From Corporate Jobs to Condé Nast Travel Specialists

The saying goes, two heads are better than one.

That is certainly true for sisters Lisa and Nancy Zupancic, independent travel advisors with Direct Travel based in Toronto, Canada.

For four years running, the two advisors have made the prestigious Condé Nast Top Travel Specialist List, which features under 450 honorees worldwide—an achievement that reflects their hard work, dedication, and complementary skills.

The duo has worked as travel advisors for over a decade, but their experience traveling runs much deeper. As of writing, they’ve each visited 96 countries and have sailed on more than 40 ocean and river cruises.

Nancy said they caught the travel bug from their parents, who were “huge travelers.”  

The sisters spent the first 20 years of their professional lives working corporate jobs they disliked. “We both went to these jobs every day for 20 years hating it,” said Nancy. “Yes, we could do it, [but] we didn’t enjoy it.”

Planning and booking trips together became a much-needed reprieve. “I always planned our trips,” said Nancy. “We had a travel agent, but she would only book certain things—after that, I had to take over by reading and researching.”  

Transitioning to the travel industry was a natural fit for the sisters, but it took time to set those plans in motion.

“We spent 10 years planning our exit from the corporate world to be able to start this business because it needed to sustain us for the rest of our lives,” Lisa said. “And we needed to make sure that we had a good basis or a business basis for having our own business.”

“I thought I knew quite a bit,” Nancy laughed, reflecting on those early days. “[When] we came into this business—it’s astonishing what I didn’t know.”

For the sisters, the adage rings true: “They say when you love what you do, you never work a day in your life, and we just absolutely love it” Lisa said. “I think that’s one of the reasons why our clients like us because we’re really all in with travel. It’s not a job to us —it’s a lifestyle.”

It takes two
Lisa and Nancy are a team, both working with each client, rather than splitting clients between them. They credit their successful partnership to complimentary skill sets. “We separate our jobs and work with the clients together,” explained Nancy.

Lisa worked for over 20 years as a corporate group controller, overseeing accounting operations.

“Coming from business really, really helps us in being able to manage our own business, but also the clients’ budgets,” she explained. “Managing a client’s budget as if it was our own and making sure that we’re getting the very best value for their budget dollar is super important.”

Nancy’s background is in software development, and she credits her two decades of meticulous research and attention to detail for helping her plan travel.

“People say to me, ‘Wasn’t that a lot of research?’” laughed Nancy. “I’m very used to research. I mean, I had to find bugs in software, before Google even existed.”

Although they come from different backgrounds, the sisters are accustomed to working together; before launching their independent agency, the two worked for the same company, Quebecor World. 

“I love working with my sister,” Lisa said. “She knows exactly what she has to do. I know exactly what I have to do. And we don’t overlap other than our collaboration to make sure that what we’re developing for the client works for them.”

The home advantage
Lisa and Nancy work out of Toronto, and although they do a lot of their business virtually, they take pains to ensure initial meetings with clients take place in person.

“We always try to meet with people in their homes,” Nancy said. “They’re a lot more comfortable… and the fact that they’re more comfortable really makes it better.”

Scheduling face-to-face meetings in clients’ homes not only puts people at ease but also helps the sisters understand their clients better. Seeing someone’s home provides invaluable insight into their expectations, preferences, and needs. If they have a lot of art, the architectural design—these are all clues to the client’s unique tastes and desires.

“We can get a feeling for how they live,” Nancy explained. “Generally, when you travel, you don’t want to stay anywhere worse than your house.”

The sisters prioritize catering each trip to the client’s specific needs. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all,” explained Nancy. “People always say, ‘What would you do?’  And [we say] ‘it’s not our trip, it’s your trip.’”

Lisa and Nancy use that preliminary meeting to get a sense of who the client is and what they’re looking for, then make informed recommendations based on that information.

“I think that’s what people appreciate,” Nancy added. “Some people don’t necessarily want to see wildlife. Some people just want to walk around and hike. Everybody’s different.”

Good suppliers
According to Nancy, finding great suppliers has been crucial for their business.

“The suppliers are the key to our whole experience,” she said. “We wouldn’t be anywhere without our clients… So the two of them are the most important. And we give them all the credit for our success.”

Some of Nancy’s favorite destinations are the lesser-known gems, like small hotels and Safari lodges. The sisters work with one marketing portfolio that deals in “hidden” properties that don’t have signage or aren’t obviously a hotel—perfect for a guest looking for a more intimate stay but with all the typical hotel amenities.

“These niche little companies, those are the key. The suppliers are the key. A lot of these are B2B and they don’t advertise,” she explained.

The suppliers are such a priority, in fact, that it’s one area the two don’t separate. “We always do the hotels and the meeting suppliers together because that’s the most important part,” said Nancy. “The suppliers are the most important part of our job. I can’t say that enough.”

At the end of the day, Lisa and Nancy’s main concern is client satisfaction. They work hard to deliver the best possible memories for each individual trip, whether that’s an adrenaline-boosting wilderness adventure or a relaxing tour of castles in the countryside.  

“You don’t have to spend high amounts all the time. You need to spend the right amount at the right time to have the best experience,” said Lisa. “And that’s what we’re all about.”