At only 3 years old, vacation rental company Nocturne Luxury Villas has already put its name on the map, offering more than 1,400 vacation rental properties across six villa rental management companies in five destinations, all of which offer travel advisor commission.
In a recent interview, TravelAge West sat down with Scott Wiseman, CEO of Nocturne Luxury Villas, to get an overview of what’s new at Nocturne, and to learn about how the company is focusing on its travel advisor partners.
Scott Wiseman, CEO of Nocturne Luxury Villas.
Credit: 2024 Nocturne Luxury Villas
After gaining popularity during the COVID – 19 pandemic, vacation rentals are still top of mind for today’s travelers. You have properties in St. Barts; Los Cabos; Telluride, Colorado; Santa Barbara, California; and South Walton, Florida. How is Nocturne Luxury Villas evolving the vacation rental space?
Airbnb and VRBO did great things for really making [vacation rentals] more mass market, and now people are understanding [that] the villa rental is a cool part of the industry to be part of. Nocturne's sole focus is to take a collection of [property management] companies that have been really doing an amazing job in individual exclusive destinations, mostly family-run … and creating a luxury experience in those destinations. We're bringing them together onto a platform to allow them to do what they weren't able to do [as] a single entity. We're really focusing on that ultra-high-net-worth customer, and we're different from an aggregator in that we’re not trying to be everything to everyone. We want to control a curated experience from the reservation, through your concierge experience, through the time on the way out [to the destination] and then coming home. We have our own employees in the destination, so it’s boots-on-the-ground service.
It's about the experience too, what we believe is that an extraordinary experience starts with extraordinary accommodations.
Then, we put all these great services, like concierge services, to layer on top of the experiences. [These may include] private chefs, decorating [the homes], bringing wellness [activities] in. If you want to learn how to scuba, we can do it in your pool at the villa, with a private instructor. We try and create these unique experiences.
What does the vetting process entail for the individual homes? Does the homeowner approach Nocturne first, or do you reach out? And what exactly is Nocturne looking for in a vacation rental property?
The bulk of what we do are with exclusive properties. We're the only ones who represent those homes, because we have the relationship with the homeowner. We property manage for most of the homes that we represent.
[In terms of the introduction], it’s different everywhere. We get referrals from homeowners. We will work closely with realtors. When a homeowner is looking to sell their home, we can make an introduction to a broker, or if a new home is being built and coming online, that broker will make a referral to us and say, ‘If you're looking for someone to manage your property and also to rent it for you, we would recommend [Nocturne.]’
Nocturne's La Datcha in Cabo is directly on the beach for guests to enjoy.
Credit: 2024 Nocturne Luxury VillasWho is the ideal client for Nocturne? What specific qualities do they possess, as a traveler?
I think first and foremost, what we see is [a desire] for privacy. That is a big factor, especially for those that we have a very high repeat rate for. They learned that the home is where everything centers. A lot of times, people will come and stay with us want to book activities. [They’ll say,] ‘We want to go deep-sea fishing on this day, and we want to do this, and we want to do that.’ They're [people] who are extremely close, whether it's a multigenerational trip, or multiple couples or families. It's all about enjoying the people that they're with, and the privacy of this home.
I can tell you that we're averaging 45 to 48% average price for booking is higher when a travel advisor is involved.
Can you tell us a little more about what you offer in terms of personal concierge services?
Our reservation person takes care of everything for [clients], and they're a curated advisor themselves. There's a pre-arrival concierge who works in advance [on certain things, such as] provisioning [the home]. The second thing is the in-home private chef experiences. It could be breakfast every day, or whatever [the client] needs. There are some homes that come with a staff, but we have relationships with suppliers that mostly work with us, and the majority can arrange anything. We don’t advertise [concierge services as] as all these things that you can do; instead, it's really a consultative type of [conversation], because they're so personalized. It's about the experience too, what we believe is that an extraordinary experience starts with extraordinary accommodations.
Nocturne's Villa Ginger has an overlooking view into the ocean.
Credit: 2024 Nocturne Luxury VillasIn terms of business, how much comes from the trade, versus directly from the consumer? trade?
It depends. .. We re-did our website about a year and a half ago, when I joined, to allow a whole travel advisor section. Now, we have a travel advisor communications [page] where advisors can get access to everything.
Nocturne provides between 10-15% commission, depending on the property booked. What other tools does Nocturne provide for its travel advisors?
The travel advisor would contact us the way anyone else would. They’ll make a contact with one of our advisors internally, who knows these destinations [very well]. We don't have call centers, and [agents] can go directly to the [Nocturne] advisor they want to work with. I can tell you that we're averaging 45 to 48% average price for booking is higher when a travel advisor is involved. For some of our businesses, there is a white-label site to allow the travel advisor to be able to put in their own information.
