by Eric Bowman
Last updated: 5:15 PM ET, Tue September 5, 2023
The 6th edition of the Future Leaders in Travel Retreat took place in Jamaica August 27-31 at the Hyatt Zilara Rose Hall in Montego Bay.
Powered by TravelAge West, this event brings together travel advisors and suppliers between the ages of 22 and 37 in a retreat setting to help each other further their growth in the travel industry.
Over 60 advisors were selected after being vetted by Northstar Travel Group, with this year’s group featuring some advisors already over the one million dollars in sales mark – a qualification for the elite Global Travel Marketplace event.
Playa Hotels & Resorts, the host sponsor of the event, kicked off the retreat with a tropic theme night party and later closed it out with a 90s-night theme party.
The lessons learned and connections made in between will last a lifetime, say the future leaders of the travel industry.
Developing Growth and Fostering Connections
Advisors helping advisors and learning from suppliers – that’s at the core of the Future Leaders in Travel Retreat.
This year’s event featured panels on working with suppliers and how partnerships, and knowing the right pitch, are so key in this industry. Additionally, advisors connect with each other to form personal friendships bound to last well beyond a three-day retreat.
“I have just soaked in every little piece of information from all of our speakers, all of our suppliers, even all of our travel advisors, I love it,” Jasmine Horton-Hines, SmartBird World Travel said. “I have found so many different tips and tricks that I can take to just elevate what I'm already doing right now, it's a great space to be in.”
“It's been great to meet such unique suppliers that I haven't ever had the chance to work with and I got to meet some wonderful people within the industry,” said Michelle Vuong of Latitude Concierge Travels. “What's great about it is that I actually get to connect with people my age and who is kind of just starting out in the industry and has kind of the same experience as I do…we were able to connect, grow and learn from each other.
Workshops this year were led by Jenn Lee of Travel Planners International, and the advisor guides - advisors who experienced the Future Leaders in Travel Retreat in 2022 and were asked to return to help the new ones.
Lee spoke on the power of reviews and referrals and how advisors can maximize each in order to better their business. The advisor guides broke into tables to lead discussions around key topics important to growth on social media and marketing, expanding business, charging fees, making the most of FAM trips, setting boundaries with clients, and streamlining workflow.
“The workshops really cater to I feel like what we need,” Mary Bezeau or 3D Travel Company said. “The speakers are amazing and also just being able to sit and collaborate in small groups with those travel advisors really gave me a lot of ideas for my business.”
For Julie Patterson of Wanderfully Planned, returning as a guide this year allowed for a chance to give back.
“I'm so excited to be a guide this year and be able to you know impact and help and advise other young professionals and give back because a lot of people helped me as well,” Patterson said. “It's been so fun to share kind of my expertise and things that I have found to excel and grow my business and to pass that on.”
Building Better Business
Suppliers know coming in that these are quality advisors looking to grow to new heights, both professionally and personally.
The advisor-supplier one-on-one appointments only last six minutes, but during that window of time, key relationships are built to help increase business all around.
“I’m meeting so many new future leaders and current leaders in travel, it’s been great,” said Tyson Wharton of Sioux Empire Travel and one of the 2023 advisor guides. “The suppliers are awesome; I already have three new spots to sell. The one-on-one meetings last year were crucial to increasing my sales last year and I’m looking forward to selling new suppliers moving forward from this year’s event.”
For suppliers, making the most of that six minutes is just the foundation of developing a firm relationship to further build better business for all.
“It’s really exciting to meet with advisors that you can tell are up and coming, that they're on the cusp of really growing their business,” said Lindsey Wagner, Head of Field Sales West for Virgin Voyages. “You can feel that every advisor that you talk to is excited and hungry and they are passionate about travel and personally growing their business. So it's exciting to actually walk away from every single conversation with takeaways and leads and really solid follow-ups that hopefully again we'll help them grow their business and help increase our sales.”
“This event has been really phenomenal in terms of meeting a wide range of different agents who are not just leaders in the travel business but also have incredible portfolios of business coming through,” Isabella Borowiec, Director of Sales Midwest for Kensington Tours said. “So whether they're agency owners with different agents of their own or independent agents who are just you know booking quite a wide array of different things for their clients. The quality of agents we met with has been so great.”
Looking to the Future
A highly anticipated event that continues to grow in size, the Future Leaders in Travel Retreat has already set a location for next year.
“We look forward to hosting again in 2024,” said Jermaine Humphrey, Playa Hotels & Resorts Director of Sales USA. “We will be at the Hilton La Romana in the Dominican Republic.”
Applications for advisors to attend the 2024 event should go live in February.
Head over to futureleadersintravel.com to learn more.
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