An interview with Michael Steinberger of Latin Tour Dimensions

Michael Steinberger has been sending upscale clients on custom tours to Latin America for three decades now and knows the region inside out. He talked with Luxury Latin America about the state of tourism in the region and where things are headed.

What kinds of trends are you seeing in Latin America? What has changed?
On the destination side, Argentina has been crazy---it's off the map. Whereas every second request used to be Costa Rica, now every second request is Argentina. Plus people are staying longer and doing more. It used to just be Iguazu Falls, Buenos Aires, Bariloche, and then over to Chile. Now people are doing long custom tours of just Argentina and going to Mendoza for wine tours. They're going beyond Bariloche to Calafate. In Chile, travelers are branching out beyond the well-worn path.

We are also getting a lot more upscale family tour requests now, with soft adventure activities and requests for a different kind of hotel style, one with a real sense of place. It's a bonding experience.

There has also been a clear shift in what people want to experience when they travel. Before, people went to cities in Europe to see buildings, to Africa to see animals, to Asia to see monuments. But then the baby boomers really got hooked on experiential vacations. They decided they wanted to go to Tikal, Machu Picchu, and remote jungles, to see ancient civilizations. That's what put Latin America on the map because we have it all. We saw that early on and embraced it. People who travel to Central and South America are well-versed travelers who are looking for more.

I'm also amazed we have so many honeymoon requests. In my day, it was a Caribbean destination in the sun, piña coladas, then the night in the room. Now we book a lot of adventure honeymoons in Costa Rica, Brazil, and Peru. Three years ago, this was unusual. Now it's common.

Give me some examples of some unusual requests you've been able to fulfill.
We do all kinds of adventure activities, but the toughest one to get together was a wine and gourmet tour across Chile and Argentina. We got the request from four couples in New York that had various wine and restaurant connections in their jobs. They knew their stuff and wanted a true gourmet experience. So we called in chefs to take them to market and cook for them, got them into the best restaurants, and had them meet with top winemakers. The challenge was that there wasn't a structure already set up for this by anyone else. We had to find the right small local suppliers in each place to make it seamless, with the same high level of service throughout. Now we're able to easily duplicate that for others though, with tweaks to fit their specific wants and needs.

We also had one family from London that was very involved in polo and horses, so we needed to line up estancias around Argentina that would satisfy them, going beyond the surface level offerings to put them together with real horse people. We welcome challenges like these though. We really enjoy doing them because it shows we're better equipped than the paint-by-number tour groups offering very similar programs.

What makes your agency, Latin Tour Dimensions, unique?
What distinguishes us is the boutique style of operator we are. We really take customized vacations to the ultimate level by truly engaging our clients. We never sell someone the last successful tour we ran just because it worked for someone else. It's almost like going to the doctor's office: we try to identify the specific application that would work for you. People have their own particular expectations and everyone now has access to all the information out there. That's good, but it can also be overwhelming and can lead you down the wrong path. As part of the process we try to a) marry expectations to the destination or b) show the traveler why another option may give them a better experience.

Our typical custom tours are complex, in-depth, and expensive. Everything has to be right the first time and needs to be better than great. So it is very important for us to get into the mindset of the couple, the group, or the family. If someone is going to spend 20, 30, 40 grand on a trip, they are looking for us to deliver on their dream vacation on their terms. We go to the umpteenth degree to research and understand what their specific expectations are so we can deliver on that or steer them somewhere else that is a better option. If someone wants a "great beach vacation in Costa Rica," for example, we don't shoot that down, but we try to explain to him or her that while there are some nice beaches in that country, it's not really a beach vacation spot. It's more of an ecological gem, so we try to make the beach part an element and not the centerpiece.

Quite often we get requests from upscale people to go to Punta del Este because it is played up as the European coast of Latin America. True, if you're from South America, maybe it is the Riviera of Latin America. But for those of us who have really traveled, it's neither a Riviera nor a great beach. It's extremely expensive in season, it's rather hard to get to, and then after all that it is a huge disappointment for many North Americans. Go there, okay, but don't make it the main part of your trip. Since we specialize in Latin America and have been doing this for 30 years, we can give this advice with confidence, based on recent experience. We also know which guides, hotels, and local tour companies are good and dependable.

What are some of your favorite hotels in Latin America?
I like different ones for different reasons. I like the Alvear Palace in Buenos Aires because it is very elegant and it speaks to what the city tries to portray. But I might like something very small and intimate in Costa Rica, a boutique hotel. Every destination has its own flavor plus different styles are better for different travelers---it's our job to make the match.

Personally, I'd rather not send a Costa Rica client to the Four Seasons because to me it feels like you could be anywhere. I'd rather send them to somewhere like Lapa Rios so they can get a true Costa Rican experience. It's in the middle of nowhere, so it hasn't had an opportunity to be destroyed or bastardized.

What does the future look like?
Latin America is no longer a secret. When we first started, travel agencies were calling us saying, "My client has a list of places they want to go and I can't even pronounce them! Can you help?" Now everyone is recognizing the wealth of experiences and the great value in this region, even at the very top end, so I expect the demand to keep increasing no matter what is going on in the economy.

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Interview conducted by editor Timothy Scott in October, 2009. See more adventures at the Latin Tour Dimensions site.