In my focus on marketing and promotions, I always keep in mind that we’re not just in the transportation business, we’re also in the leisure travel business. While hotels, resorts, and travel advisors create the guest experiences that our clients long to enjoy, we’re the ones that take them where they’re going. We’re the first leg of every getaway, and the last.
That not only makes Tradewind essential to the travel experience, but also partially responsible for the outcome. If a hotel disappoints our passengers with a ho-hum vacation, it reflects poorly on us as well.
As such, we have always sought to forge relationships with only the finest travel entities and hospitality brands, with the goal of developing strategic partnerships with the best in the business of high-touch service to ensure they’ll exceed expectations.
The Benefits of Travel Partnerships
The benefits of such partnerships are two-fold. On one hand, both Tradewind and its partners get exposure to high-end travelers and recognition among clientele for our respective businesses. On the other, the partnerships enhance the actual experiences that travelers set out to enjoy by offering benefits they can only get by completing the circle through us. We provide the air transport and seamless transfers; the hotels provide ground experiences; and the customers enjoy the benefits of both. It’s win-win all around.
Tradewind’s history with partnerships dates to 2006 when we first started flying to Martha’s Vineyard. At that point, we had a few years of service and credibility under our seatbelt, but it was all in Nantucket; no one knew us on Martha’s Vineyard. So, we made an effort to change that by seeking out local second homeowners who wanted a more convenient way to escape New York City on weekends. We found them at The Boathouse & Field Club, a private club in Edgartown on the Vineyard.
I basically phoned The Boathouse and said, “Hey, I think we can help each other here,” proposing a partnership that would offer us exposure to the Club’s members and the Club exposure to Tradewind clients. Many of their members went on to become Tradewind regulars, and many of our Martha’s Vineyard-bound passengers joined The Boathouse. The partnership remains in effect and is still reaping benefits today.
Travel Partnerships Amidst the Pandemic
Travel partnerships played an instrumental role in keeping the industry afloat during the height of the pandemic. Back in the summer of 2020, one of the key challenges facing the travel sector was that people were apprehensive about getting on commercial airlines, and without transportation, there was no way of getting to many hotels. Seeing this as an opportunity, Tradewind teamed up with several high-end properties on St. Barth, long among the most desirable destinations in the Caribbean, to offer an “Ultimate Private Jet Experience” that was exactly right for the moment.
The package included ground transfers for our clients from their homes to a Tradewind private charter to safely travel from the mainland US to Puerto Rico. Upon arrival, they were met with a wing-to-wing transfer to another Tradewind private charter to St. Barth, where one of our partners would pick them up at the airport for a direct transfer to the hotel and lavish them with goodies, such as complimentary spa treatments and special dining occasions. The goal was to transport people safely from point A to vacation point B in a clean, crowdless, stress-free environment, while circumventing the major sticking points of travel during the pandemic. I’m pleased to report the various St. Barth partnership packages did extremely well.
Walking the Talk in St. Barth
As on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, Tradewind’s history on St. Barth dates back from the early 2000s. At the time, many island hotels were apprehensive about pursuing partnerships because many of the local aviation companies that flew in the Caribbean were nothing special. We started off small, approaching a local villa rental company whose owner was a big believer in better transportation to bring more business to St. Barth. He took a chance, telling his agents to promote Tradewind as an improved way to access the island. We held up our part of the bargain by raising the level of air transportation from great to exceptional, and we’ve been the known premium flight provider on St. Barth ever since.
That’s one of the keys to success in partnerships: Walking the walk and talking the talk. Once the benefits of our partnership with the villa rental company became apparent, other properties on St. Barth started to follow suit.
The travel media is always looking for good content, and a great partnership pushes all the right buttons for coverage. The “Ultimate Private Jet Package,” for instance, became its own story because it had multiple elements. If either Tradewind or a hotel had offered a deal on its own, it wouldn’t have garnered much media interest.
Finding Creative Partnerships
Hotels aren’t Tradewind’s only partners. We have an ongoing partnership with The Nantucket Project, an annual, multi-day event that draws notable speakers from the worlds of entertainment, technology, politics and more to weigh in on current hot-button issues. While not inexpensive for us to maintain this partnership, the great audience and media exposure surrounding The Nantucket Project is unmatched.
We have also teamed up with luxury travel advisors, who are always interested in providing experiences of strong value to their clients. Last year during the peak of the pandemic, for instance, we partnered with the bespoke luxury travel agency Embark Beyond to offer a series of day-trips that felt like real vacations – “daycations”, that is – perfect for those who just wanted to get away from it all, without having to go through the hassle and health-related uncertainties of staying at hotels or dining in public restaurants. The destinations were lovely resorts in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, the historic small town of New Hope, Pennsylvania, and the Blue Ridge Mountains of Charlottesville, Virginia. The package highlights included private transfers, a beautiful intimate lunch, topped off by a private return flight back home at the end of the day.
In the end, it is imperative for both sides of a partnership to know their clientele. All the private transfers and complimentary spa treatments in the world won’t get a traveler out the door if they have no interest in where they’re headed. Clients, in other words, are your partners, too.