TRAVELSAVERS Hosts Dine & Discover Event Near HQ in New York

In the Bronx, New York, a storefront awning reads “We Sell Dreams” underneath the business name Travel World Showcase. 

For 35 years, the neighborhood travel agency has planned trips for families near and far under the direction of its president and owner Corinne Mutarelli, who, while attending TRAVELSAVERS’ recent Dine & Discover event, told Travel Market Report that her brick-and-mortar location is not going anywhere. 

“I’m never giving that up, I’m never going home-based,” she said. “My clients are all my personal friends after a while, after 35 years of helping them get places. I like to be out, I like to be meeting people … I’m in a neighborhood, and I service families and local people. 

“I have clients all over the country, though. So I have built that reputation with this one telling that one – people in Chicago, people in LA, people all over, so your word of mouth and your reputation is what gets you to stay there.” 

Though Mutarelli does lots of business virtually, her in-person operations have only grown over the years. She started with two office desks in 1990 and now has six. Travel World Showcase now has four employees and nine ICs. 

Mutarelli is far from the only agency owner with a thriving storefront. Travel World Showcase is one of more than 3,000 independently-owned small travel businesses across over 35 countries affiliated with TRAVELSAVERS, the 50-plus-year-old consortium dedicated to providing sales and marketing tools only to agencies following the storefront model.  

The strength of that model was evident on April 3, when TRAVELSAVERS hosted a Dine & Discover event at Westbury Manor, just about 10 miles from its headquarters in Oyster Bay, to support their most local affiliates. The consortium began hosting these events, dubbed either Dine & Discover or Lunch & Learn, across the United States just last year, and this was the first to be held in New York. 

“The purpose is to bring our advisors and our preferred suppliers together for an informative afternoon or evening of education and networking,” Melissa Wright, vice president of TRAVELSAVERS, told TMR. “It’s all about the face-to-face and the relationships. What we’re looking at tonight is the value of that personal, one-on-one time. You just can’t beat that environment.” 

She likened the success of the event to why so many agencies maintain a storefront to meet with clients and employees in person because there will always be “people who want to be able to go in and sit down across the desk and have a consultation.” 

“We expect that these offices are going to remain a mainstay of the industry,” she added. “We’re happy that these events are a huge success and that we still have so many of these thriving companies right here close to our headquarters.” 

Fifteen suppliers attended the event: Allianz, Avanti Destinations, CIE Tours, Crystal, Goway, GT Experiences, IHG, Marriott, Project Expedition, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Royal Caribbean, and Tauck, as well as TRAVELSAVERS’ sister brands Affluent Traveler Hotels & Resorts, KORE Travel Education, and TRAVELSAVERS Hotel Programs. 

During the first portion, travel advisors mingled with the supplier partners and gathered tidbits of information about the products. Then, during the dinner, the agencies played a game of trivia based on their conversations. 

“I find these events very successful because it’s very personal,” Mutarelli said. “I’m here specifically to meet tour operators that I don’t see all the time.” 

TRAVELSAVERS will host more similar gatherings across the country with its sister company NEST, which services home-based agencies, in Troy, MI on July 8; Atlanta, GA on Sept. 10; and Fort Lauderdale, FL on Nov. 13. 

The consortia’s parent company, American Marketing Group, also has its annual Travel Market conference coming up at Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando from June 4 to 7, rescheduled from September 2024.