Headquarter Happenings: Outside Agents’ Opulence Division Brings Advisors & Suppliers Together for Personal Networking

An intimate gathering of 23 travel advisors, some from as far away as California, gathered at Lotte Palace last week in New York City for the second of its first-ever Opulence training days. The first was held in Miami Beach on Sept. 17.

Slightly smaller than anticipated thanks to Hurricane Milton, which stranded 12 members of Opulence, Outside Agents’ luxury division, at sea, the small size gave advisors more one-on-one time with the suppliers in attendance. (OA’s annual conference was held onboard Independence of the Seas, whose return to port was delayed a day.)

Opulence, which launched as a separate division within Outside Agents in January 2024, was created to enable advisors who were already focusing on luxury travel to go even deeper into the niche.

“We were trying to design a program that would allow them [Outside Agents luxury-selling million-dollar advisors] to connect with luxury partners and be more collaborative and strategic with their selling,” Andrea Wright, vice president of luxury for Outside Agents, told TMR.

Built from scratch

Wright was brought in to build and head up Outside Agents’ new luxury program in Dec. 2023. She has more than 20 years in the business, all on the supplier side. She most recently spent nine years at Playa Hotels & Resorts.

Her unique position of understanding what suppliers want from agency partnerships and what advisors need helped her create the Opulence program, she said. In particular, she said her main focus was on creating a way to connect these advisors with luxury suppliers, who are just as eager to find them.

“Outside Agents has 10,000 agents… its hard in such a large host to find which ones really are selling luxury and which ones would be key partners,” Wright said. “The supplier partners, while they have marketing money to spend and collaborate, need to know who are those people? Opulence was created to take the guess work out of it.”

Events, like the Miami Beach and NYC full-day conferences, along with cocktail connections and symposiums are designed to bring advisors and suppliers together in a more personal way. At the New York City show, panels of business development managers and advisors were asked to share personal stories and fun facts.

“We all know partnerships in this industry are everything. You sell what you know but you also sell for people that you like,” Wright said.

“As much as technology has grown, building relationships one-on-one is still the most important factor,” added Jared Braunstein, vice president of business development and media relations for Outside Agents.

Supplier partners comprise a mix of current Outside Agents partners and new-to-Opulence partners. There are at least 30 new partners including hoteliers, DMCs, air charters, black car and limo companies, and more.

Still growing

For 2025, Opulence stands at 176 members, all members of Outside Agents who were invited to join.

“We far exceeded our goal for member signs up in the first year,” Wright told TMR. “We’re 30% over what we thought we would get.”

Advisors who were not invited to join can take advantage of the Host’s “Pathway to Opulence,” which was designed to help put advisors on the path to greater luxury sales.

Next year, the division will look at how advisors who are not part of Outside Agents can join the organization. However, Wright said, she’s not looking to go much beyond 300 members.

“When you look at luxury hosts in the industry, the average is 250… that’s kind of the sweet spot,” she said. “Those are your top sellers. The goal is to not grow so big so that we can still focus on a smaller group and be able to provide programs that are high level.”