Consultants build the future of the global travel market: travel every week

Hollywood, Fla. — It’s a warm and breezy Friday afternoon here at the beach, but Jennifer Kellum, owner of Neverland and Maine Travel, isn’t on that beach. Instead, she’s at the Diplomat Beach Resort, where the ballroom is booming.

More than 300 people, most of whom are travel consultants who generate at least $1 million in annual sales, will join her at the Global Travel Marketplace (GTM), a six-minute Speed ​​Day-style meeting with vendors representing all types of travel. products, from cruises to space flights.

This year’s event attracts consultants in the midst of metamorphoses: many have recently launched their businesses or are trying to restructure their agencies for the post-pandemic era, said Jacqueline Hurst, director of business recruitment and engagement for Travel Weekly events (GTM is produced by Travel Weekly’s parent Northstar Travel Group).

That’s why Kellum is sitting here at Booth 54 with a new vendor every six minutes. She is exploring rebranding and trying to shift from selling theme park vacations to luxury travel. She started her career in In 2014, she started selling DC exclusively as a park-based agency before launching her own business in 2017. She started off small by selling what she knew best, but she said she was pigeon-holing herself.

“Disney keeps you busy all day … but what I’m learning is that we’re not growing with our customers,” she said. Customers come to her for Disney but go elsewhere for a river cruise or a trip to Alaska. “We wanted to evolve with our customers’ vacation needs, and we wanted to be a one-stop shop.”

In 2019, Kellum began to transform her business by contacting other agents for supplier recommendations to offer more luxury travel.

She then wanted to change the name of her agency, but the pandemic hit and she feared the change would make her clients feel her business was financially unstable. “It wasn’t a good look at the time.”

Now that she’s rekindled that passion for travel, she’s set to launch a luxury arm, Aire Luxury Travel, for her agency. Before she does, she’s looking to find more vendors she can trust to take care of her customers.

The buzz sounds, and Kellum exchanges business cards with Eric Garnica, associate vice president of global resort sales for Palm Beaches, Florida, with resorts in a dozen Florida cities.

After asking him a few questions, she learned that one of his resorts was working for a client group of 21 travelers and her eyes widened. The group spans three generations from five families spread across the country: grandparents want to play golf, grandparents want spas and beaches for kids.

“That’s why I’m here,” Kellum says as she puts her pen down on the table. “We want to check a lot of boxes.”

This meeting probably saved her an entire day of research, and she quickly seated the next salesperson as the timer restarted.

Some agents have other agendas. Next in line is Morgan Graybill, from Greenville, SC. The luxury travel consultant says she’ll settle on her desk, stuffed with a series of peacocks on a silver table runner, hoping salespeople will remember her.

There’s a lot you’re looking for at this conference: French destination specialist, golf specialist and yacht suppliers in Croatia; Additionally, she would like to reconnect with the cruise providers she sells to.

But what she’s just focused on is their level of service.

After covid hit, Greybill launched her luxury agency MorningStar Luxury Travel. Starting a new business was tough, she says, but it’s starting to take off. The vendor says she might have a good product.

“Luxury isn’t all glitz and glam. It’s the service,” Graybill says, citing long sales cycles caused by labor issues. She said other vendors were poor communicators, hindering her ability to provide luxury service to her customers. “I can’t live mentally exhausted,” Graybill says.