Virtuoso Travel Week 2025 Opens in Las Vegas With Record Meetings and Market Momentum
From a surge in appointments to new marketing platforms and region-specific strategies, Virtuoso Travel Week is giving advisors fresh ways to grow their business.
Photo: Social Cut / Unsplash
The lobbies are buzzing, the meeting tables are full, and the name badges are out in force. Virtuoso Travel Week is back in Las Vegas, and it’s bigger, busier, and more intentional than ever. Now in its 37th year, the luxury travel industry’s signature gathering has drawn 4,800 professionals from 107 countries for seven days of deal-making, intel-sharing, and relationship-building across four MGM Resorts properties from Aug. 9 through 15.
While Virtuoso is best-known as a networking blitz for advisors, it’s also a mid-year catalyst for sales momentum, client strategy, and insider product knowledge. The 2025 program reflects that, with a 40% increase in matched appointments—over 100,000 in total—plus tens of thousands of additional ad hoc meetings. Attendees can now design their own pace, mixing extended one-on-ones, mentoring sessions, Globetrotting product immersions, and even a revival of “speed dating” networking for 4,500 opt-in participants.
“In a world that’s increasingly digital, this week reminds us why in-person connection is still irreplaceable,” said Jennifer Campbell, senior vice president of global events, during the conference’s Opening Session on Sunday night. “Because when we gather and we share ideas… we spark inspiration. We tap into something deeply different.”
Opening Session remarks also reinforced Virtuoso’s commitment to blending human connection with technology. “We’ve always believed that human connection would be the key to sustained competitive advantage—not in opposition of technology, but in concert with it—especially in the hands of skilled Virtuosos,” said Chairman and CEO Matthew D. Upchurch. That message carried into the Travel Tech Summit, which drew a record 500 participants to explore network-specific innovations.
On the operations side, Senior Vice President of Global Operations Michael Londregan emphasized the need “to be globally consistent, delivering to a level of standard excellence and also regionally relevant in every market.” Virtuoso now has general managers in nine regions worldwide to adapt events, marketing, and membership standards to local needs. In the U.S., newly appointed General Manager Beth Butzlaff is charged with ensuring the domestic market’s strategy aligns with global standards while staying regionally resonant.
Content and marketing tools were another focal point. Newly appointed SVP of Global Products Helen McCabe-Young announced the rapid adoption of the Social Media Content Center—already used by 2,800 advisors to reach a collective audience of 2.7 million travelers in 18 languages—and outlined plans to expand PR, editorial, and digital assets adaptable to each market. “You are the artists here, the voices of luxury… Virtuoso provides the tools and the canvas,” McCabe-Young told attendees.
From a business outlook perspective, Executive Vice President David Kolner reported first-half network sales up 12% year-over-year, with fall and festive season bookings pacing 30–35% ahead and forward-year sales for 2026–27 up 24%. Generational differences in what high-net-worth clients want from an advisor—cultural fluency for younger travelers, regulatory expertise for older ones—are shaping how members position themselves.
As the week continues, advisors can expect further market insights, partner updates, and recognition events, culminating in Thursday’s gala. The takeaway from day one: Virtuoso is arming its network with structure, tools, and in-person engagement to help them win in an increasingly complex luxury travel market.
