The Client Language Library
What Do I Actually Say?
The hardest part of selling luxury travel is not knowledge — it is language. These are the lines that hold your fee, protect the trip, and close the consultation. Copy any of them and make them yours.
Discovery Questions
The opening question
“Before we talk about where — tell me what you want this trip to feel like when you get home and describe it to someone.”
Why it works: Moves the conversation from logistics to outcome, which is the only place premium pricing makes sense.
Discovery Questions
Finding the real occasion
“Is this trip marking something? An anniversary, a birthday, a year you got through?”
Why it works: Occasion trips carry higher budgets and lower price sensitivity — and clients rarely volunteer the occasion unprompted.
Discovery Questions
Depth versus breadth
“Would you rather see three countries once, or one place well enough that people there remember you?”
Why it works: Sorts the client into an itinerary style in a single question and prevents an over-packed route.
Discovery Questions
The pace question
“On your best day of travel, what time do you leave the room and what time do you come back?”
Why it works: Pace mismatch is the most common cause of a disappointing luxury trip. Ask it before you plan anything.
Discovery Questions
The non-negotiable
“What is the one thing that, if it went wrong, would ruin this for you?”
Why it works: Surfaces the hidden priority you would otherwise design around by accident.
Discovery Questions
The decision maker
“Who else needs to feel good about this before it is booked?”
Why it works: Prevents the late-stage surprise where an unseen party rejects a finished itinerary.
Stating Your Fee
Stating the fee plainly
“My planning fee is [amount]. It covers the design work, the supplier relationships I bring, and my being reachable while you are travelling.”
Why it works: Three concrete things you are paying for. Plain delivery, no apology — the flinch is what clients react to, not the number.
Stating Your Fee
When they ask why there is a fee at all
“Because I work for you, not the hotel. The fee is what keeps my recommendation honest.”
Why it works: Reframes the fee as a guarantee of independence rather than an added cost.
Stating Your Fee
The fee as a filter
“The fee also protects your time. It means I only bring you options I would put my own name behind.”
Why it works: Positions the fee as a service standard, and quietly signals that you are selective.
Stating Your Fee
If they push back on the fee
“I understand. The fee is how I work, so if it is not right for this trip, I would rather tell you now than half-plan it.”
Why it works: Holds the boundary without hostility, and leaves the relationship intact for later.
Quoting a High-Value Trip
Framing before the number
“I am going to walk you through what this trip is before I tell you what it costs, so the number has context.”
Why it works: A number delivered without context is only a number. Sequence decides the reaction.
Quoting a High-Value Trip
The confident total
“For the two of you, ten nights, in this design — the investment is [amount]. Here is what that includes.”
Why it works: One total, stated once, followed by inclusions. Hesitating mid-sentence invites negotiation.
Quoting a High-Value Trip
The silence after the number
“[Say the number. Then stop talking.]”
Why it works: Advisors talk their own price down in the pause. Let the client speak first.
Quoting a High-Value Trip
Presenting one recommendation, not five
“I could give you six options. Instead I brought the one I would book for my own family, and I will tell you exactly why.”
Why it works: Choice overload stalls decisions. Authority is expressed as a recommendation, not a menu.
"More Than I Expected"
The first response
“That is fair. Tell me what number you had in your head, and I will tell you honestly what that buys and what it does not.”
Why it works: Non-defensive, and turns the objection into the budget conversation you needed anyway.
"More Than I Expected"
The mismatch reframe
“We can absolutely do a trip at that number. It will be a different trip — shorter, or closer, or a different level of lodge. What I would not do is put you in this itinerary at half the standard.”
Why it works: Protects the trip's integrity while keeping the client in the conversation. Reduce scope, never quality.
"More Than I Expected"
The per-day reframe
“Across the whole trip that is [amount] a day for two people, including [inclusions]. Compared with what that day looks like anywhere else, this is the version you will still be talking about in ten years.”
Why it works: Converts an intimidating total into a comparison the client can evaluate.
"More Than I Expected"
When you must cut
“Here are the three levers: number of nights, level of property, and how much private guiding we keep. Tell me which one you are most willing to move, and I will rebuild around it.”
Why it works: Gives the client control over the trade-off instead of you guessing and quietly degrading the trip.
"I Found It Cheaper"
The comparison question
“Send me the link and I will read it properly. Nine times out of ten it is a different room, a different season, or a different set of inclusions — and I would rather you know which.”
Why it works: Confident, useful, and almost always resolves in your favour because the comparison is rarely like-for-like.
"I Found It Cheaper"
What the online price does not include
“That price does not include anyone answering the phone at 2am in another time zone. That part is what you are actually buying from me.”
Why it works: Names the specific failure mode of booking online without disparaging the client's research.
"I Found It Cheaper"
Holding your value
“If price is the deciding factor, book it there — genuinely, no hard feelings. If how the trip actually goes is the deciding factor, work with me.”
Why it works: Removes desperation from the exchange. Clients who choose you after this rarely re-litigate price.
Asking for the Referral
The right moment to ask
“You clearly loved this. Who is the next person in your life who deserves a trip like it?”
Why it works: Asked days after return, at peak emotion, and phrased as a favour to their friend rather than to you.
Asking for the Referral
The capacity frame
“I take on a limited number of new clients each season, and they come almost entirely from people like you. If someone comes to mind, send them my way.”
Why it works: Signals scarcity and makes the referral feel like access rather than an errand.
Asking for the Referral
The partner introduction
“You work with clients who travel. I work with people who care how they travel. Would it make sense to send each other the right ones?”
Why it works: Frames a partnership as a mutual filter, which is how professionals prefer to be approached.
Following Up
The non-needy nudge
“No pressure at all — I am holding the space for this itinerary until [date], and after that the availability is genuinely gone. Wanted you to have the date, not a nudge.”
Why it works: A real deadline replaces the desperate check-in. Only use it when the deadline is true.
Following Up
The value follow-up
“Thought of you when I saw this — [specific thing]. Nothing needed from you, just filing it away for when the timing is right.”
Why it works: Keeps you present without asking for anything. Most bookings come from timing, not persuasion.
Following Up
The clean close-out
“I am going to stop following up so I am not cluttering your inbox. When the timing is right, come find me — I will pick this straight back up.”
Why it works: Ends the chase with dignity, and reliably produces replies from clients who had gone quiet.
The Consultation Close
The consultation close
“Based on everything you have told me, I know exactly what this trip should be. The next step is [fee / deposit] and I start designing. Shall I begin?”
Why it works: Assumes the sale, names the next step, and asks one closed question.
The Consultation Close
The fit check
“Before we go further — is there anything about how I work that does not feel right to you?”
Why it works: Draws out the unspoken hesitation while you can still address it.
The Consultation Close
The urgency that is real
“Two things are genuinely time-sensitive: [property] holds space for [days], and the [flight/permit] releases at [date]. Everything else we can take our time with.”
Why it works: Specific, verifiable urgency. Manufactured urgency is the fastest way to lose a luxury client.
The Consultation Close
Closing the deposit conversation
“The deposit is what turns this from a plan into a reservation. Until it is in, none of it is held.”
Why it works: States the mechanism rather than pressuring, which makes the deadline feel structural instead of pushy.