Travel Advisors Get Experiential Education at ALG Vacations’ Pros in Paradise Maui FAM

Travel advisors got an experiential masterclass in Maui during ALG Vacations (ALGV)’s Pros in Paradise FAM Trip to the Hawaiian island from Sept. 7 to 11.

Hotel site inspections, cultural activities, a volunteer project, educational workshops, and networking all helped the group of 50 advisors learn more about this popular destination that’s been in need of some tourism TLC recently. 

“Education and experiencing destinations is very important to us in the way we work with our travel advisors,” Jacki Marks, ALGV’s global head of trade brands, told Travel Market Report. “It’s been two years since the Lahaina fires, and we wanted to get back here and make sure we don’t lose sight. Sometimes it gets very easy to think things are recovered, but it takes time, so supporting that recovery is important.” 

This was ALGV’s third Pros in Paradise trip of the year (others were in Aruba and Tulum) and helped the company show its “commitment to the Hawaiian Islands that we’re very passionate about,” Marks said, especially as it coincides with ALGV revitalizing its Blue Sky Tours brand and ALGV’s participation in the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau (HVCB)’s robust Maui marketing campaign. 

ALGV, along with hotel partners and the HVCB, made the trip all about mana (purpose), ‘ohana (family/community), and mālama (taking care of and preserving Maui) – threads that ran throughout the entire week’s activities. 

The ALGV team also brought along their Travel Advisor Champion Carson Kressly, TV personality known for the original “Queer Eye” series, to join in on the fun and help promote the destination. Here were the biggest highlights from the four jam-packed days in Maui. 

Practicing Maui Traditions 

The week kicked off with a welcome party at the host hotel, Hyatt Regency Maui, that also celebrated the Blue Sky Tours relaunch. Guests were immediately greeted with leis, coconut drinks, live Hawaiian music, and a sampling of dishes from the property’s several restaurants. 

Early the next morning, one group of advisors and partners were off to see the sunrise at Haleakala National Park, while another group visited Maui Gold Pineapple farm – different yet both enriching experiences that advisors said they can now go back and recommend to clients. 

Later that day, the advisors came together for their first hotel visits – but these were no average hotel site inspections. Aston Ka’anapali Shotes hosted hula dance, ukulele, and basket weaving lessons, and advisors also witnessed the daily cliff diving ritual at Sheraton Maui. 

Each of the nine hotels visited throughout the trip served local cuisine that brought Maui’s flavors to the forefront. Other highlights included exploring the cultural center at Fairmont Kai Lani and engaging with the entertainment team at OUTRIGGER Ka’anapali. The final evening, advisors also experienced a Tour of the Stars at Hyatt Regency Maui, where they learned about ancient Hawaiian wayfinding while stargazing from the rooftop. 

“I hope that advisors leave and feel like they can sell Maui from the heart and the experience of what their client is going to get when they come,” Marks said. “The majority of those that are here haven’t really experienced Hawaii before, so this is really important to understand and experience it.” 

Giving Back with ALGV 

Bringing tourists back to Maui post-wildfires has been no small task, but voluntourism can help travelers truly feel the positive impact of their trip. Travel advisors got a sense of that with a give back activity during their time with ALGV in Maui. 

Treecovery, a Maui-based nonprofit organization, put advisors to work planting seeds that will one day become trees – free of cost – for those who lost homes in the Lahaina fires. The disaster destroyed more than 21,000 trees in the area, and Treecovery’s mission is to plant and grow 30,000 trees (they’re at 6,000 so far). 

Robyn Basso, HVCB’s senior director of travel industry partnership, volunteered alongside advisors, calling it “an incredible, impactful experience.” 

“There’s so much alignment with ALGV’s values and Hawaiian values of aloha and mālama, so it was just such an incredible fit, and I was so honored to be a part of it,” she said, adding that travel advisors can find other Hawaii voluntourism opportunities to recommend to clients by visiting gohawaii.com/malama.  

While many Lahaina residents still await permits to rebuild their homes, Basso said that visitors can support them by patronizing the many restaurants and businesses that have reopened in the town. More specific information on the recovery can be found at mauirecovers.org. 

Learning to Sell the Destination 

The week in Hawaii was major for both marketing Maui and educating travel advisors on the product available there. Marks and Kressly hosted a Facebook Live that accomplished both, providing highlights of the trip for advisors watching from home. 

For those on the trip, ALGV held a morning of learning sessions, including social media and booking tool tutorials, a crash course on Hawaii tourism, and a motivational keynote speaker to round it all out. 

Advisors first got a lesson on turning raw video footage into engaging content for their social media channels – specifically how to create a hotel room tour reel. ALGV’s associate manager of social media, Megan Weisser, gave step-by-step instructions for this marketing skill that’s important now more than ever. 

Ben Recob, ALGV’s director of education and implementation, also led group discussions about topics such as best marketing tactics and overcoming client objections. Keynote speaker Eric Saperston reinforced the trip’s themes of kindness and growing together by lending a hand and seeking help when needed. 

“We really wanted to create a small group of agents that actually can walk away and continue to engage with each other, because we believe advisors need that community,” Marks said. “We really are trying to create that atmosphere where they spend time together, support each other, and when we leave here, we still have our WhatsApp group.”