Railbookers Reports Bookings Up 35% Ahead of 2027 Push

Railbookers enters 2027 with bookings running 35% ahead and its travel adviser business up 44%, after a year in which the rail specialist grew 25% overall. CEO and president Frank Marini opened the company's Vancouver conference with a blunt message: "Nothing is slowing down demand."

That growth has a shape. Luxury bookings are up 123% this year, top-tier five-star hotel bookings grew more than 90%, and private and exclusive experiences rose 24%. Marini split luxury into "little luxury" — a private transfer, a first-class rail upgrade, a skip-the-line pass — and "big luxury" such as a suite on a legendary train. Roughly 80% of high-net-worth travellers, he said, expect to shift spending toward experiences over things. His caveat for sellers: "Luxury's personal. It's not what we define as luxury. It's how the customer perceives it."

What's driving the demand?

Marini drew six lessons from 2026, most of which land with advisers. Independent travel tops the list: 94% of clients want a well-planned itinerary they can still tweak, whether that's a hotel upgrade or an extra experience. Rail is the vehicle, but freedom is the product.

Baby boomers and Gen X — the "silver tsunami" — are leading growth, and so is the appetite for a human voice. Railbookers has fielded 333,000 calls this year plus 105,000 call-back requests through its website, even as AI reshapes trip research. "Who puts their phone number in unless you're serious?" Marini asked. In short: agents who can answer the phone are still winning the booking.

Disruption tested that promise. Low water levels cancelled river cruises across Europe, and Railbookers moved those passengers onto its Rhine by Rail and Danube by Rail itineraries. All up, the company handled more than 3,200 rail disruptions in 2026.

What changes for advisers in 2027?

The headline is support. A new concierge team will operate as an in-house DMC, staying with clients from deposit to departure, reconfirming arrangements and running virtual "document parties" that walk first-time rail travellers through tickets, stations and luggage. "It's not like a cruise line," Marini said. "Is that a German ticket, a Swiss ticket, an Italian ticket? How does that work? … We want the human in the loop."

The company's in-house AI knowledge base, FastTracks, captures around 200 questions a day from calls so every staff member can answer like a rail expert. Adviser education is scaling in parallel: preferred advisers taking discounted personal and family trips jumped 52% this year, and those agents went on to generate 70% more revenue. A new program of 10 famils — covering Italy, Switzerland, the Canadian Rockies, Japan, Spain, Eastern Europe and Edinburgh-London-Paris — drew 6,370 applications within 24 hours. The takeaway: educate an agent on rail and they sell measurably more of it.

Why does China matter?

Senior vice president of product Andrew Channel confirmed China returns in 2027 with itineraries across eight destinations including Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, pairing the Great Wall and the Terracotta Warriors with culinary and cultural experiences. The infrastructure case is concrete: China holds around two-thirds of the world's high-speed rail network, more than 50,000 kilometres, and it's still growing.

South Korea also joins the line-up as part of a wider Asia expansion, with rail itineraries taking in Seoul and Busan. This follows a 2026 in which Japan returned, new Southeast Asian product launched including Vietnam and Famous Rivers by Rail, and North America posted a record year on the back of America's 250th anniversary and what Channel called "meteoric" national parks growth.

Is accessible rail the untapped market?

Channel unveiled what may be the most significant launch: accessible rail travel. Railbookers has quietly supported travellers with access needs for years, notably through its Amtrak Vacations brand, but sees demand it has barely touched. It has partnered with accessible travel expert John Sage, a wheelchair user with almost 20 years in the field, on five new itineraries across Italy, Paris, the Netherlands and beyond — designed so advisers make one call and hand over the planning and logistics.

Sage outlined his "three pillars": accessible facilities, customer service including a booking process that works, and detailed information with photos and measurements. His warning to advisers: don't mistake low enquiry numbers for low demand. Travellers with disability won't risk a company that doesn't market itself as accessible — and getting it right often wins the whole multigenerational group, not one booking.

Brand size is no guarantee either. In his own conference hotel room, Sage said, the shower bench had been fitted on the wrong wall, leaving the controls out of reach. Railbookers' hotels have instead been vetted property by property, with many four- and five-star options in historic city centres. "It's not the best accessible feature of the journey [that travellers remember]. It's the worst," Sage said.

The competitive gap is real. "I have yet to see any brand in travel promote their accessibility," Sage said. "No hotel chain, no destination, no cruise line, no airport, no airline." Railbookers is betting that accessible rail — where travellers arrive 30 to 45 minutes ahead, board via a lift and stay in their own wheelchair — becomes a genuine revenue line rather than a compliance checkbox in 2027.