The Power of Our Connections

I spent the first half of this week at my host agency’s annual conference in Charlotte (at the beautiful Ballantyne Hotel)and, as usual, I came home with a million ideas for elevating my clients’ experience from the time they start working with me until they return home, as well as a list of partners with whom I can develop stronger relationships to further benefit my clients.

I also had the opportunity to meet with so many of my fellow advisors and the Gifted Travel Network team and learn from them, discuss our business challenges, and inspire one another.

And I even rounded out my time in Charlotte with stops at two of our preferred partner properties located in the Uptown neighborhood in the city, the Grand Bohemian Hotel Charlotte and the Ritz-Carlton Charlotte, both beautiful hotels each with their own unique style. If you’re thinking about a trip to Charlotte, let me know and I can help you choose the right hotel for you - with the exclusive partner amenities I have access to via the Marriott Stars & Luminous program.

One of the many benefits of working with a travel advisor is our global partner connections.

This isn’t just about exclusive amenities, VIP perks, or early access for hotel or cruise bookings. Our partner connections are critical to ensuring that each of our clients has an incredible experience throughout the time they are working with us - from booking your trip until you return home. As we all know, things don’t always go as planned when it comes to travel and those partner relationships we have as part of our host agency are so important to ensuring that problems get resolved (quickly!). Throughout the conference, we heard story after story about how our partners quickly fixed client problems or swiftly made a change that resulted in an improved experience.

I spent a lot of time talking to our many cruise partners that were present at the conference, including Celebrity & Royal Caribbean, both of whom I have been working with lately and who have been amazing for my clients. In one instance, my client needed to cancel her upcoming cruise on the new Royal Caribbean ship, Icon of the Seas, and move it to next summer. This was about a month before the cruise was scheduled to depart and I didn’t know what would be possible as changes are usually not allowed after the full payment has been made for the cruise. After connecting with our support team at Royal Caribbean, I was able to reschedule my client’s cruise for a small change fee ($150 per person) and make the requested change with a 20-minute phone call - the power of having a travel advisor! 

It was also my pleasure to have dinner with the VP of Sales for Emerald and Scenic Cruises and tell her directly about my clients’ wonderful experience on an Emerald river cruise earlier this year. In fact, if you’re thinking about a river cruise, these two cruise lines should definitely be considered - my clients raved about the wonderful and attentive service they experienced during their entire cruise and I hope to send more clients on these lines in the future! They even offer yacht cruises if you’re interested in the smaller ship experience.

There was also time to connect with partners that focus on destinations that I love such as Asia and Europe, as well as destinations I am just starting to plan more for my clients like Africa. It’s incredible how vast our preferred partner network truly is and another reason that working with a travel advisor can truly elevate your travel experience.

Aside from bringing ease to the planning and booking process, we also can connect our clients with our global partner network to not only curate unique itineraries and experiences, but also to solve our clients challenges and ensure that everything goes as smoothly as possible - and if it doesn't, we trust that we have partners who can make things right for our clients.

If you’re looking for a travel advisor who can help create an unforgettable travel experience and take care of the details from start to finish, connect with us and tell us about what you’re thinking for your next trip!