Travel

#Dream Job: How To Become A Luxury Travel Advisor

Working in the travel industry, people frequently confide in me that they have always dreamt of traveling the world for a living. For most, it’s a fleeting dream during a moment of hatred at their current jobs, something they would never actually figure out a way to do. But for others, the dream is real and more importantly, they have the drive to make it happen. One way to do it is to become a luxury travel advisor and they come from all business sectors: law, finance, beauty, fashion, media, education, and more. It is a job that Oprah featured as one of the “happiest jobs in America.”

Do you dream of making travel your job?

The growth in travel and tourism outpaces any other sector, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, with a 7.2% growth rate and thousands of new jobs. But it wasn’t until I was at Virtuoso Travel Week surrounded by top luxury travel advisors and suppliers that I realized there is the possibility to make real money from planning travel for others. There were agents that went from completely starting their career over to millions of dollars in business within a few years. Even better, I met fabulous young advisors like Kristen Korey Pike and Kate Corey with Currie Co. Travels, Josh Alexander with ProTravel, Erina Pindar with SmartFlyer, Laura Allen with Century Travel, and Lindsey Epperly with Columbus Travel, all of whom I wanted to spend more time with. I chatted with Pike about her career trajectory from corporate life to luxury travel advisor and portions of the interview are at the end of this piece.

Any job is a huge challenge at the beginning if it is going to be worth something. Here are some of the top tips I gathered. In the end, the #1 thing you are selling is yourself.

1. Have a Passion for Travel as a Lifestyle: I kept hearing variations on this, like “If you don’t travel yourself, you shouldn’t be doing this” and “You have to love it or you’re in the wrong job.” You have to really, really love to travel and have a passion to share it or you will burn out quickly. Parts of the job can seem glamorous but much of it isn’t, like any job.

2. You Need A Little Black Book of Potential Business: Before you begin a career transition, you need to have a list of people that you will call first. This, in turn, will lead to referrals and more bookings. You are solving somebody else’s problem and supporting the fulfillment of dreams.

3. You Must Have The Ability To Deliver the Product: Those that seek out an advisor do spend more, and your value needs to be clear. Whatever you do needs to make their life and planning easier and better. At Virtuoso Travel Week, I learned there is 28% satisfaction with booking online while there is 78% satisfaction when booking with an advisor. Matthew Upchurch, Chairman CEO of Virtuoso, shared that you must understand your own worth and value while projecting confidence and capability in the planning process between client and advisor. This establishes trust, satisfaction, and the likelihood that a client will continue booking with you.

4. Align With A Travel Consortium and Agency: There are several networks of agencies and advisors where you can align yourself and it all comes down to the benefits for you and your clients. Besides hotel, tour operator, and cruise line benefits, check commission structures and the education programs offered. Virtuoso. a by-invitation-only organization focused on luxury travel that produces $9.6 billion in annual sales, offers a highly sought after structure of benefits to their members. The Hotels Resorts program offers exclusive amenities valued up to $450 per stay, providing real value to clients. The Virtuoso Trust is an education program with extensive training on things like sales skills and supplier webinars. They also are dedicated to the power of relationships and community, with help always available and suppliers that are willing to go above and beyond to ensure client satisfaction. Annual conferences are key to building relationships, like the one I attended, Virtuoso Travel Week, where 4,000 advisors and luxury suppliers come together in Las Vegas.

Other consortiums include Signature. Ensemble. and Travel Leaders. When choosing an agency and consortium, find out if any leads come from them or are you solely responsible. Will you have a niche, like cruises, tours or resorts? Who will you work with on destinations that you don’t know that much about? When you just begin, will a seasoned advisor at the agency help mentor you?

5. Subscribe to Trade Magazines Online Newsletters: There are information-packed trade resources for advisors like TRAVELAGE WEST. LUXURY TRAVEL ADVISOR. TRAVEL AGENT. AGENT AT HOME. VACATION AGENT. and Travel Pulse to always be on top of what’s going on in the industry. VIRTUOSO LIFE is only available to those in the network.

6. Use Social Media To Drive Sales: You must develop creative, innovative ways to market yourself and what you do. Stacy Small, President of L.A.-based Elite Travel International. spoke at Virtuoso Travel Week about how her business has quadrupled in the last 3 years because of social media. “The time I spend updating my Facebook and Twitter is the modern way of direct marketing,” she says. “Everyone in my life from 20 years ago now knows what I do for a living. You don’t need to do mailings or postcards.”

Advice From A Young Luxury Travel Advisor

Kristen Korey Pike is a powerhouse young Virtuoso-affiliated travel advisor who went from the corporate world to blazing a new path in travel. Last year, she was recognized as one of Travel Agent Magazine’s Top 35 Under 30 Travel Agents. She is serving her second year on the Saveur Travel Advisory Board, preparing epicurean itineraries published in the magazine. Pike was born to do this job – she lived in the United Arab Emirates and England as a child, studied abroad in Paris and London, and speaks French and conversational Arabic. She even planned two weddings for herself and her husband, in Sea Island, GA and Beirut, Lebanon. “After seamlessly coordinating 30 Americans to travel to Lebanon I decided to find a way to translate my passion into a career. Not only did I enjoy every step of the planning process but it was incredibly fulfilling to realize that I had created a life-altering experience for my guests,” she says. She is now affiliated with Currie Co. Travels in Atlanta as an independent contractor.

What does an advisor need to do to succeed?

According to Pike, “First and foremost, it’s essential that we effectively communicate our value to the consumer. In the same way that our clients work with financial advisors, if they do not understand what we are providing then there will not be the level of trust necessary for a successful client-advisor relationship.

Today’s luxury traveler is back with a vengeance and constantly evolving, and it’s equally important to understand your clients’ needs. Last December I attended the International Luxury Travel Market in Cannes as a buyer to gain some economic perspective into the future of luxury travel. I believe in giving our clientele the extras that separate authentic travel from tourism. Since we, at Currie, are our own demographic, we fully appreciate what our clients are looking for. I do have a wide variety of clients; I started off simply with family and friends and it’s amazing how it has spiraled from there. My client base has expanded from all over the US to Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

Social media has played a large role in developing my business. For instance, Facebook and Twitter provide unique opportunities to share experiences and ideas with clients, as well as potential clients, which often spark business opportunities.”

Virtuoso provided 4 nights of accommodation and admission to Virtuoso Travel Week. Annie Fitzsimmons is a freelance travel and hotel writer based in Manhattan. Connect with her @anniefitz or at annie@anniefitzsimmons.com .