Goldman Group will introduce a new VIP division to its retail leisure brand offering red carpet chauffeur service for high-net-worth travellers.

To be called Travelcall Private, the brand is so fresh the foundation members that will form the new arm are yet to be informed.

Anthony Goldman, Joint Managing Director of Goldman Group, revealed the blueprint for Travelcall Private during the Virtuoso agency’s annual Conference on Saturday morning at Crown Conference Centre in Melbourne. The conference’s theme was ‘Be. Excellent.’ with an emphasis on how the Group’s advisors can “be excellent every day in everything we do.”

It was the first time in six years Goldman Group had held its collective conference for its entire suite of brands – Goldman Travel Corporation (GTC), SmartFlyer, Travelcall and The Cruise Centre. The conference welcomed 180 delegates, 130 of which were from the Goldman family, the balance being industry partners – including member and partners from overseas. LATTE was one of two media partners attending.

In his opening address, Goldman said the private concept – slated to launch in 2025 – is still in its infancy but would target GTC’s “corporate customers and CEOs” as well as Travelcall’s top clients, offering “exclusive benefits”.

Goldman teased delegates with a preview of the branding for Travelcall Private but didn’t elaborate further.

Anthony and Joint Managing Director David Goldman (/brother), along with Tom Goldman OAM, Executive Chairman (/father), explained the vision for Travelcall Private in deeper detail with LATTE on the sidelines of the conference.

David said the conference was the “perfect opportunity to mix the Group’s corporate and leisure DNA.”

David leads the corporate-focused GTC business in Sydney. He explained that Goldman Travel Corporation has a host of ‘C Suites’ clients in the corporate space, but was losing potential HNWI’s leisure business to non-Goldman agencies as those corporate accounts were unaware sister-brands catered for the luxury leisure segment.

“There’s all this low hanging fruit that is there and we’ve been generating more of that business and Travelcall Private will capitalise on the space,” David Goldman said.

Anthony said Travelcall Private will hone in on the CEO, CIO and CFO level of GTC’s corporate market, providing a suite of benefits “specifically for them”. While yet to be formalised, those benefits would include elements such as private airport transfers, airport assistance and concierge services such as restaurant bookings, show tickets, etc.

Already, GTC is dealing with the executive assistants (EAs) of ‘C Suite’ level clients, who “traditionally booked the trips themselves,” David said. “And they really haven’t had much guidance, and a lot of them don’t know the luxury market.” For big accounts, GTC provides educational days with their corporate team to better educate EAs on the luxury segment, with a Travelcall team piggybacking of those talks to talk and sell leisure.

“We’re a bit hybrid that way and there aren’t many players in the Aussie market who do that,” David added.

Anthony confirmed the half-a-dozen foundation members will partner with the Goldmans to launch Travecall Private in April 2025.

Cruise sales forecast to grow up to 30%

Goldman Group will also target robust cruise growth from its Cruise Centre by Travelcall business arm, which is now headed up by Elizabeth Clark as Director of Cruise, appointed in August.

“We have been Virtuoso’s largest producer for hotel and resorts in this market since 2014,” he said. “And when you look at cruise, which is pacing at a fast rate of around 7%, we need to keep up with that pace,” said Anthony.

“A lot of our client base, a lot of our boomers have been cruising for a long time. And now the next generation is starting to cruise so we’ve got to capture all those clients in their 40s that are now ready to sail.”

“We’re investing in people in cruise, and I think we’ll increase cruise dramatically, with the right cruise partners in the premium/luxury segment. It’s a good opportunity for us.”

“There’s a lot of clients that aren’t cruising. If every consultant sells two more cruises we can sell $4.2 million more in cruise,” Anthony added.

“ is very easy business,” Tom Goldman OAM, and Group Executive Chairman told LATTE. “And once you’ve got them, you’ve got them. Very rarely a client says ‘I hate it, I won’t do it.”

“What cruisers do is go from seven-days to 10-days to 20-days, because its easy travel.”

Tom added the family cruise market and multi-generational segment would be an important target audience.

“We do big cruise volume already. In the next 12-18 months, the business is intent on growing cruise through its leisure advisors. We’re going to aim for a 25-30% growth,” Anthony said.

“We are investing in cruise dramatically. Cruise partners, get ready,” he said with anticipation for what’s to come.

Group turnover tops $200 million

Anthony said the third-generation Goldman Group’s turnover, including Smartflyer Australia’s TTV, was just over $200 million this year, up approximately 15% on last financial year.

That TTV figure is up by around 30% on the pre-COVID 2019 result. Anthony said that during the pandemic, Tom and wife Di, chose to invest in the company to keep it running, despite the dramatic downturn.

“The business has been rebuilt. It’s an expanded business to what it was,” Tom said.

Part of the reasoning for Goldman Group’s collective TTV growth comes from the heightened costs of travel, Tom added.

“The product costs have gone up. Your body count may go up, but the volume may not because the price of travel has increased.”

Anthony predicted that next year’s TTV growth will flatten “a little bit”.

Quizzed by LATTE if the company was looking at further expansion, possibly through acquisitions, Anthony said: “Yes we do. It it makes sense, we’ll take a look at it, but we’re not going to do it just for the sake of it.”

“We’ve got a few industry friends that don’t have succession plans. If something falls in our lap, we’ll take a look at it.”

Lead image: Pictured in the foreground with the Goldman Travel Corporation Sydney team are Goldman Group’s Anthony Goldman, Joint Managing Director; Tom Goldman OAM, Executive Chairman; Danielle Sperber, People & Culture Manager and David Goldman, Joint Managing Director.