How an Award-Winning Agency Gained Trust with LGBTQ+ Travelers

When Denise Ambrusko-Maida, founder and travel advisor at Travel Brilliant, received the ASTA Globe for Family and Multi-Generational Leadership, she said the honor “reflects what we believe at our core.” 

The American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) handed Ambrusko-Maida the award at its inaugural ASTA Globes in January for her work hosting Gays with Kids (GWK) Spring Break, which brings together LGBTQ+ families for one big vacation annually. In April 2026, the event’s fifth year, more than 150 travelers sailed on Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas.

“Travel is more than a vacation. It is an opportunity for families to connect, to feel seen, and to experience the world in a way that celebrates who they are. I am deeply grateful to ASTA for recognizing the importance of inclusive, multi-generational travel,” Ambrusko-Maida said. 

Since starting Travel Brilliant in 2020, Ambrusko-Maida has grown a reputation for the Buffalo, New York-based travel agency as a reliable source for LGBTQ+ travel needs, something she notes goes far beyond being simply “LGBTQ+ friendly.” Travel Market Report caught up with her to learn more about her business and the nuances of booking travel for LGBTQ+ travelers. 

Becoming a Reliable Advisor for LGBTQ+ Travelers 

Ambrusko-Maida first got into travel part-time, then went full-time working for an agency. She “fell in love with the industry,” she told Travel Market Report, and therefore, decided to launch her own agency, Travel Brilliant, in January 2020. She called the initial Covid-induced lack of clientele “a blessing in disguise” because it helped her learn how to run a business and think about how she would build her client base.  

Before becoming a travel advisor, Ambrusko-Maida worked in fundraising and development for non-profit organizations in New York City. She has also been an adjunct professor of anthropology for more than 20 years. The non-profit work, which served the LGBTQ+ community, led to her most lasting connections – people who would later become her clients. 

So when Ambrusko-Maida began booking vacations, she knew she wanted to be well-versed in LGBTQ+ travel and gathered resources from the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA). She also focused on planning trips for families, specifically, because though there are many options for LGBTQ+ travel, she saw a need for travel advisors for families with children in the community. 

“It naturally evolved because I enjoyed the people who I was planning travel for so much, and I was learning so much, and that community was growing,” she said. Though the LGBTQ+ community does not make up all her business, it is now a decent percentage because of her efforts. 

Still, Ambrusko-Maida doesn’t use the term “LGBTQ+ friendly” to describe her work because “all that means is ‘I’ll take your business,’ but it doesn’t mean that you’ve put in the work to understand the nuance of that travel.” 

Even for advisors who don’t have LGBTQ+ travel as their niche, she believes it’s important for them to learn those nuances should they encounter clients who need that support. Ambrusko-Maida recently sat on a panel at the ASTA Travel Advisor Conference to discuss why building trust with the LGBTQ+ community is so important – they are a growing percentage of the traveling population and want to know they’ll feel safe in the destinations they’re traveling to. That is where travel advisors like Ambrusko-Maida and her team come in. 

“We believe that continuous learning, inclusive business practices, and authentic representation are essential to serving this community well,” she said. “Our goal is to ensure every client feels welcomed, understood, and supported throughout their travel experience.” 

Booking Award-Winning Inclusive Family Vacations 

In 2022, Travel Brilliant began partnering with the Gays With Kids (GWK) Academy to offer an annual GWK LGBTQ+ Family Spring Break. GWK Academy is an organization that provides support to LGBTQ+ individuals on their journeys to parenthood. 

The first trip welcomed eight families for a group vacation at Universal Orlando Resorts. Now in its fifth year, the annual vacation has grown to 31 families.  

Each year, Travel Brilliant coordinates the trip to a different destination: in 2023, it was at Nickelodeon Resort Riviera Maya; in 2024, it was at Marriott San Juan, Puerto Rico. Then, in 2025, GWK Spring Break took its first cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas. And each year, more families have joined from across the country. 

“This past year we had over 100 travelers, with kids ranging from 17- to 1-year-olds, and families from all different types of backgrounds – families that were started from surrogacy, from adoption, from foster,” Ambrusko-Maida said.  

“The event has experienced consistent year-over-year growth as more LGBTQ+ families seek opportunities to travel with other families who share similar experiences and values,” she added. “Beyond the vacation itself, the program has become an important community-building platform that helps families form lasting friendships and support networks.” 

Though this is the agency’s most popular trip, Travel Brilliant plans all different kinds of travel year-round. The team of eight travel advisors have a range of specialties, from Disney to Africa to cruise and the Caribbean.  

Ambrusko-Maida also plans other group trips, such as a twice-yearly cruise for dog groomers. She added that the agency has seen a growing number of inquiries for higher-end luxury with an emphasis on experiential travel. 

Her favorite trip to book recently was a multi-destination European honeymoon that took the couple to three cities: Sicily, Paris, and Amsterdam – “Sicily being for one of the partners because he wanted to relax on a beach, Amsterdam being for the other because he wanted a city adventure, and Paris being a city that they visited before so that being something for the two of them,” she said. “So that was really lovely.” 

Facing Challenges and Lessons Learned  

Supporting LGBTQ+ travelers comes with its challenges because of course, not every destination or supplier is inclusive. This means Ambrusko-Maida puts in a lot of extra work and sometimes must “be a pain in the ass,” she said, to have things run smoothly.  

“If they’re going to a destination that I haven’t worked with before, I’m going to reach out to the tourism board, I’m going to reach out to my suppliers and my tour operators, but I’m also going to email hotels directly,” she said, “and that’s a lot of extra work, but being a pain in the ass is what makes you successful.” 

It’s not enough to see a pride flag on a supplier’s website and call it a day; it’s about having clear communication and clarity with them on what you expect for your client’s experience. 

“There are so many hotels, cruise lines, resorts, tourism boards, tour operators that are going to throw up rainbows in June and say that they are supporting your clients,” she said, “but when push comes to shove, they aren’t really there to support the people potentially affected if things go wrong on the trips.”  

In one scenario, there was a discrepancy between what was written on the cover sheet of a contract and what was specified within the contract itself. Ambrusko-Maida said the supplier – who is visible at LGBTQ+ Pride events every year – promised one thing verbally and on the contract’s cover sheet but ultimately did not deliver on it. She took responsibility and now has a lawyer review all her contracts. 

“I’m never going to tell my clients, ‘Well, that wasn’t my fault,’ because at the end of the day, I chose that supplier,” she said. “So sometimes we need to learn hard lessons when we’re let down, and we can’t work with [a certain supplier] anymore.” 

“You really have to kind of push for your clients, push for your business, and push for those extraordinary experiences,” she added. 

That all starts with conversations with the client themselves – such as asking about pronouns, gender identity, and names on travel documentation – to understand what the LBGTQ+ client’s needs or concerns will be traveling in a new country. Ambrusko-Maida notes that the IGLTA has many resources on their website for travel advisors to utilize when navigating these issues for clients. 

Ultimately, the biggest lesson of all has been to double down on her passion as a travel advisor despite any challenges – because planning life- and family-affirming trips for the community makes it all worth it. She says that other advisors can apply this to any type of niche that they love. 

“Being recognized as a travel advisor in an agency that works with LGBTQ+ clients is going to naturally eliminate some people from wanting to do business with me, and that’s okay. You can’t be everything to everyone,” she said. “So, whether that’s a niche in terms of the type of clients, how you work with the destination, the style of travel, I think it’s really important to understand what you excel at. Because your enthusiasm is going to make you a better advisor. It’s going to give you a better relationship with your clients, and it’s just going to make your experience more fun.”