Big news today for two major travel companies: After 12 years as president of the U.S. division, Marc Kazlauskas is leaving Insight Vacations and heading to Frosch International, where he will be president of leisure travel effective March 3. Insight, for its part, has promoted former vice president of sales Philip Cappelli to Kazlauskas’ former role.
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At Insight
Cappelli feels well trained for his new position, which he will begin on February 22: “I’ve worked with Marc Kazlauskas for two-and-a-half years,” he told Travel Agent just minutes after the announcement was made. “He’s been a great friend and mentor and he’s positioned me well to take this opportunity.”
As vice president of sales, Cappelli learned the value of travel agent partners. “We believe strongly in those relationships,” he said, adding that working with the trade side of the industry was what excited him about joining Insight in the first place. “Learning about the accounts was an invaluable education,” he said. “We have strong relationships with the people who will support us.”
Cappelli currently does not expect to see immediate wholesale changes at Insight as a result of the transition. In fact, his immediate goal is to maintain the relationship with the trade side of the industry and continue building those relationships. “As far as where we’re headed and what we’re doing, we’re looking to expand our business with our trade partners,” he said. In terms of product, he said that there is “a lot to come,” but could not offer any specifics. “I want to make sure that everyone knows that Insight will be a strong partner and friend to the travel trade,” he said.
At Frosch
While at Insight, Kazlauskas was responsible for growing the business over 200 percent, winning several industry awards and accolades, and playing a central role as Insight expanded its role in the premium and luxury escorted tour business.
“It’s a very big opportunity,” Kazlauskas told Travel Agent. “I love Insight—I lived and breathed it for 12 years. I enjoyed it immensely. But when an opportunity presented itself that I thought was interesting and different, I thought this could be even bigger.”
Frosch, he continued, is “on a massive growth curve,” and his first order of business will be to help the team there capitalize on that growth and continue it further. To that end, he plans to use all his years of knowledge acquired at Insight and applying it to a different business model.
“It’s funny,” he added. “Frosch has a stellar name and reputation, so I get to go from greatness to greatness. It’s very nice to be able to do that.”
At Frosch, Kazlauskas plans to continue advocating for travel agents. “We know that there’s a future for agents and that they will always be around. The growth will be on that side of the industry,” he said. With this mindset in place, he added, he expects Frosch to continue seeing growth in the years to come.
Kazlauskas will be based in the company’s New York office when he joins Frosch on March 3.