A New Season Ahead
It's the start of a new month, and I felt like now was the right time to come on and chat about the very first full season of Taylor Made Travels. I can't explain how much the whole experience has overdelivered for me, in so many ways. TMT has been so well received, that area of the business has taken on a whole new life and become an entity of its own!
I have to be very honest; in the early days, I had a rough idea of how my trips would look and feel, and the rest, I thought, would come together as we actually rolled the experiences out. I say experiences, as apposed to tours, because that's how they should feel. In my mind, a tour is a rather impersonal experience; being dragged from place to place, taking a few photos and then piling back on the bus to head to the next site! On a TMT experience, I limit the level of sight seeing, to only offer the exceptional sights, so that we have more space and time to see more interesting places such as The Craft Museum in Delhi or the City Palace & Anouki Museum in Jaipur.
The fashion focused activities, like visiting a small factory set up or the woodblock printing day in Bagru, are always a massive hit. These more immersive fashion, design-focused activities were really well received and hopefully, as we move into our next season, we will continue to add and evolve what we have to offer.
The group size is really important, and what I believe makes the whole thing work so well. I love that we cap each trip to 8-10 people, as it gives myself plenty of time to socialise each and every person. Although my business head says let's make it more, my heart overrules it! I love that each trip feels like a bunch of mates on the road, all experiencing an incredibly unique journey together.
After our first few TMT trips, I listened to all our feedback from guests very carefully. The number one thing that kept coming up again and again was that our guests would have liked to have stayed more luxury hotels, with a pool, bar, and better facilities. The 3 star hotels are great when you are working, but it's safe to say, when you're on holiday, you want a touch more luxury! So after listening to that, we have upgraded all our chosen hotels, from 3 star hotels to 5 star, and including some real luxury stays such as Claridges, Shahpura House and Yog Niketan.
Each trip is designed, curated and hosted by me. You're likely to find that other designers or stylists aren't this involved. They may curate the trip and come to meet you to welcome you to your tour, but then you'll be handed over to a host, and that's all you'll probably see of them! I am with you 24/7, like a personal concierge company host. I endeavour to spend as much one to one time with each and every person, and it's important to me that we get the chance to swap stories and chat through any potential new ideas my guests may have that I can support with.
An idea I've had for the future, is to add back in a great value entry price point trip (back to the 3 star hotels), potentially hosted by another person. Watch this space and do let me know if that's something you would be interested in? It's so helpful to get your feedback!
Finally, next season, I will also be offering some sourcing and supply chain services. These will be facilitated through Zoom initially and then the client will need to join me for some appointments which I can set up for you. This service is targeted at buyers with boutiques or small brands, wanting to set up small production runs. If you're interested in finding out more about this service, please sign up to our mailing list to stay up to date.