The Future Leaders in Travel retreat was held at the Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos.
The retreat is designed for travel professionals under the age of 37 to come together, network, and help each other grow. Over 80 professionals attended what would be described as a "life-changing" week.
Playa Hotels & Resorts kicked off the retreat with a themed party. The future leaders of the travel industry were welcomed by the Vice President of Sales with a line from the show.
Wright told the attendees that the next generation of travel industry workers should follow in the footsteps of Americans and French workers who live and work in the same area.
Several words of wisdom would be shared throughout the week.
There is professional development.
Panelists and speakers from both the supplier and advisor sides were present at the event.
After an in-depth application process, nearly 50 advisers were selected to attend the event. Several people just started their careers in the travel industry within the last few years and were eager to learn and make new friends.
Jones said it was exciting to see how many young advisers were out here. Everyone is excited to grow their business.
Two advisors are put together at a supplier's table for a 10 minute meeting to learn more about the brand and connect with the brand's representative.
Advisors who attended the Future Leaders in Travel Retreat helped foster development. The guides gave many of the new industry advisers a shoulder to lean on and a brain to pick.
Ryan Taylor of Ryan F&T said that the Future Leaders in Travel is essential for young professionals in the industry to attend because it breaks up a lot of monotony of going to regular industry events. I think this one does a great job of enhancing the relationship between agent and supplier.
The Future Leaders in Travel Retreat featured two different workshops, as well as hearing from industry experts on the topics of diversify revenue streams, industry innovations, and the keys to the supplier-advisor relationship.
The presentation was titled "Personality Selling; Gain Control from the Beginning!" The commanding bull, the highly-detailed owl, the caring lamb, and the scatterbrained tiger are just a few of the dominant personality traits that she highlighted.
The solution room was sponsored by G adventures. Advisors and suppliers were grouped together to tackle real-world business challenges and learn how to solve them. Suppliers and advisers shared their best practices in key areas like marketing, charging fees and more.
Jeffrey Pawid, Director of Sales - North Region USA for Exoticca, said that the event has been eye-opening. Some of the young people in the industry have experience, but some of them don't. The collective thinking and the collective pain points open up my eyes as a supplier and I'm sure for travel advisors as well.
The people are connecting with each other.
During the private dinners at Le Blanc Los Cabos and Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos, as well as day three's sunrise yoga and the group activity excursion on the last day, the connections made throughout the appointments and workshops continued. Most of the attendees hopped onto a Catamaran Cruise that sailed past the arch of Cabo San Lucas and over to snorkel and swim at the beach.
The event gave young advisors and suppliers a place to further develop their relationships.
The connections made this week have helped Emily learn to honor her self-worth. Working smarter, adding fees for added work, and getting creative is what I mean by this. There is a lot of knowledge in my possession. I can sell that and make money. I am also a business owner. It was a lesson in a mindset shift.
Suppliers need to attend the event to make connections, according to Shannon Burke-Banks, senior account manager for Globus Family of Brands.
It's a unique opportunity to interact with future leaders within our industry and really get them to know your product in a kind of personal way that you wouldn't get to otherwise.
The chance to experience the retreat was outstanding for Tyson Wharton.
I made priceless connections with suppliers, other advisers and leaders in the travel industry after the week was over. I had a notebook filled with ideas on how to improve my business. Wharton said that he understood himself, his clients, and others in his life more because of the workshop.
My eyes have been opened to many possibilities thanks to our panels and suppliers. This is a business of connecting people. We don't need to plan for clients. We need to work with our suppliers, not just call them. The people at this event were very supportive. We are working together to help people see the world.
There is a bright future ahead.
The travel industry is going to be taken over by the younger generation. The Future Leaders in Travel Retreat gained a lot of knowledge.
Future bookings are being created by it.
Within a few days after the event, All Things Travel was able to land 8 new bookings.
People think you are different when you attend certain events and post about it. One of the clients asked me what my fee was and I said I was worth it. The event helped me land new business because I was in a place that people have never been and I let them know it's doable.
New bookings are something Wharton is interested in.
Wharton began to put his notes into practice after adopting some changes he learned from other advisers and suppliers. There are a lot of leads from my social media postings. Within the next month, I will be turning a couple of suppliers into bookings for my clients. I will be putting a new strategy in place for service fees and other places where I can make more money in the future.
Playa Hotels & Resorts has been the host sponsor of the event for the past two years.
The director of sales for Playa Hotels and resorts said they were excited to host the Future Leaders in Travel Retreat again this year. It only made sense for us to host it again since it was such a success last year at our hotel. Three days of great content with some of the strongest and most promising future leaders in the travel industry is what this year's event is all about. The Future Leaders and Travel Retreat will be hosted by us in the year 2024 as well.
The Hyatt Ziva/Zilara Rose Hall in Jamaica will be the location of the event in the year 2023.
More information can be found at future leaders in travel.
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