Katy Sapsford
Marlin Travel, Vernon, BC
“Katy has been a long time supporter of G Adventures who always comes with a smile whether you’re connecting in person, via email or over the phone. Most recently, Katy has taken great initiative to help promote our new wellness travel program in her community. As soon as this new product line was released back in summer 2018 she picked up the phone and cold called anyone in the yoga/wellness business to see if they might be interested in collaborating. After a few calls she connected with an owner of a local yoga studio who had done yoga retreats in the past, but felt overwhelmed by the amount of work required. Katy presented her with a solution to this and has now successfully marketed and sold out two private wellness groups — one to Bali and one to Peru. I look forward to continuing this project with Katy and can’t wait to see where things go.”
Erin Rogers
Global Purpose Specialist, G Adventures
Meet Katy Sapsford
Tell us a little bit about yourself, how long you’ve been in the industry and what made you want to become a travel agent?
I’ve been in the industry, on and off, for about 15 years. I never really aspired to be a travel agent, but knew that I wanted to do something in the travel industry, so I enrolled in the Tourism and Travel program at Algonquin College in Ottawa and fell in love. I got a job at an agency right after graduation, but I wanted to see the world, not just sell it, so after about a year and a half there I quit my job, packed up my life, and spent the next three years living first in England, then in New Zealand, and seeing as much of the world as I could. Once my wanderlust was satisfied, I returned to Canada and immediately got another job as a travel agent (I actually applied for the job via email as I was sitting in KUL in between flights on my way home). That was 10 years ago and I’ve never even thought of doing anything else.
What’s your favourite part of the job?
I love working with my clients to try and find the best trip for them. My favourite thing is piecing together different aspects of an FIT trip for my clients to help turn the vision that they have for their holiday into a reality.
How has travel impacted your own life?
My parents instilled a love of travel and adventure in me and my sisters from a very young age, and we have all carried that with us throughout our lives, and now I hope to instil that in my daughter. I met my husband when we were both travelling in New Zealand, so travel has always been part of our relationship. Travel has made me more open-minded and accepting of others whose worldview might differ from my own. It has also made me more patient, as we all know that things can happen when we travel that are so far out of our control that the best thing to do is to adapt our plans and just go with it.
How are you coping in this crazy COVID-19 world? What are you focusing on right now?
Wine… lots and lots of wine! My main focus right now is my clients and making sure that I am doing everything I can to ensure that they are safe and that they don’t lose faith in me or the suppliers so that there is a travel industry to come back to at the end of all this.
Prior to all this, what were some of the big trends you were noticing in travel or that your clients were looking for from a getaway?
I have been working with a lot of special interest groups over the last couple of years, clients wanting to travel with like-minded people and have a focus to their trip. They also want to really experience a destination, not just see it, and give back to the local communities.
Have you had any interesting or strange requests from clients?
The one that always sticks out in my mind is from my first year as a travel agent, I had a client that wanted to travel to Australia, with a stopover in Greece. No matter how many times I told her that the flights go via the Pacific, and natural stopover points would be the South Pacific, she was convinced that the flights should go via Europe because that’s the way it looks on a map.
How many countries have you been to and where would you like to go next when we can travel again?
I’ve been to about 30 countries, and once this is all over my next destination is going to be Disneyland with my husband and 4.5 year old daughter, as we had a trip booked for May that we have had to postpone. Other than that, I’m not really sure, we have talked about going somewhere in Central America, or maybe the Galapagos, but don’t have any concrete plans yet.
What’s a big misconception people have about travel agents?
That you will pay a lot more to use a travel agent than if you book yourself. What I focus on is the value that I offer to my clients, that they don’t have to spend hours sifting through the endless information that is available online trying to understand it all. I do charge a fee for many of my services, but my clients are happy to pay it as they see the value that I offer.
Do you have anything to add?
We are a resilient bunch, and I believe that we will come out of this crisis stronger than before. Now, more than ever, people are seeing the value of having a travel professional in their corner.
