ALG Vacations® Is Working Toward a ‘Kinder’ Future of Travel

With all of the challenges and concerns to hit travel in recent years—from sustainability to AI technology—it’s no wonder that the future of the industry has become a topic of contention. Yet for all of the focus on policies and procedures, ALG Vacations® (ALGV) has adopted a simpler approach: Kindness.

As North America’s largest tour operator group, ALGV certainly has a global footprint, sending millions around the world annually and employing thousands more. Their determination to make that world a better place led to their Kindness movement. Rooted in parent company Hyatt’s value of caring for people so they can be their best and ALGV’s own company culture, ALG Vacations developed three pillars of actionable Kindness.

We’ve all heard at one point or another that you need to help yourself before you can help someone else (just ask any flight attendant about oxygen masks), so it only makes sense that the first pillar would be Kindness to Ourselves. Encompassing professional development, work/life balance, and overall self-care, this pillar is all about prioritizing our own wellbeing, giving us the strength to help others.

So how does a tour operator show this? It starts internally, with initiatives like DEI groups for representation and “Kindness cards” to say thanks. It extends to the travel advisor community—at the heart of every ALGV action—through events such as Ascend, the brand’s sold-out educational conference in Cancun, and tools including ALGVPro, their advisor certification program. The more in-depth an advisor’s knowledge, the more customers trust them, and the more successful that advisor’s business becomes; ALGV knows this, and so they’ve shown their care by giving advisors ample opportunity to grow professionally.  

For personal wellness, ALG Vacations leans on its wellness coach, David Pritchard. A regular at their events, he’s offered guidance to hundreds of travel advisors looking to achieve health goals, getting them in the habit of small kindnesses like drinking more water or practicing gratitude.

Helping advisors do just that, the next pillar, Kindness to Others may seem like it’s just telling us to be nice to one another, but in actuality, it’s about paying the good forward and giving back to the people and places who need a little help.

One of the most straightforward ways ALGV lives this is through their Advisors Give Back program. Whether on a FAM (they hosted 50 this year alone) or in collaboration with a BDM, advisors can donate time, money, or resources to charities like the Montego Bay Animal Haven or communities in need like Riviera Maya’s rural El Delirio village, for whose families ALGV’s Kindness Conference attendees—all rising young stars in travel—helped fundraise over $13,000.

Advisors unable to attend an ALGV event saw another way to give back during the brand’s Travel Advisor Appreciation Month, donating WAVES® points to charities—an option offered year-round as part of ALGV’s rewards program.

Staff, too, answered the call to Kindness; Hyatt’s Global Month of Service saw 1,653 volunteers offer 4,000 hours of their time, cleaning 23 miles of beach in 10 countries, among other activities. During their Plan with a Pro LIVE series, ALGV partnered with local foundations like Crayons to Computers and Wheeler Mission, and their Milwaukee office alone collected more than 400 books for under-resourced children.

Although giving back could fall under the final Kindness pillar, Kindness in Travel is less about what we do for the places we love than how we approach them as an industry. It’s the respect we carry ourselves and foster in our customers; the goodwill we hold toward each other; and the collaboration we promote. It’s correcting a false impression a client has about a destination. It’s reaching out to a new hire to offer advice. It’s building on the relationship between a tour operator and travel advisors, and telling travelers why they should Plan with a Pro. It’s showing what it means to #AlwaysTravelKind on social media. Kindness in Travel is keeping travel, above all else, a human experience.

While this year was about laying down the foundation, expect next year to be a continuation of ALGV’s Kindness movement, bringing new and better ways of supporting travel advisors. In the meantime, let’s follow their lead and show just how caring this industry can be. Visit algvacations.com/planwithapro to learn more about ALG Vacations and their vision to support travel professionals in spreading kindness one vacation at a time.