say to me
when they're serving mister Steve, you cannot eat this, But
mister Steve, we made this for you, you know, So
that's that's a big relief because when you have an
allergy and you go to a restaurant, you always wonder.
You tell the waiter, you tell the waitress, but do
(20:43):
they really listen. Do they tell the chef? Is this
because the chef is in that kitchen preparing hundreds of
meals for hundreds of different people, whereas the chef is
in the kitchen at your villa only preparing the meals
for those guests. So it is again very personalized. But
I was talking about the cost. So the average cost
of food for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack daily,
(21:06):
You're ready, Terry's I'm ready, forty dollars per person per
day in the Dominican Republic.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, that's unheard of. You know that. That's got excite
of people when they start looking at vacation planning these days.
That is excite.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Yeah, you can't eat breakfast in a luxury resort for
that kind of money. You're getting three meals in a snack.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
That's exactly a great.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
And it's about you know, you asked me, you know,
about the cost efficiencies, but it's again we talked about
the experiences, you know, So it's about creating the experience
with with our concierge team. You know, for the guests,
you know, whether they want to have you know, they're
in Mexico and they want to have a Mediachi band
come to the villa and play during you know, brier
(21:51):
to dinner. They want to have a fire show at
their villa. In the Caribbean, they're in the Dominican Republic
and their their cigar smokers. We can bring a fresh
cigar roller in and make you know, roll fresh cigars.
You know, you want to have many petties at the villa,
you want to have spa treatments at the villa. It
is endless what we can do and bring it all
to the villa. So again you're not competing with five
(22:15):
hundred or thousands of people. You know, even for a
beach chair or even for a pool chair, you don't
have to get up, you know, first thing in the morning.
I know many of your listeners probably have done this
and you go and you put a towel over your chair.
You have to get a chair, you have to say
early in the morning. Yeah, you don't have to worry
about that at a villa. So, you know, we take
(22:37):
a lot of the stress out of the vacation as well.
And if you know, if a client works with a
good travel advisor like yourself, you are going to go
through and go day by day and try and figure
out what is it you want to experience. And it
could be, Hey, we want nothing but the chef cooking meals,
and we want to lay on the beach all day
to you know, we want to go to a private
(22:57):
sydoe one day. We want to take a catamound out
and do a sunset cruise with a chef one night.
You know, it's whatever the client is looking to do,
as we talked about earlier.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Oh yeah, and I think you know to your point,
I'm listening kind of sitting on the edge of my
chair with everything that you're talking about, Steve, because I go, yes,
I am. I actually have experienced that myself. I know
my clients have experienced it. How much more sexy is
it to say I went with my personal chef from
(23:29):
my villa out to the local market in Italy and
shopped with him or her to collect food for our
evening meal, as opposed to saying, yeah, we had a
decent meal at the all inclusive I went to I mean,
there's a big difference in that experience. You're right, And
really I think also staying in a villa. I don't
(23:49):
know how you feel about this, but I think it
actually encourages you to explore more of the area, the culture,
the restaurants, the bars, the local flavors and arts, as
well as the history and the beautiful sites there. We
encourage our clients to venture out because I don't think
anything's worse than going to someplace new and being a hostage.
(24:12):
You know, sometimes that happens. People will just actually isolate,
and that's okay. Like you said, if that's the experience
you want, that's okay. But I think villas really encourage
education of the places that we go.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
And we see one percent and I'm just gonna throw
this one in there. How does this sound to your listeners?
You go to a villa, one of my favorite villas,
it's called Nobol Poggio. It's in Kiyanti in the Tuscan region,
and we set up a truffle hunt for you one
morning and literally you leave the villa and within twenty
(24:49):
five yards you're already starting your truffle hunt and you're
going with the truffle hunter and the dog, and you're
finding the truffles, and you gather all your truffles, and
I'm talking about this for your foodies that are there.
So you gather all those truffles, and then you come
back to Noble Potio and all of a sudden, you go, Okay,
we have these truffles. Our chef is now going to
prepare a five course truffle lunch. How about this, Let's
(25:13):
do a let's bring a private Somalia in and do
a wine taste wine with our truffles. Now you tell
me to get any better than that.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
I don't think so. And who wouldn't want that? I
mean who? We're all looking for those exclusive experiences now.
People want bragging, right Steve, when they travel, and you
know that. I mean, I would be willing to bet
you any travel agent or advisor that you hang out
with these days, they're telling you the same stories. Our
(25:43):
clients want experiences. That really is what this radio show
is all about, a life less ordinary. And when we
are able to bring these kind of experiences and paint
this canvas for you on this show, we're doing a
great job to at least just give you a thimbleful
of what is out there to experience through these types
(26:05):
of choices, and really how you travel is a choice,
and that's why we want to unveil some of these
things for you on a life less ordinary now through COVID.
I'm going to go here. We learned that to escape
crowds was kind of out of necessity, and for a
lot of a lot of us we got we got
(26:25):
kind of used to that. But for families with children
or you've got active adults out there, Steve, are there
villas that actually cater to boast those clients who like
to mingle and those who might prefer a more private
oasis away from the crowds.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Yeah, I mean, you know one hundred percent, because I'm
going to go right back to the put To kind
of Beach Resort where we have about seventy five villas there.
You know, it is in a gated community called the
put To kind of Beach Resort. The put the kind
of beach Resort has two private beaches for all the
home owners to use. It's got restaurants, it's got bars,
(27:03):
so you could stay at your villa, have your chef
prepare your meals, or and stay at your pool, like
you said, just by yourself, or go to the beach,
go to the beach club, you know, do any of
that to kind of mix and mingle. We can do
things for the kids at the village, so you know
when you go away with children, as you know, I mean,
I always remember when I would take my kids to Disney.
(27:26):
All I heard in the back of my head was.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Exactly you know.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
You know, the money machine. I was like, oh, God,
print some more money. You know what I love about
what I love about what we can do with families
is you know, we we can be very creative. We've
done scavenger hunts on the beach. We've brought up do
you know those big blow up slides on the beach,
and we've brought those two villas on the beach so
(27:53):
the kids have like a water park at the beach.
We do kids cooking classes. We can do you paint
and sip for the adults, paint without sipping or sipping
a soda, you know, with the kids. You know, it's
endless what we could do. We could have the kids
come in and teach them how to play a steel drum.
(28:14):
I mean, there is so many things that you could do.
There's there's a really cool spot in Jamaica. It's it's
called Stush in the Bush, yes, okay, and it's for Falmouth, yeah,
I know, but it's up near I'm going to tell
you about because it's very cool. It's up near Falmouth.
(28:34):
And many years ago a Rastafarian gentleman and his wife
wanted just bought a house and moved off the grid
and they started growing their own food. And what they
did is they started they opened up a farm to
table restaurant up in the mountains. So you can go
up to this Stush in the Bush. You can go
with families, you can go with friends, take the kids
(28:54):
and if you want, he will walk them through the
farm and talk about all the things he grows, how
it impacts your body. You can talk about the medicinal
effects for it, you know, for children. So again it's
really open to whatever you know, a family wants to do.
We had a we do this a lot, obviously, these
multi gen celebration travel. We did a ninety fifth birthday
(29:18):
party for Grandma at one of our villas, at Tranquility
on the Beach in Jamaica. We had a steel drum
band welcoming to the villa. But The piece to resistance
was the celebration night where we brought a live reggae
band in a videoographer and just watching grandma and the
grandkids and the children all dancing to a reggae band.
(29:44):
You know, is you know that's what it's all about,
you know, I mean, it's not the hokey pokey for
those of you who you know of our age that know,
because that's what it's all about. Yes, but you know
it's really creating lifetime memories. You know that you can't
you can do them at resorts, but again, you ever
think of you ever gone to a resort when there's
(30:05):
a wedding going on? Oh shit, what's happening at the wedding? Yes,
you're looking. There's this beautiful wedding ceremony at the beach
and there's people walking behind in bathing suits, shirt list,
drinking drinks, gawking, seeing what's going on. And you have
your beautiful, wet, private wedding, you know, on the beach
at a villa or in the private villa. The only
(30:26):
and if you want to be in your bathing suits,
because we've had those wedding parties, it's fine, but it's
only the people that you've invited to be part of
that celebration. So it's about privacy, security, you know, just
intermingling with the people that you want to and not
having three hundred four hundred and five one thousand people
(30:47):
walking and watching your special day. Well it certainly isn't
as special when you have a thousand strangers watching.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
No kidding, no kidding. And I actually I hope Steve,
that our listeners today on a lifeless ordinary are having
as much fun as I am, because this is really
a topic that excites me. As I said, I've been
in this industry a long time, and Villa's Villa Vacations,
they are really coming into their own. I am joined
(31:17):
today by Steve Lassman, again, vice president of Villa Product
and Agency Relations for World Travel Holdings, more affectionately known
to me as Villas of Distinction. Steve, we're going to
take a quick break here and when we come back,
we're going to talk about some of the ways in
which people may be able to enjoy your product with
(31:38):
some specials that I unearthed and want to share with
our audience today. So we're going to take a break
and when we come back, we're going to talk about
some more experiences at Villa's.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
Protect your vacation investment with guidance from a travel professional.
The wishing Well knows travel and help you avoid pitfalls.
They can spoil your hard earned vacation, will plan your
trip and have your back as you travel. All of
this without support or so called convenience fees. We're on
the web at the Wishingwell dot biz or call us
at five four zero nine zero eight two three three three.
(32:12):
That's five four zero nine zero eight two three three three.
The washing Well really does make dreams come true.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Yeah, welcome back to a life less stordinary. This is
the travel show and podcasts from your friends at the
wishing Well. You'll find them on f Avenue in Harrisonburg
online at the Wishingwell dot biz, where you can give
a call five four to oho nine oh eight two
three three three. Terry, I'm enjoying our conversation.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
With time Oe.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Me too.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
I'm having a ball.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
And I know we as we've been talking about villas
of distinction. My immediate thought is I want to book
a trip and go visit Don't Destinations, and I know
you have some specials to get us there.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
I do. I actually pulled some of these down because
my hope is that people will be very excited about
the conversation with Steve Lassman today and they will run, now, walk,
run to your phones and give us a call and
let us know that you two want to have these
great experiences. Now, some of them that I pulled down
(33:13):
are kind of the usual suspects, I think, because a
lot of folks, especially this time of year, are looking
at vacation time, they're looking at the islands. That seems
to be what everybody wants to do. Take me someplace warm,
sunny and sandy. So a couple of these that I
pulled down and Steve, feel free to ring in as
you wish on some of these I looked at. In Barbados,
(33:37):
Trade Winds has a special stay seven nights, pay for
only six. This is a five bedroom mansion within the
Sandy Lane estates. I love this. It's an area called
Little England and that's for good reason. That's because there's
a good combination of British and Caribbean flair here. What
(33:58):
can you tell me about trade and.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Steve, Well, first off, I just love the area. I
love the fact that you know, as you mentioned, it's
part of the Sandy Lane of States. But what is
great about Barbados Again, you have a staffed villa, but
you also have so you have a little a little
bit of both. You have the best of both worlds.
You have the villa and you have the the great
(34:21):
Sandy Lane of States, but you also have Barbados is
an incredible island for food and for entertainment. We love
somebody wants to go out and really, you know, enjoy
that Barbadian music, that Barbadian The people are so friendly.
It is a great, great destination. And I just love
(34:42):
the fact that you grab Barbados because it is a
great deal. When you have the you know, you can
get a free night because the free night, you know,
that's that's that's that's a big time savings these days. Yeah, yeah,
and what and when you look at at it, so
it's you can it's a five bedroom villa. But let's
(35:04):
just look, I'm looking right now at the calendar. Okay,
So it's a five bedroom villa. This five bedroom right now,
you know, plus tax and services is three thousand dollars
per night. So if you take six nights, because you're
getting that one night free, Okay, that's eighteen thousand dollars,
(35:24):
but you're dividing it by five bedrooms, dividing it by two,
that's eighteen hundred dollars per person for the week.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
I love that you get you go, that's fabulous.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
Oh, I have a calculator. I have a calculator in
front of me. Please. You know, I'd love to sit
here and tell you, oh yeah, I mean you know,
I'm I'm a math with just yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
But you know we're not smoking you with the numbers here.
I mean, these are real numbers. Steve is giving you
these real numbers.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
Yeah, so you go to my you go to my website.
It's three thousand dollars a night. But what I love
about it is, you know, if you don't need all
five bedrooms, you don't have to take all five bedrooms.
But again, you have up to those five bedrooms and
many times. And this is what's great about using a
travel advisor. You know, if you find something you like,
(36:18):
there are many of these homes that will offer a
lower rate for less bedroom usage. Yeah exactly, not saying
all of them, but you could get a five bedroom.
They may have a three bedroom rate or a four
bedroom rate. So you're getting this beautiful villa. You know
that comes with these five bedrooms, a private swimming pool,
a housekeeper of laundress, a chef. You know, there's even
(36:41):
babysitting service if you need it, if you're going with
a family. And again that access to Sandy Lane Estate
is really special because Sandy Lane is probably and you
would know better as the travel advisor that works in
the resort world, is probably the nicest resort in all
of Barbados.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Oh, it is absolutely, if not all of the Caribbean.
I mean, it's absolutely a fabulous, fabulous property. It's five
plus stars, and I mean it is where you want
to be, very very nice area. Now, I've got a
couple of more that we want to hit here because
I do want people to have choices. The next one
(37:17):
that I was looking at is I believe you pronounced
this Alaya Belize? Is that would that be correct?
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (37:25):
And in Belize you've got the rainforests with wildlife. This
is the Northern Hemisphere's largest coral reef system. In Belize,
you've got two hundred miles of beaches and their collection
is offering a fifth night free also, so you can
actually pull up one of these villas and take a
(37:45):
look at it. If you'd like, you can call us
that the Wishing Well. We'll walk you through that as well.
But Belize is also just a great, great tropical and
very i'm going to say national park ished type of accommodation.
We also have the British Virgin Islands and a place
(38:06):
there called Adagio in the Virgin Gorda. You can stay
for seven nights there, pay for six, or stay for
five nights and pay for four. This particular villa in Adagio,
this is beautiful, clear waters, beautiful beaches. It will hold
up to ten guests. It's five bedrooms, six baths. Again,
(38:29):
book seven nights, pay for six, or book five nights,
pay for four. That's a beautiful, beautiful resort. Then Costa
Rica also, you know, like Belize in that national park
kind of setting. Costa Rica's actually means rich coast and
they are. Indeed, they have thirty two national parks, They're
(38:51):
over one hundred and fifty wildlife reserves. You've got zip
lining in Costa Rica, snorkeling, hiking, rafting, all from the
comfort of your private retreat and villa. Again, these great
money saving opportunities for you to experience this stay for
seven nights, pay for six at Villa Bueno Honda. I
(39:12):
think that's how you say that.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
Am I very good? Yes? O very good?
Speaker 2 (39:16):
And then I'm going to move to Granada. This is
the island of Spice. Actually, Grenada is made up of
sort of a three island nation. If you will, you've
got Grenada, You've got Kriku, You've got Petite Martin Nique.
You get to Grenada, and you're gonna have those sweet,
sweet smells of nutmeg and cinnamon and clove and vanilla,
(39:38):
and the people there are just as lovely and spicy,
if you will, as the island itself. You've got these
lovely beachfront villas there at a place called Silver Sands, Grenada.
The beachfront villas there will hold up to eight guests.
You've got four bedrooms, four and a half baths, and
(39:58):
again those major say savings where you stay five nights,
pay for only four when you book your twenty twenty
five getaway, the last one.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
And what I love about what I love about Grenada, Terry,
what you know what? What it reminds me of? It
reminds me of like Saint Barts before it got super popular.
Oh right, still very you know, very waid back. The
beaches are beautiful, this Silver Sands. Their restaurant is phenomenal.
Their beach is fantastic. And these these villas are beach front.
(40:32):
There is absolutely nothing between the villa and the water
except Sam.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
Yeah, aren't they gorgeous? I mean breathtaking And I mean
I remember when I've gone into some of these luxury villas, Steve,
that's the that's the moment when you actually walk in
and you go it's breast. You walk in and go, wow,
this is my room. This is where I'm staying for
these nights. This is incredible. Now, the last last one
(41:00):
on my list is for Jamaica. Prospect a state, a
place called Eight Rivers and it's only about five minute
drive to Ocherios from this area. I love this because again,
small town, big luxury. So you're outside of the Ocherios area,
but you really still do have this great luxury on
an estate. You book five nights here for the price
(41:23):
of four and escape to this private paradise. It's a
European style I would say, villa retreat with your own
private pool. You've got four bedrooms, four and a half
bats here. Again, as Steve mentioned before, with some of
these villas, this one, Foreshore is fully staffed. You've got cook,
butler and housekeeper here. It doesn't get any better than that,
(41:48):
now I wanted not and.
Speaker 3 (41:49):
The and the current rate there right now in low
season is sixteen one hundred dollars per night plus stocks
and service man. You can't beat that, Yeah, no, you can't.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
Yeah, And you know, I have to speak more about
this personally. I recently had a very large group of
friends that traveled to Turks and Caicos to celebrate some
of their milestone birthdays. And we were able to tailor
some of their daily activities and customize some of their
dining adventures. And I mean all of that for them
(42:23):
was just insane. As a matter of fact, I've been
booking this particular couple, not all of their friends, but
this particular couple since their honeymoon. I was the one
who did their honeymoon for them, and every year since then,
now four children later, they are still having the wishing
well book all of their vacations. In this particular one,
(42:44):
they decided to take all of their friends to Turks
and Caicos and go and stay at this villa and
it was fabulous, and they came back and said the
experience was just insane.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
This is the.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
Kind of luxury service that sometimes can I always say,
fall somewhat short at all inclusive resorts. And how is
it that villas are able to provide this kind of
over the top customization for customers. What is the level
of expertise at these properties? Steve?
Speaker 5 (43:19):
Yeah, I mean the secret sauce is the concierge, you know,
So it's it's it's really that's the secret sauce on
our side. The secret sauce on your side is for
your for your guest to sit with you, Terry and
just say here's what I'm looking to experience here, here's
here's what I want, and then for you to sit
with our concierge and deliver what they want. There is
(43:42):
really nothing off limits. We like to say, if it's
legal and it's indigenous to the area, we will make
it happen, you know. I mean, if it's if it's illegal,
you know, we got to pass. But if it's legal,
and you know what I said, what I mean by
indigenous to the area, and you know, if you're going
to you know, Big Sky Montana, or you're going to
(44:04):
the lubern Valley in France and you want a mariachi band,
that might be a little bit tougher to find in
some of those areas. Now, you know, listen, money buys anything.
So if you want to fly a mariachi band to
the Luberan Valley in France, we could probably.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
Make that happen. But you know, it's usually you know,
it's really the little things that people are looking for.
You know, it's a family going away and knowing you
know that that has young children and staying in a villa.
You know, if you're staying in a hotel with young
children and it's time for them to eat, or it's
time for them to go to bed, what are the
(44:42):
parents doing. The parents are going into the bedroom in
most cases that hang with the kids. Yes, exactly. If
the kids have to eat, they may or may not
go eat with them. The beauty of the villa. If
you want to feed the kids at four o'clock, put
them to bed and go sit out by the you know,
still sit at the pool sipping a glass of wine
and have a you know, a monitor for the room.
(45:04):
If you need it, we can do that, you know,
so I mean again I talk about that stress level
that I think, Terry, what we really do in villas
is you and I together, we bring that worry and
that stress level way down. Because people have enough stress
in their life and enough heartache in their life. We
want to make sure that we give them that week,
(45:25):
ten days, whatever amount of time it is where they
have to worry about nothing. They don't have to worry
about even what the chef is preparing for breakfast. You know,
let's just you know, and let's just relax. Let us
bring in massages for you. You know again, what is
it that your client is looking for? That's really, you know,
(45:47):
to me, the most important thing, because what I want
to do on vacation is very different than what you
might want to do. And that's it. It's the personalization
of our concierge team working with you that is app
asolutely the secret soft yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
And I think the other thing that has struck me
with the many times that I've been able to book
villas of distinction from my customers is this. It is
the unexpected surprises that they seem to always add. Once
my customers are on property for a couple of days.
(46:22):
These very well knowing, well trained, well intentioned concierge will
always seem to have their finger on the pulse of
who my clients really are, and I'll get a report
from them halfway through the trip. You will never believe
what happened today, or you might maybe you had something
(46:42):
to do with this, and sometimes I might, But a
lot of times I credit the concierge at these villas
for just being on point. That's what they do. They observe,
they watch, they look at what's going on, and they
reward my clients with something extra that doesn't usually happen
(47:03):
at all inclusive resorts. The something extra is not something
that happens for individuals very often at an all inclusive
That happens at a villa where you get one on
one attention, And I love that.
Speaker 3 (47:20):
You know, the reason is because it's not they have
to worry about every guest exactly. They have to provide
a level of service to two hundred three hundred, four
hundred five hundred one thousand guests, so you know, there
isn't time to just focus on the five or ten
people that are staying in the villa.
Speaker 2 (47:38):
Yeah, exactly, And I don't want to you know diss
any of the all inclusive resorts we sell those, there
are some that we are happy to recommend to our
clients that offer outstanding service, outstanding food, outstanding activities. What
I want you to know today, those of you who
are listening to us on a lifeless or what I
(48:00):
want you to know today is this should be a
consideration when you're traveling, especially, like Steve said, when you
do the math on this, it's kind of a no brainer,
especially with the experience that you're going to receive. So
I'm going to put you on the spot a little bit, Steve,
and I'm going to ask you if you will to
(48:21):
share a couple of examples of some of your favorite villas.
I want you to talk to us about what made
those villas kind of special and unique to you. You know,
we're in radio, so we're kind of limited with our
show and tell opportunities. But i know how articulately you are,
and I'm looking for our audience to be kind of
blown away, So sweep us away somewhere.
Speaker 3 (48:45):
You know, I'm going to hit you with some of
my favorites. I love though Arica. It's located on the
Amalfi coast, it's right out. It's about a twelve minute
ride outside of Sorrento. It's in a little town called
Massa Lebrenze. It'ut full four bedroom. The views you watch
the sunset every night over the island of Cappri.
Speaker 2 (49:06):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (49:07):
Do I need to tell you any more?
Speaker 2 (49:08):
Oh? Please?
Speaker 3 (49:09):
I mean, it's just it's spectacular, you know. I actually
spent a milestone birthday there with three other couples and
it was fantastic. You know. We we came in, we
stopped at a vineyard on our way in, did a
wine tasting, then got to the villa. That first night
we had a private chef preparing us dinner for us
because you know, we were retired from the long travel day.
(49:32):
Then the next few days were spent, you know, walking towns,
going into Sorrento, spending the day in Sorrento, having lunch
in Sorrento, having a beautiful dinner in Massole Brenzet, a tiny, little,
beautiful Italian family run restaurant. Then one day renting, you know,
a private yacht going up and down the Mouthy coast,
stopping in Nronto's, going to my favorite restaurant. It's one
(49:55):
hundred and thirty five year old family run restaurant. You
can look it up. It's called Maria. Absolutely amazing. There's
no menu, there's no pricing, it's whatever the chef is
deciding to make that day when you get there. It
is not inexpensive. I will tell you that, you know,
going to Positano to walk around and it was just
(50:16):
amazing and I just loved it because of the location.
You're you're up in the hills, so you're you know,
watch seeing that sun go down over Capri every night.
But it was close enough that within fifteen minutes you
could walk down to the marina and get on the
private boat and just you know, and just go. So
love Villa Lika not a super expensive villa. You could
(50:39):
probably spend a week there. I believe it's under twenty
thousand US for a week for this four bedroom villa.
Another great villa. One of my favorites, the one I
mentioned that I've been to five times in the last year,
is Hacienda Jaguar. It's a twelve bedroom villa in Rivieramaya.
Fully staffed villa. This is the one where the chef
knows everything about They absolutely loved me there. I've done
(51:06):
a couple of I've done some corporate events there, I've
done some private we did a private note day trip,
one of my favorite experiences that I did when I
was there. Very much into artwork. I love art, and
there is a there's an artist that moved there. His
name is Terran t e R I think it's t
e r R I N And he has a home
(51:29):
and a studio there, So they knew that I was
very much into art and we could do this for
your clients as well. But we set up I had
a private tour of his studio and got to meet
him while I was there, which was super exciting because
again it talks about the personalization of what I was
trying to do. So that that's That's a really cool villa.
(51:52):
It's great for big celebrations, weddings. It's part of that
fifty one bedroom estate. But again you don't have to
rent all fifty one you can just rent Hacienda Jaguar
for a period of time that you're looking.
Speaker 2 (52:06):
Well, you did a great job, Steve, honestly of painting
for me. Sadly, we are I hate that, I really do,
because I could sit here for another couple of hours,
but I do want to thank you for joining me today.
I think it's really important. Partnerships like the one we've
got with World Travel Holdings and Villas of Distinction. They're
(52:30):
absolutely key to how the wishing Well is able to
make our travelers wishes come true, whether that is a
villa in Tuscany or in the Caribbean. We are here
with our partners strong to help you no matter what
your travel needs and requirements are. We are the Wishing Well.
(52:50):
We are speaking today and have been joined by Steve
Lassman from Villas of Distinction. It has been my honor,
my privilege and my pleasure to host you to day.
If you're looking to get in touch with us at
the Wishing Well, we are extremely easy to find. We're
located at two forty three nef Avenue in the Valley
Center in Harsenburg. You can call us at five four
(53:11):
h nine oh eight two three three three or look
us up on the web. We are at the Wishingwell
dot biz.
Speaker 1 (53:19):
This has been a life less ordinary the travel show
from your friends at the wishing Well at two forty
three nef Avenue in Harrisonburg. If you have any questions
on topics discussed today. Please reach out to the wishing
Well online at the Wishingwell dot biz or five four
oh nine oh eight twenty three thirty three. Past episodes
are available on the iHeartRadio app. And we'll see again
next Saturday morning at ten for a life less Ordinary
(53:42):
from the wishing Well
This is a Lifeless Ordinary, the travel show and podcasts
from your friends at the wishing Well two forty three
f Avenue in harsmerg and online at the wishing Well
dot biz. The wishing Well is your ultimate luxury concierge
travel agency and A Lifeless Ordinary is a travel show
and podcast posted by Terry Dean, bringing her over forty
years of experience in the travel industry to help guide
(00:21):
you to great experiences in your travel, whether it be
around the block, around the country, or around the world.
Let's bring in Terry Dean and say hello.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Chris hell in the world. Are you this wonderful, wonderful Saturday?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
You know what, I'm enjoying it my day. We had
a good week. Yeah, summertime feels like it arrives somewhere
along the way.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I want to tell you this whole week for me
was a blur. It's been as busy as I can
ever remember it being since the first of the year. Well, good, crazy,
busy week, but a good week we have. And we're
leading up of course to Mother's Day. Kind of love
that you know, and God has smiled on us. We
have some fabulous weather, have we not.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I'm glad you mentioned Mother's Day. I think I might
have forgotten that.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
No, no, no, no, no, Chris, that's a hard noe. Yes,
it is, it is. It is Sunday the eleventh, So
do remember your mothers exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Well, it's good to see you, too, Good to see you,
and I'm excited about today's show.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
I am too.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
We we have been actually working on a continuous information
stream through small towns big luxury. I've had a ball
working through that with some of the special guests that
we've had. We've had folks here from Nemicol and we
had folks here from Colopye Collections. It was great fun
(01:37):
learning about and hearing about all of these fabulous, luxurious
properties that are in the most unlikely of places. Last
week we spent some time working and talking through back roads,
which is one of our luxury lesser known, lesser traveled
type of accommodations, and luxury travel, as we know it
(02:02):
is continuing to evolve. It's no longer just about resorts.
We know that, and today's client, Chris, really wants to
and expects a whole whole lot more. They want personalized service,
they want seamless planning, They want unique experiences that all
start before takeoff and extend far beyond their checkout. Now
(02:25):
we've been continuing this ongoing series, I'm especially excited today
to bring in yet another approach to these discussions. Today,
we know from our previous episodes that luxury can be
found in the smallest of places, but that in no
way limits the incredible experiences that you can enjoy with
(02:48):
your experience. So we're going to explore luxury actually through
the lens of Villa Accommodations today. Where they can be found?
Are they really able to be located in intimate, small locations?
Why in the world would you choose them over an
all inclusive resort, What are the major advantages to you
(03:08):
as a consumer, and even more importantly, how is your
travel experience elevated by choosing Villa Accommodations. I'm excited so
for a topic that I think requires a really good
knowledge base and years of experience in this very specific subject,
I thought I should reach out to the experts. So
(03:32):
joining me today on a lifeless ordinary as a gentleman
by the name of Steve Lassman. Steve serves as vice
president of Villa Product and Agency Relations for World Travel Holdings.
That's the company Luxury Villa division and Steve oversees travel
agent engagement. Thank you, Steve, and is also responsible for
(03:55):
strengthening the division's relationships with external agency community and the
Villa product. And prior to joining World Travel Holding, Steve,
you had a very diverse career in luxury travel outlets.
I know you're a graduate of the University of South
Florida and that you were nominated by our guys, the
Virtuoso Travel Network as an ambassador for Best of the
(04:18):
Best in twenty nineteen. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to a lifeless ordinary,
my friend.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Well, thank you so very much. Terry makes me feel
like I was on that old TV show you know
about your life, because you made me sound really old.
All with all of that, Yes, I've had quite the
career in travel. This is I've been doing this for
over forty years. I do want to start because I
(04:48):
was listening to you guys speak. Actually, I just was
at the Neiman Colon Resort last month.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Oh incredible place. I actually you were there when I
was there.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
That's that is correct, and we saw each other there.
But well, I just wanted to give them the shameless
plug because I was very impressed with it. And also,
I don't know if we spoke about, but I also
heard you giving another plug, so I'm gonna shamelessly plug
them as well. I did a back roads bike tour
of the Bourbon Trail and rode a bicycle from Louisville
(05:21):
to Lexington.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
I'm so fantastic.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
So yeah, so you you definitely hit two highlighted trips.
You know, obviously we're here to talk about the Villa
product and the Villa the world of Villas, and I
love that, and you know, I'm just happy to be
here and thank you again and fire away.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, and I'll tell you this show a lifeless ord
near Steve is all about bringing people up to and
putting their knees under the table of luxury. I mean
that for me is where I live, breeze, eat and
sleep every single day of my life. I've done this
for about, you know, forty five plus years. I don't
(06:01):
I don't want to talk about that too much because,
like you said, it makes you sound really really old.
But I choose to actually say mature or wise. Let's
use that word because we can all benefit wisdom.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
We're definitely wise in our years It's interesting you talked
about luxury, and you know everyone always says, well, what
is luxury? And I know I'm going off my going
off here a little bit, but you know, luxury is
whatever is in your mind. What is your luxury? You know,
luxury is not one. You know, what's luxury to me
may be different and luxurious to you. You know, we
(06:40):
may have different thoughts. So I love the topic because
it means something to everyone else. And we together yourself,
you know, as a travel advisor, and I said, thillo
is a distinction. We can create that personalized luxury, you know,
for the listeners, for your guest.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah. And I want to actually begin today by letting
our listeners behind the curtain of where our conversation might
take us today. And I don't want to disappoint them
because this is a really exciting topic. It is for me,
but especially in today's world of travel, and it's very
very timely. And since we've been following these crumbs of
(07:18):
small towns, big luxury, Steve help us understand where exactly
we can find some of these luxurious villas.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
So as you know, we are located worldwide, we're everywhere
we think we need to be. So we have villas
ranging from sizes of one bedroom all the way up
to fifty one bedrooms. Now that fifty one bedroom is
four different homes that sit next to each other, because
if it was one building, that would be a hotel.
(07:50):
But we have one right one group of villas, the
haciendas in Mexico, which we can talk more about later,
that sit next to each other in a beautiful gated community,
one right next to the other. And when I talk
about fifty one bedrooms, you don't have to take all
fifty one. You can take one house, two houses, three houses,
or all four houses combined to get to that fifty
(08:13):
one bedroom. But we'll come back to that in the moment.
So we are all throughout the Caribbean, we're all throughout Mexico,
We're in Central America, we are in Southeast asiare both
in Thailand, and we've just added villas in the Seco
Japan that we're very excited about it.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
We are in the United States, and of course probably
one of the most popular other than the Caribbean would
be Europe. So we are all throughout Italy. Obviously, everyone
knows about Italy, knows about the villas in Italy due
to the many movies and shows that have been about Italy,
also about Greece, but there's been many movies in Greece.
(08:55):
So we're in Greece, we're in Italy, we're in France,
we're in Spain, we're in Portugal, we're in Croatia, or
we're in Scotland. We're in the UK, and we do
have one villa in Brazil in Peditee. And for any
of your listeners out there that are Twilight movie fans,
the last Twilight movie was filmed at this particular villa
(09:17):
that we have in Brazil and Partee if you remember
the Honeymoon scene, they were in one of the areas
of the villa that was filmed there. So that's where
we're at. And we're always looking, you know, for more
product to add, but we're never we're never going to
be too big that we can't really make sure that
(09:37):
we have the best product. As you well know, Terry,
we don't want to have the most villas. We just
want to have the best village.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yes, and you do. I mean you are. Your company
is really my go to when I am selling or
I'm even thinking that a villa opportunity might be great
for my clients. I spend a lot of time, I think,
walking through the educational process of that, and I don't
mind that. I love that. That's you know, that's what
(10:08):
I'm for, That's what my expertise is for. That's why
clients come to me. But why do you think, Steve,
some travelers don't first of all, consider the idea of
a villa retreat as a vacation option.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Well, I want to say, first off, you're one hundred
percent correct. A travel advisor is the best option in
the world for any consumer, and we'll talk more about
that in a little bit. I think a lot of
people avoid it. It's very unfamiliar to them. You know,
it's like there's no brand equity in villas. What do
I mean by that? You know, you read about the
(10:45):
Four Seasons, you read about rich Carlton, you read about Hyatt,
you read about Marriott. There's brand equity people can relate to. Oh,
if I stay at a four Season, I know what
it's going to be like. Or if I'm you know,
if I'm sailing on a Crystal Cruise or I'm sailing
on Oceania, I know what I get because there's that
brand equity with villas. There is no brand equity. Every
(11:08):
villa is completely different. There are no two that are
exactly the same. So the fear of that of the unknown,
the fear of and I know the media loves to,
you know, create fear in travel, as we both know.
So I think it's the media creating this fear and travel,
This unfamiliarity, the remoteness of some of these villas, the
(11:33):
idea of a client getting someplace and there's no front desk,
who they going to talk to? You know, these are
things that they don't know about villas. The other thing
that's interesting is because I know they know the names
the r BO, Airbnb. They see these brands, these big
(11:53):
do it yourself brands that consumers can go to on
on the internet. Now they are big brands, and they
and as we know, we've read a lot of horror
stories throughout the years. You know, things that have happened
to people, saved.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
People from some of those horror stories.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Yes, so it's important to know, you know, when you're
comparing us and you as a travel advisor to somebody
who like these big box consumer brands, you know, they
don't even hide the fact that they've never stepped foot
in a single one of their homes. They have over
seven and a half million homes in their inventory. That
(12:32):
you know, if you or I said, hey, one day,
I just want to put my house on the market,
you know, you might go through some steps with them,
but no one's ever coming to your house to check
it out. With us. As I mentioned earlier, we don't
want to have the most so we bet inspect and
guarantee the quality of everything that we offer to a
travel advisor to your consumer. So you know that when
(12:56):
you look at the pictures, when you read the descriptions,
when your travel advisor, like Terry says hey this is
a great location, or this has this or this has that,
you know you're, for all intentsive purposes, you're going to
get what you imagined you were going to get. So
people have that fear of the unknown. It's our job,
together Terry, to make sure that we fill them with
(13:19):
so much information, like you said, educate them on what
a great vacation this is, that they won't have that
fear of the unknown, the fear of no brand equity,
and another big difference for us, and I know you
talk about it all the time, and we spoke about
it when we were in Neiman Cohen. We're not just
a billa rental company. That's what you know, these do
(13:41):
it yourself sites are. We together are a villa vacation
experience company. Together, we create the experience that the guest
is looking for. So we want to know. You want
to know. I know. One of the first things you'll
always ask the guest is you know, what is the
experience you're looking at?
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Exactly?
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Exactly we can always find a place for people to sleep.
We want to know what kind of experience people want
to have, and this way we can always pick the
best location, the best villa. And that's another great reason
for a travel advisor. You and I only have one
common goal, and that's to make sure that we provide
a remarkable experience to your guest. When your client is
(14:21):
online and googling and working with these doing yourself sites,
who's the most important part of that equation Exactly the homeowner.
You bet the homeowner is because they want to fill
their calendar, they want to sell the space.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
We are not beholden to any particular owner. We're not
beholden to any home. We are only beholden together to
the guest, and that's the guarantee that you, as a
travel advisor working with us, we can provide to the client.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah, and I love the way when I, as a
travel provider, do call in or need to reach out
to Villas of Distinction, and your res agents are fantastic.
By the way, I know that our listener never have
the opportunity to set in on that, and that's a
shame because they're so helpful and they provide such guidance.
(15:10):
What I do is extract the information necessary from my
client's Like you said, Steve, what kind of experience do
these people want to have when they travel? Well, you
know they communicate that to me and I immediately then
go to my vendors, I e. But Villas of Distinction
and say, this is the kind of experience my travelers want.
(15:31):
I'm looking at this property many times and I will
tell you this. They'll say to me, you know, that's
a great choice. However, consider this property. Put this in
the mix. And here's why I love that, because now
we're collaborating, and we're collaborating on the client's experience. We
(15:52):
are working together to make sure these clients have the
very best experience when they travel that they can. And
there are also you know, we did a show a
couple of weeks ago on how TV and what we
watch has influenced these You talk about villa's not really
having that brand equity, But I am so grateful for
(16:14):
TV shows like even the ones you mentioned, that bring
villa experiences into the forefront of people's minds. Now they're
starting to think about them, you know. So it's great.
There are some true cost efficiencies to villa vacations. People
may not know that. So why really, why might someone families, couples,
(16:37):
wedding parties, why should they steve? Why should they choose
a villa over an all inclusive resort. Let's talk about
that for a minute.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Okay, well, I'm going to start with the value. Okay,
let's start there. Let's do the value of a villa
if you can. If you compare a luxury resort to
a luxury villa dollar for dollar, you're let's do let's,
just for argument's sake, say you're spending the same dollars. Okay,
I know you're going to spend less in a villa,
but what are you getting at a resort, you're getting
(17:08):
a bedroom and a bathroom. At a villa, we like
to say you're getting your bedroom and bathroom for similar
or less cost, and you're getting your kitchen, your full kitchen,
your living room, your dining room, your private pool, all
complimentary because you're getting that for you know, at x
(17:30):
no additional charge. And many of our villas come fully staffed.
And by fully staffed, I mean you will have a
staff member such as a butler, your own private chef,
your own housekeeping. Many of them come with laundresses so
they can do your laundry. Which think about the cost savings.
If you're going away for a week, you can bring
(17:51):
a carry on bag instead of checking a bag and
paying for your check baggage. Because you have a laundress
doing your laundry every day, there's another cost saving. Okay,
you're also you know you're also not you know you
talked about celebrations, you talked about weddings. You know, families,
you know, multi gen families going away. When you go
(18:12):
to a resort, you are sharing all of the amenities
with hundreds or thousands of other people at a villa,
the entire villa, the private pool, the kitchen, that's all yours.
So at a villa, let me ask you a question.
When you go to a resort, what happens the bar closes,
(18:32):
the pool closed, exactly, the restaurants close. Well, guess what
at a villa, the bar never closes, the pool never closes,
the kitchen never closes. So again, it's talking about the
experience that you're looking for, and we can create all
sorts of experiences. Everything we do is, as you know, Terry,
(18:53):
we provide a full service concierge to the client. So
let's just talk about the chef and a cost of
food at the moment. Let's look at a destination that's
very popular in the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic. That's great, right,
the Dominican Republic. All of our villas in put to
the Kana and Capkana are fully staffed. So that comes
(19:15):
with your chef and your butler. So the average cost
for food and beverage, because remember we're buying food from
the grocery store, not from a restaurant every meal, right,
and it's being prepared by your chef, which means you're
menuing what the chef is preparing. You're not walking into
a restaurant that says, here's what we're serving. No, no, no, no,
(19:38):
before they even get there. Terry is you know you're
going to work with us. We're going to either before
they get there, or some people like to go shopping
with the chef. Some people want to do menu designing
when they get there. Again, what does the client experience
want to be? You want to go in Italy with
the chef to the local market, not a problem. But
if you want us to pre stock everything in advance,
(19:59):
we can do that as well well. And again, if
clients have dietary needs, Let's say you know you're gluten
free or you have an allergy. Once you tell that chef,
you never have to worry about it again because they know.
You know Terry, you know is gluten free, she can't
have anything with gluten. I have a particular allergy. I've
been to this one villa in Hacienda Jaguar in the
(20:21):
Rivi Eramaya. They know every time I come, I can't
have a certain ingredient. So they'll always say to me
when they're serving mister Steve, you cannot eat this, But
mister Steve, we made this for you, you know, So
that's that's a big relief because when you have an
allergy and you go to a restaurant, you always wonder.
You tell the waiter, you tell the waitress, but do
(20:43):
they really listen. Do they tell the chef? Is this
because the chef is in that kitchen preparing hundreds of
meals for hundreds of different people, whereas the chef is
in the kitchen at your villa only preparing the meals
for those guests. So it is again very personalized. But
I was talking about the cost. So the average cost
of food for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack daily,
(21:06):
You're ready, Terry's I'm ready, forty dollars per person per
day in the Dominican Republic.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, that's unheard of. You know that. That's got excite
of people when they start looking at vacation planning these days.
That is excite.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Yeah, you can't eat breakfast in a luxury resort for
that kind of money. You're getting three meals in a snack.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
That's exactly a great.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
And it's about you know, you asked me, you know,
about the cost efficiencies, but it's again we talked about
the experiences, you know, So it's about creating the experience
with with our concierge team. You know, for the guests,
you know, whether they want to have you know, they're
in Mexico and they want to have a Mediachi band
come to the villa and play during you know, brier
(21:51):
to dinner. They want to have a fire show at
their villa. In the Caribbean, they're in the Dominican Republic
and their their cigar smokers. We can bring a fresh
cigar roller in and make you know, roll fresh cigars.
You know, you want to have many petties at the villa,
you want to have spa treatments at the villa. It
is endless what we can do and bring it all
to the villa. So again you're not competing with five
(22:15):
hundred or thousands of people. You know, even for a
beach chair or even for a pool chair, you don't
have to get up, you know, first thing in the morning.
I know many of your listeners probably have done this
and you go and you put a towel over your chair.
You have to get a chair, you have to say
early in the morning. Yeah, you don't have to worry
about that at a villa. So, you know, we take
(22:37):
a lot of the stress out of the vacation as well.
And if you know, if a client works with a
good travel advisor like yourself, you are going to go
through and go day by day and try and figure
out what is it you want to experience. And it
could be, Hey, we want nothing but the chef cooking meals,
and we want to lay on the beach all day
to you know, we want to go to a private
(22:57):
sydoe one day. We want to take a catamound out
and do a sunset cruise with a chef one night.
You know, it's whatever the client is looking to do,
as we talked about earlier.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Oh yeah, and I think you know to your point,
I'm listening kind of sitting on the edge of my
chair with everything that you're talking about, Steve, because I go, yes,
I am. I actually have experienced that myself. I know
my clients have experienced it. How much more sexy is
it to say I went with my personal chef from
(23:29):
my villa out to the local market in Italy and
shopped with him or her to collect food for our
evening meal, as opposed to saying, yeah, we had a
decent meal at the all inclusive I went to I mean,
there's a big difference in that experience. You're right, And
really I think also staying in a villa. I don't
(23:49):
know how you feel about this, but I think it
actually encourages you to explore more of the area, the culture,
the restaurants, the bars, the local flavors and arts, as
well as the history and the beautiful sites there. We
encourage our clients to venture out because I don't think
anything's worse than going to someplace new and being a hostage.
(24:12):
You know, sometimes that happens. People will just actually isolate,
and that's okay. Like you said, if that's the experience
you want, that's okay. But I think villas really encourage
education of the places that we go.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
And we see one percent and I'm just gonna throw
this one in there. How does this sound to your listeners?
You go to a villa, one of my favorite villas,
it's called Nobol Poggio. It's in Kiyanti in the Tuscan region,
and we set up a truffle hunt for you one
morning and literally you leave the villa and within twenty
(24:49):
five yards you're already starting your truffle hunt and you're
going with the truffle hunter and the dog, and you're
finding the truffles, and you gather all your truffles, and
I'm talking about this for your foodies that are there.
So you gather all those truffles, and then you come
back to Noble Potio and all of a sudden, you go, Okay,
we have these truffles. Our chef is now going to
prepare a five course truffle lunch. How about this, Let's
(25:13):
do a let's bring a private Somalia in and do
a wine taste wine with our truffles. Now you tell
me to get any better than that.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
I don't think so. And who wouldn't want that? I
mean who? We're all looking for those exclusive experiences now.
People want bragging, right Steve, when they travel, and you
know that. I mean, I would be willing to bet
you any travel agent or advisor that you hang out
with these days, they're telling you the same stories. Our
(25:43):
clients want experiences. That really is what this radio show
is all about, a life less ordinary. And when we
are able to bring these kind of experiences and paint
this canvas for you on this show, we're doing a
great job to at least just give you a thimbleful
of what is out there to experience through these types
(26:05):
of choices, and really how you travel is a choice,
and that's why we want to unveil some of these
things for you on a life less ordinary now through COVID.
I'm going to go here. We learned that to escape
crowds was kind of out of necessity, and for a
lot of a lot of us we got we got
(26:25):
kind of used to that. But for families with children
or you've got active adults out there, Steve, are there
villas that actually cater to boast those clients who like
to mingle and those who might prefer a more private
oasis away from the crowds.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Yeah, I mean, you know one hundred percent, because I'm
going to go right back to the put To kind
of Beach Resort where we have about seventy five villas there.
You know, it is in a gated community called the
put To kind of Beach Resort. The put the kind
of beach Resort has two private beaches for all the
home owners to use. It's got restaurants, it's got bars,
(27:03):
so you could stay at your villa, have your chef
prepare your meals, or and stay at your pool, like
you said, just by yourself, or go to the beach,
go to the beach club, you know, do any of
that to kind of mix and mingle. We can do
things for the kids at the village, so you know
when you go away with children, as you know, I mean,
I always remember when I would take my kids to Disney.
(27:26):
All I heard in the back of my head was.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Exactly you know.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
You know, the money machine. I was like, oh, God,
print some more money. You know what I love about
what I love about what we can do with families
is you know, we we can be very creative. We've
done scavenger hunts on the beach. We've brought up do
you know those big blow up slides on the beach,
and we've brought those two villas on the beach so
(27:53):
the kids have like a water park at the beach.
We do kids cooking classes. We can do you paint
and sip for the adults, paint without sipping or sipping
a soda, you know, with the kids. You know, it's
endless what we could do. We could have the kids
come in and teach them how to play a steel drum.
(28:14):
I mean, there is so many things that you could do.
There's there's a really cool spot in Jamaica. It's it's
called Stush in the Bush, yes, okay, and it's for Falmouth, yeah,
I know, but it's up near I'm going to tell
you about because it's very cool. It's up near Falmouth.
(28:34):
And many years ago a Rastafarian gentleman and his wife
wanted just bought a house and moved off the grid
and they started growing their own food. And what they
did is they started they opened up a farm to
table restaurant up in the mountains. So you can go
up to this Stush in the Bush. You can go
with families, you can go with friends, take the kids
(28:54):
and if you want, he will walk them through the
farm and talk about all the things he grows, how
it impacts your body. You can talk about the medicinal
effects for it, you know, for children. So again it's
really open to whatever you know, a family wants to do.
We had a we do this a lot, obviously, these
multi gen celebration travel. We did a ninety fifth birthday
(29:18):
party for Grandma at one of our villas, at Tranquility
on the Beach in Jamaica. We had a steel drum
band welcoming to the villa. But The piece to resistance
was the celebration night where we brought a live reggae
band in a videoographer and just watching grandma and the
grandkids and the children all dancing to a reggae band.
(29:44):
You know, is you know that's what it's all about,
you know, I mean, it's not the hokey pokey for
those of you who you know of our age that know,
because that's what it's all about. Yes, but you know
it's really creating lifetime memories. You know that you can't
you can do them at resorts, but again, you ever
think of you ever gone to a resort when there's
(30:05):
a wedding going on? Oh shit, what's happening at the wedding? Yes,
you're looking. There's this beautiful wedding ceremony at the beach
and there's people walking behind in bathing suits, shirt list,
drinking drinks, gawking, seeing what's going on. And you have
your beautiful, wet, private wedding, you know, on the beach
at a villa or in the private villa. The only
(30:26):
and if you want to be in your bathing suits,
because we've had those wedding parties, it's fine, but it's
only the people that you've invited to be part of
that celebration. So it's about privacy, security, you know, just
intermingling with the people that you want to and not
having three hundred four hundred and five one thousand people
(30:47):
walking and watching your special day. Well it certainly isn't
as special when you have a thousand strangers watching.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
No kidding, no kidding. And I actually I hope Steve,
that our listeners today on a lifeless ordinary are having
as much fun as I am, because this is really
a topic that excites me. As I said, I've been
in this industry a long time, and Villa's Villa Vacations,
they are really coming into their own. I am joined
(31:17):
today by Steve Lassman, again, vice president of Villa Product
and Agency Relations for World Travel Holdings, more affectionately known
to me as Villas of Distinction. Steve, we're going to
take a quick break here and when we come back,
we're going to talk about some of the ways in
which people may be able to enjoy your product with
(31:38):
some specials that I unearthed and want to share with
our audience today. So we're going to take a break
and when we come back, we're going to talk about
some more experiences at Villa's.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
Protect your vacation investment with guidance from a travel professional.
The wishing Well knows travel and help you avoid pitfalls.
They can spoil your hard earned vacation, will plan your
trip and have your back as you travel. All of
this without support or so called convenience fees. We're on
the web at the Wishingwell dot biz or call us
at five four zero nine zero eight two three three three.
(32:12):
That's five four zero nine zero eight two three three three.
The washing Well really does make dreams come true.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Yeah, welcome back to a life less stordinary. This is
the travel show and podcasts from your friends at the
wishing Well. You'll find them on f Avenue in Harrisonburg
online at the Wishingwell dot biz, where you can give
a call five four to oho nine oh eight two
three three three. Terry, I'm enjoying our conversation.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
With time Oe.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Me too.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
I'm having a ball.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
And I know we as we've been talking about villas
of distinction. My immediate thought is I want to book
a trip and go visit Don't Destinations, and I know
you have some specials to get us there.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
I do. I actually pulled some of these down because
my hope is that people will be very excited about
the conversation with Steve Lassman today and they will run, now, walk,
run to your phones and give us a call and
let us know that you two want to have these
great experiences. Now, some of them that I pulled down
(33:13):
are kind of the usual suspects, I think, because a
lot of folks, especially this time of year, are looking
at vacation time, they're looking at the islands. That seems
to be what everybody wants to do. Take me someplace warm,
sunny and sandy. So a couple of these that I
pulled down and Steve, feel free to ring in as
you wish on some of these I looked at. In Barbados,
(33:37):
Trade Winds has a special stay seven nights, pay for
only six. This is a five bedroom mansion within the
Sandy Lane estates. I love this. It's an area called
Little England and that's for good reason. That's because there's
a good combination of British and Caribbean flair here. What
(33:58):
can you tell me about trade and.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Steve, Well, first off, I just love the area. I
love the fact that you know, as you mentioned, it's
part of the Sandy Lane of States. But what is
great about Barbados Again, you have a staffed villa, but
you also have so you have a little a little
bit of both. You have the best of both worlds.
You have the villa and you have the the great
(34:21):
Sandy Lane of States, but you also have Barbados is
an incredible island for food and for entertainment. We love
somebody wants to go out and really, you know, enjoy
that Barbadian music, that Barbadian The people are so friendly.
It is a great, great destination. And I just love
(34:42):
the fact that you grab Barbados because it is a
great deal. When you have the you know, you can
get a free night because the free night, you know,
that's that's that's that's a big time savings these days. Yeah, yeah,
and what and when you look at at it, so
it's you can it's a five bedroom villa. But let's
(35:04):
just look, I'm looking right now at the calendar. Okay,
So it's a five bedroom villa. This five bedroom right now,
you know, plus tax and services is three thousand dollars
per night. So if you take six nights, because you're
getting that one night free, Okay, that's eighteen thousand dollars,
(35:24):
but you're dividing it by five bedrooms, dividing it by two,
that's eighteen hundred dollars per person for the week.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
I love that you get you go, that's fabulous.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
Oh, I have a calculator. I have a calculator in
front of me. Please. You know, I'd love to sit
here and tell you, oh yeah, I mean you know,
I'm I'm a math with just yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
But you know we're not smoking you with the numbers here.
I mean, these are real numbers. Steve is giving you
these real numbers.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
Yeah, so you go to my you go to my website.
It's three thousand dollars a night. But what I love
about it is, you know, if you don't need all
five bedrooms, you don't have to take all five bedrooms.
But again, you have up to those five bedrooms and
many times. And this is what's great about using a
travel advisor. You know, if you find something you like,
(36:18):
there are many of these homes that will offer a
lower rate for less bedroom usage. Yeah exactly, not saying
all of them, but you could get a five bedroom.
They may have a three bedroom rate or a four
bedroom rate. So you're getting this beautiful villa. You know
that comes with these five bedrooms, a private swimming pool,
a housekeeper of laundress, a chef. You know, there's even
(36:41):
babysitting service if you need it, if you're going with
a family. And again that access to Sandy Lane Estate
is really special because Sandy Lane is probably and you
would know better as the travel advisor that works in
the resort world, is probably the nicest resort in all
of Barbados.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Oh, it is absolutely, if not all of the Caribbean.
I mean, it's absolutely a fabulous, fabulous property. It's five
plus stars, and I mean it is where you want
to be, very very nice area. Now, I've got a
couple of more that we want to hit here because
I do want people to have choices. The next one
(37:17):
that I was looking at is I believe you pronounced
this Alaya Belize? Is that would that be correct?
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (37:25):
And in Belize you've got the rainforests with wildlife. This
is the Northern Hemisphere's largest coral reef system. In Belize,
you've got two hundred miles of beaches and their collection
is offering a fifth night free also, so you can
actually pull up one of these villas and take a
(37:45):
look at it. If you'd like, you can call us
that the Wishing Well. We'll walk you through that as well.
But Belize is also just a great, great tropical and
very i'm going to say national park ished type of accommodation.
We also have the British Virgin Islands and a place
(38:06):
there called Adagio in the Virgin Gorda. You can stay
for seven nights there, pay for six, or stay for
five nights and pay for four. This particular villa in Adagio,
this is beautiful, clear waters, beautiful beaches. It will hold
up to ten guests. It's five bedrooms, six baths. Again,
(38:29):
book seven nights, pay for six, or book five nights,
pay for four. That's a beautiful, beautiful resort. Then Costa
Rica also, you know, like Belize in that national park
kind of setting. Costa Rica's actually means rich coast and
they are. Indeed, they have thirty two national parks, They're
(38:51):
over one hundred and fifty wildlife reserves. You've got zip
lining in Costa Rica, snorkeling, hiking, rafting, all from the
comfort of your private retreat and villa. Again, these great
money saving opportunities for you to experience this stay for
seven nights, pay for six at Villa Bueno Honda. I
(39:12):
think that's how you say that.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
Am I very good? Yes? O very good?
Speaker 2 (39:16):
And then I'm going to move to Granada. This is
the island of Spice. Actually, Grenada is made up of
sort of a three island nation. If you will, you've
got Grenada, You've got Kriku, You've got Petite Martin Nique.
You get to Grenada, and you're gonna have those sweet,
sweet smells of nutmeg and cinnamon and clove and vanilla,
(39:38):
and the people there are just as lovely and spicy,
if you will, as the island itself. You've got these
lovely beachfront villas there at a place called Silver Sands, Grenada.
The beachfront villas there will hold up to eight guests.
You've got four bedrooms, four and a half baths, and
(39:58):
again those major say savings where you stay five nights,
pay for only four when you book your twenty twenty
five getaway, the last one.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
And what I love about what I love about Grenada, Terry,
what you know what? What it reminds me of? It
reminds me of like Saint Barts before it got super popular.
Oh right, still very you know, very waid back. The
beaches are beautiful, this Silver Sands. Their restaurant is phenomenal.
Their beach is fantastic. And these these villas are beach front.
(40:32):
There is absolutely nothing between the villa and the water
except Sam.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
Yeah, aren't they gorgeous? I mean breathtaking And I mean
I remember when I've gone into some of these luxury villas, Steve,
that's the that's the moment when you actually walk in
and you go it's breast. You walk in and go, wow,
this is my room. This is where I'm staying for
these nights. This is incredible. Now, the last last one
(41:00):
on my list is for Jamaica. Prospect a state, a
place called Eight Rivers and it's only about five minute
drive to Ocherios from this area. I love this because again,
small town, big luxury. So you're outside of the Ocherios area,
but you really still do have this great luxury on
an estate. You book five nights here for the price
(41:23):
of four and escape to this private paradise. It's a
European style I would say, villa retreat with your own
private pool. You've got four bedrooms, four and a half
bats here. Again, as Steve mentioned before, with some of
these villas, this one, Foreshore is fully staffed. You've got cook,
butler and housekeeper here. It doesn't get any better than that,
(41:48):
now I wanted not and.
Speaker 3 (41:49):
The and the current rate there right now in low
season is sixteen one hundred dollars per night plus stocks
and service man. You can't beat that, Yeah, no, you can't.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
Yeah, And you know, I have to speak more about
this personally. I recently had a very large group of
friends that traveled to Turks and Caicos to celebrate some
of their milestone birthdays. And we were able to tailor
some of their daily activities and customize some of their
dining adventures. And I mean all of that for them
(42:23):
was just insane. As a matter of fact, I've been
booking this particular couple, not all of their friends, but
this particular couple since their honeymoon. I was the one
who did their honeymoon for them, and every year since then,
now four children later, they are still having the wishing
well book all of their vacations. In this particular one,
(42:44):
they decided to take all of their friends to Turks
and Caicos and go and stay at this villa and
it was fabulous, and they came back and said the
experience was just insane.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
This is the.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
Kind of luxury service that sometimes can I always say,
fall somewhat short at all inclusive resorts. And how is
it that villas are able to provide this kind of
over the top customization for customers. What is the level
of expertise at these properties? Steve?
Speaker 5 (43:19):
Yeah, I mean the secret sauce is the concierge, you know,
So it's it's it's really that's the secret sauce on
our side. The secret sauce on your side is for
your for your guest to sit with you, Terry and
just say here's what I'm looking to experience here, here's
here's what I want, and then for you to sit
with our concierge and deliver what they want. There is
(43:42):
really nothing off limits. We like to say, if it's
legal and it's indigenous to the area, we will make
it happen, you know. I mean, if it's if it's illegal,
you know, we got to pass. But if it's legal,
and you know what I said, what I mean by
indigenous to the area, and you know, if you're going
to you know, Big Sky Montana, or you're going to
(44:04):
the lubern Valley in France and you want a mariachi band,
that might be a little bit tougher to find in
some of those areas. Now, you know, listen, money buys anything.
So if you want to fly a mariachi band to
the Luberan Valley in France, we could probably.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
Make that happen. But you know, it's usually you know,
it's really the little things that people are looking for.
You know, it's a family going away and knowing you
know that that has young children and staying in a villa.
You know, if you're staying in a hotel with young
children and it's time for them to eat, or it's
time for them to go to bed, what are the
(44:42):
parents doing. The parents are going into the bedroom in
most cases that hang with the kids. Yes, exactly. If
the kids have to eat, they may or may not
go eat with them. The beauty of the villa. If
you want to feed the kids at four o'clock, put
them to bed and go sit out by the you know,
still sit at the pool sipping a glass of wine
and have a you know, a monitor for the room.
(45:04):
If you need it, we can do that, you know,
so I mean again I talk about that stress level
that I think, Terry, what we really do in villas
is you and I together, we bring that worry and
that stress level way down. Because people have enough stress
in their life and enough heartache in their life. We
want to make sure that we give them that week,
(45:25):
ten days, whatever amount of time it is where they
have to worry about nothing. They don't have to worry
about even what the chef is preparing for breakfast. You know,
let's just you know, and let's just relax. Let us
bring in massages for you. You know again, what is
it that your client is looking for? That's really, you know,
(45:47):
to me, the most important thing, because what I want
to do on vacation is very different than what you
might want to do. And that's it. It's the personalization
of our concierge team working with you that is app
asolutely the secret soft yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
And I think the other thing that has struck me
with the many times that I've been able to book
villas of distinction from my customers is this. It is
the unexpected surprises that they seem to always add. Once
my customers are on property for a couple of days.
(46:22):
These very well knowing, well trained, well intentioned concierge will
always seem to have their finger on the pulse of
who my clients really are, and I'll get a report
from them halfway through the trip. You will never believe
what happened today, or you might maybe you had something
(46:42):
to do with this, and sometimes I might, But a
lot of times I credit the concierge at these villas
for just being on point. That's what they do. They observe,
they watch, they look at what's going on, and they
reward my clients with something extra that doesn't usually happen
(47:03):
at all inclusive resorts. The something extra is not something
that happens for individuals very often at an all inclusive
That happens at a villa where you get one on
one attention, And I love that.
Speaker 3 (47:20):
You know, the reason is because it's not they have
to worry about every guest exactly. They have to provide
a level of service to two hundred three hundred, four
hundred five hundred one thousand guests, so you know, there
isn't time to just focus on the five or ten
people that are staying in the villa.
Speaker 2 (47:38):
Yeah, exactly, And I don't want to you know diss
any of the all inclusive resorts we sell those, there
are some that we are happy to recommend to our
clients that offer outstanding service, outstanding food, outstanding activities. What
I want you to know today, those of you who
are listening to us on a lifeless or what I
(48:00):
want you to know today is this should be a
consideration when you're traveling, especially, like Steve said, when you
do the math on this, it's kind of a no brainer,
especially with the experience that you're going to receive. So
I'm going to put you on the spot a little bit, Steve,
and I'm going to ask you if you will to
(48:21):
share a couple of examples of some of your favorite villas.
I want you to talk to us about what made
those villas kind of special and unique to you. You know,
we're in radio, so we're kind of limited with our
show and tell opportunities. But i know how articulately you are,
and I'm looking for our audience to be kind of
blown away, So sweep us away somewhere.
Speaker 3 (48:45):
You know, I'm going to hit you with some of
my favorites. I love though Arica. It's located on the
Amalfi coast, it's right out. It's about a twelve minute
ride outside of Sorrento. It's in a little town called
Massa Lebrenze. It'ut full four bedroom. The views you watch
the sunset every night over the island of Cappri.
Speaker 2 (49:06):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (49:07):
Do I need to tell you any more?
Speaker 2 (49:08):
Oh? Please?
Speaker 3 (49:09):
I mean, it's just it's spectacular, you know. I actually
spent a milestone birthday there with three other couples and
it was fantastic. You know. We we came in, we
stopped at a vineyard on our way in, did a
wine tasting, then got to the villa. That first night
we had a private chef preparing us dinner for us
because you know, we were retired from the long travel day.
(49:32):
Then the next few days were spent, you know, walking towns,
going into Sorrento, spending the day in Sorrento, having lunch
in Sorrento, having a beautiful dinner in Massole Brenzet, a tiny, little,
beautiful Italian family run restaurant. Then one day renting, you know,
a private yacht going up and down the Mouthy coast,
stopping in Nronto's, going to my favorite restaurant. It's one
(49:55):
hundred and thirty five year old family run restaurant. You
can look it up. It's called Maria. Absolutely amazing. There's
no menu, there's no pricing, it's whatever the chef is
deciding to make that day when you get there. It
is not inexpensive. I will tell you that, you know,
going to Positano to walk around and it was just
(50:16):
amazing and I just loved it because of the location.
You're you're up in the hills, so you're you know,
watch seeing that sun go down over Capri every night.
But it was close enough that within fifteen minutes you
could walk down to the marina and get on the
private boat and just you know, and just go. So
love Villa Lika not a super expensive villa. You could
(50:39):
probably spend a week there. I believe it's under twenty
thousand US for a week for this four bedroom villa.
Another great villa. One of my favorites, the one I
mentioned that I've been to five times in the last year,
is Hacienda Jaguar. It's a twelve bedroom villa in Rivieramaya.
Fully staffed villa. This is the one where the chef
knows everything about They absolutely loved me there. I've done
(51:06):
a couple of I've done some corporate events there, I've
done some private we did a private note day trip,
one of my favorite experiences that I did when I
was there. Very much into artwork. I love art, and
there is a there's an artist that moved there. His
name is Terran t e R I think it's t
e r R I N And he has a home
(51:29):
and a studio there, So they knew that I was
very much into art and we could do this for
your clients as well. But we set up I had
a private tour of his studio and got to meet
him while I was there, which was super exciting because
again it talks about the personalization of what I was
trying to do. So that that's That's a really cool villa.
(51:52):
It's great for big celebrations, weddings. It's part of that
fifty one bedroom estate. But again you don't have to
rent all fifty one you can just rent Hacienda Jaguar
for a period of time that you're looking.
Speaker 2 (52:06):
Well, you did a great job, Steve, honestly of painting
for me. Sadly, we are I hate that, I really do,
because I could sit here for another couple of hours,
but I do want to thank you for joining me today.
I think it's really important. Partnerships like the one we've
got with World Travel Holdings and Villas of Distinction. They're
(52:30):
absolutely key to how the wishing Well is able to
make our travelers wishes come true, whether that is a
villa in Tuscany or in the Caribbean. We are here
with our partners strong to help you no matter what
your travel needs and requirements are. We are the Wishing Well.
(52:50):
We are speaking today and have been joined by Steve
Lassman from Villas of Distinction. It has been my honor,
my privilege and my pleasure to host you to day.
If you're looking to get in touch with us at
the Wishing Well, we are extremely easy to find. We're
located at two forty three nef Avenue in the Valley
Center in Harsenburg. You can call us at five four
(53:11):
h nine oh eight two three three three or look
us up on the web. We are at the Wishingwell
dot biz.
Speaker 1 (53:19):
This has been a life less ordinary the travel show
from your friends at the wishing Well at two forty
three nef Avenue in Harrisonburg. If you have any questions
on topics discussed today. Please reach out to the wishing
Well online at the Wishingwell dot biz or five four
oh nine oh eight twenty three thirty three. Past episodes
are available on the iHeartRadio app. And we'll see again
next Saturday morning at ten for a life less Ordinary
(53:42):
from the wishing Well
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