I have been an advisor for Enjoy Travel Midland now for 10 years this September 2024. When I started it was a Carlson Wagonlit Travel office that eventually turned into Enjoy Travel but it has always been the same owner since I started. I learned quickly this is what I was meant to do as a career and I love coming into the office every day to assist my clients. My owner actually has 10 offices spread across Ontario so we have a great support system of other offices and agents to back us up as a full-service company.
After working in the hotel industry for almost eight years (three years of which I was the hotel general manager) I realized it was not the best fit for me. So after one tough summer of four different positions — in restoration, office admin, customer service and management — I was at a crossroads with what I wanted to do with my life and what I was destined to be. Then one late night I recalled a memory of my mother telling me “think of what you enjoy doing and find a way to make it a career.” I knew I wanted to travel, but I also enjoyed the comforts of my small home town of Midland with my friends and family near me and being in a customer service atmosphere is what I excelled at and then it hit me: I wanted to sell travel! So I applied to all of the agencies I knew of within a 60 km distance and the local Midland office (where I wanted to work the most) received my resume every month for four months and I harassed them nicely until one day I received the call that they needed a new travel advisor and I never looked back.
Looking at vacations/destinations every day. Just when you think you know of the next place you want to travel to, you get a new customer that is asking about a new location that you end up falling in love with. I also love that this position is not the same day-to-day. Even after 10 years, I still learn something new every week and I love that no day is the same.
When clients have unreasonable expectations for travel. Budget seems to be a big topic as well this year. Most do not realize how much overall costs have increased for travel services and it can be hard to explain that to people when they wish to compare today’s rates to rates from five years ago.
Put in the time and provide an amazing service to your clients – they will not return back to you if you don’t offer a great service. I can honestly say I have been very successful because of my repeat clientele that I have built over the last 10 years and I have some of the most loyal clients I have ever seen. Ask your clients for referrals and charge a fee for your services.
I feel like things have levelled out now for revenge travel however, it is still very busy with overall bookings.
I have more new clients now than pre-Covid bookings and it is mostly because they are now more nervous to do this on their own because of rules changing or new travel requirements that never used to exist. Travellers have more questions now than they did before Covid and because we agents worked through some very crazy times when the rules were constantly changing, we now can clarify those rules and questions for our clients.
I have a very mixed age group of clients, but the majority is on the older side (roughly age 40 and up). I do have many younger clients coming to me for groups and weddings.
One of my best memories was my destination wedding in Costa Rica in 2013 surrounded by many friends and loved ones. I was able to re-live that again this past December 2023 when we returned to the same location for our 10-year wedding anniversary with another great group of friends and this time we had our six-year-old daughter with us, which made it even more memorable. Costa Rica has a special place in my heart and family now.
$52,520.00 was the highest total I have ever seen on one of my bookings – for only two people!
I collect fees for my professional advice and services, just like any other professional in any other industry. If you are not charging fees then you are working for free. When it comes to pricing, you need to fully understand your value to be able to charge what you’re worth. When you charge what you’re worth, you’re also setting a high standard for the type of people you want to work with. The clients that perceive you as valuable are the same clients who will get the most value out of the work you do. I would say that almost 90% of my clients are more than willing to pay the fees I collect for the services I offer.
