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| John McMahon with Bill Smith, VP of cruises sales at Virtuoso |
I have been involved with the evolution of Luxury Travel Expo (LTX) for 14 years. We prided ourselves on taking an unbiased approach to educating you, the luxury travel advisor. Fast forward: This event became the largest gathering of travel professionals in the world. When we launched this conference, that was never the intentions. As with all great ideas, timing is everything. We were entering a new millennium, airline commissions capped, and the Internet fueled discussions and predictions that you all would be out of a job. At the same time, Luxury Travel Expo had an open door policy to let all travel professionals in. Then in 2008, the recession hit and many agents went away. The ones that left were the ones that didn’t adapt their business. Over the past year, our industry has received more positive press on the value of using a travel agent then we did in the past 10 years. But here is the twist, there are fewer of you now, and the drums have stopped beating your demise. So why did that story line go away? Why wouldn’t the media go for the final kill? The answer is simple. Less is more. You all adapted, provided tremendous service, and positioned yourself as advisors, not agents.
Quality, not quantity, was what advisors and travel suppliers yearned for. You wanted higher education in tracks that reflect job function and one-on-one meetings, not speed-dating appointments. Based on these core values, last month Luxury Travel Expo transformed into Luxury Travel Exchange. Pictured above is Bill Smith of Virtuoso just after he hosted our cruise panel with hard-hitting questions, no softballs. Speaking of hard, turning away travel professionals that did not qualify for our hosted advisor programs was difficult. We had 2,000 applications that were individually vetted, and quality, not quantity, was achieved. More than 7,000 meetings took place over two days.
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| John McMahon with Anne Morgan Scully of McCabe World Travel |
One luxury travel advisor, Anne Morgan Scully of McCabe World Travel, pictured below, wowed her standing-room-only session on insider tips for servicing affluent clients. Anne is a true educator, and she fully understands if we all become better travel advisors, it’s a win-win for our industry.
Lastly, I would like to extend a big congratulations to the LTX staff for creating and delivering on a flawless event. Enjoy the holiday season and thank you for trusting us to educate and transform you into the best you can be.