CHERYLLE SARGENT: HOW RED DOT REDEFINES AUTHENTIC TRAVEL FOR A NEW ERA
An exclusive Travel for Senses interview with Cherylle Sargent, Sales and Service Manager Red Dot, on rebranding, redefining luxury, and shaping the future of meaningful travel.
In an age when “luxury travel” often feels synonymous with polished perfection and five-star sameness, Red Dot is charting a different course — one that favors authenticity, connection, and purpose over predictability.
Known for its thoughtful, deeply immersive itineraries across India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, Red Dot has long stood apart from traditional tour operators. Cherylle Sargent, together with a passionate team of Red Dot based full-time in the Indian Subcontinent, offers access to experiences that go far beyond the ordinary — from tea with monks and meals shared in Sikh temples to private encounters with artisans and naturalists shaping their communities.
The definition of “luxury” in travel is constantly evolving. How does Red Dot interpret luxury in today’s market?
We put polished and cliched experiences to one side and offer something far more authentic and detailed than most other tour operators or designers. Luxury to us is about spending time really well, because time is limited and life is short. Getting this right from the start of the planning process, limiting pinch points and friction and pacing our trips well is key to our success. It’s also about access to people, places and opportunities that are less known. Tea with a monk, cricket with locals, chatting with silversmiths, sipping chai with perfume makers, and even serving meals at Sikh temples as a family, are all examples of what we love to arrange. After an immersive few hours, luxury to us is returning to a beautiful boutique hotel, a remote trekking lodge or a restored heritage haveli rather than a large glossy 5* hotel that feels incongruous to its surroundings. We always create trips that feel right, embrace their surroundings and tread carefully.
What are some of the biggest expectations or demands from discerning travelers, and how does your team rise to meet them?
When our clients are well travelled, their expectations naturally remain high. The opportunity to wow them becomes harder. We are quite lucky because a big part of our team sits in the Indian Subcontinent full time. We are experts and are able to uncover opportunities that are new, moments that are special and we are able to pull in connections, favours, and moments of uniqueness that generic tour operators aren’t able to do because they are not on the ground. We also prefer small moments of joy sprinkled throughout our trips rather than big bucket list moments, surrounded by crowds. Our moto is ‘Trips of a thousand lifetimes’ which is really about out trips being so much more than a trip of a lifetime, they are trips sprinkled with thousands of moments, that impact thousands of lives, hopefully for many more generations.
When designing a bespoke itinerary, how do you balance clients’ desire for exclusivity with meaningful, authentic experiences?
This is a fine line and we tend to avoid contrived and polished opportunities in exchange for meaningful, colourful, genuine experiences that are true and authentic, and positively impact peoples’ lives. That’s the essence of Red Dot.
How has traveler behavior changed in the post-pandemic era — are people looking for deeper, slower, or more purposeful journeys?
Yes definitely, which is fantastic, but Red Dot has always attracted this type of client to be honest. We are pleased to see more ethical buyers coming to the table – that’s for sure.
What inspired Red Dot’s decision to rebrand at this moment, and how does the new identity capture the evolution of the brand and its clients?
Our existing brand didn’t represent the layers and depth of our trips, or the meaning behind it. Our photography and videography also didn’t properly represent what we were doing on the ground. We are very personalised yet our existing website looked slightly generic and mainstream so we are hugely relieved to change this so it’s more in line with the heart filled trips we offer.
How would you describe the new website experience — what key improvements will travelers notice from October 16th onwards?
This huge transformation makes it much easier to find ideas and inspiration that suit you. Whether you are a solo female traveller taking a career break, a family with young children, an older couple looking for immersive cultural experiences, or a multi-generational family getting together after many years. The new website makes that so much easier. We also have lots of articles in our new ‘Journal’ section for those wanting to dig deeper into our destinations. It’s a treasure trove of information.
How does the rebrand aim to better communicate Red Dot’s core values of authenticity, sustainability, and connection?
The most obvious way is through our imagery – we’ve employed local videographers, photographers and have brought in much more authentic and interesting photography to demonstrate the reality. We don’t love stock imagery because that is often over edited and not real. We want imperfect photos that make our clients feel like they are there and so they can almost smell the air – not pristine aerial shots or over edited images of the Taj Mahal because that’s just not the reality.
What are the most rewarding — and most challenging — aspects of crafting highly personalised trips for such a discerning audience?
Exceeding expectations is a constant demand of luxury travel but we feel we do a really good job of this. Dealing with last minute requests when things are booked up can often be a challenge too, so we always recommend getting in touch with us as soon as possible, that way we can secure the smallest, most unique places to stay.
What drew you to collaborate with Charlotte Rous Communications, and how do you envision this partnership supporting Red Dot’s UK and Europe market presence?
We’ve never worked with anyone in PR so working with Charlotte is such an amazing and positive change for us. She has a fantastic reputation in the media world and we can’t wait to see what the future holds working with her.
Can you tell us more about the new itineraries being introduced alongside the rebrand? Are there any experiences that particularly excite you?
Our new itineraries are amazing, and we are particularly loving our itineraries focusing on families – such as our ‘Teenage’ section and our ‘Little Red Dot’ area of the website, which is full of inspiration, itineraries and ideas. We don’t see many of our competitors getting this right. Children often get overlooked, but we feel this is such an important area of travel – getting this right can really shape children’s lives and love of travel. For example making a kite and flying it over the rooftops of Jaipur, block printing their own piece of fabric, designing clay pots, tracking wild cats in national parks, and spending time at temples providing food for people who can’t afford it. There are so many options for families that we are very excited about.
Red Dot’s Flavours of Sri Lanka tour beautifully celebrates food as culture. Do you see potential for similar culinary or themed itineraries in India or the Maldives?
Yes we plan on doing more and more culinary tours across our destinations. For example food in Kerala is completely different to food in Rajasthan so there’s so much potential here for the website. Do remember that everything is customised so we can create these trips easily now for our clients – we just don’t have everything on the website.
How do you ensure that each journey maintains Red Dot’s promise of local authenticity while still delivering seamless, world-class service?
We are not trying to target clients who want pristine hotels – our clients despite their budgets want authentic, local and immersive journeys. Most of them want to stay in small and beautiful hotels but some are also happy staying in very simple and remote accommodation. We have many clients with endless amounts of money, wanting to take their children on a holiday that has meaning. Service comes naturally to us – and our reviews back this up.
Red Dot has a strong focus on sustainability and community empowerment, especially through its support for women and local hosts. How central is this to the company’s identity going forward?
This will become an increasingly big part of Red Dot’s identity and motivation. To be honest, most of this has just come organically and has been a natural evolution at Red Dot because most of us are women and we want the best for our destinations – but we now need to ensure we are being even more proactive and hold ourselves even more accountable in this area. More exciting news and developments to come on this.
What steps is Red Dot taking to educate travelers about responsible tourism and the positive impact of their choices?
We have a section of our website dedicated to this and our policies that shape our efforts, such as accessibility, our wildlife policies etc. We also have specific hotels, experiences and itineraries that celebrate more positive and ethical ways of travel, but this isn’t enough and this is something we are working on going forward. We are members of The Conscious Travel Foundation which helps educate travel companies on better practice and new ways to drive this forward.
You’ve built a career around crafting extraordinary travel experiences — what has been your most memorable or transformative holiday?
I have had some incredible experiences and travelled to some very unique places, but my heart will always belong to India. Recently I visited some new locations including a perfumery and catching the back end of the Kumbh Mela which is something I have always wanted to see. Each time I travel to India I can’t imagine how it will beat the previous visits there, but I always leave with an everlasting impression and cannot wait to go back to see what’s next!
Do you have a favorite destination among the countries Red Dot operates in — one that feels especially close to your heart?
India has always been a special place for me, but Sri Lanka is our home so it’s hard to choose.
If you could move anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
I am passionate about scuba diving and being near the ocean so Sri Lanka would be a great place to live to enjoy that island life. I also love Egypt, with its archaeological sites and the Red Sea. I would happily live in either place!
Finally, what excites you most about Red Dot’s future — and what kind of legacy do you hope to build through this next chapter?
I am just so delighted to be driving this forward and if it can leave a more positive print on our destinations while opening the eyes of our clients then I will be very happy.
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