Travel Host “Titans” Offer Best-in-Practice Advice for New Advisors

In this article:
How to Build a Client Base from Scratch
Strategies for Nurturing Client Relationships
Common Mistakes New Advisors Should Avoid
Tips for Cash Flow Management
Out-of-the-Box Marketing

Keeping human relationships front and center is the number one thing travel advisors can do to ensure their agency’s success, said five travel agency Host executives during a new panel – Travel Trade Titans – at the 2025 Cruise360 conference.

In what was an unusual move for CLIA, the mainstage spotlight moved away from cruise president’s and onto travel advisors during this year’s opening session. Moderated by Dondra Ritzenthaler, president of Azamara Cruises, the executives shared insights and advice to help attendees level up their businesses.

Topics Ritzenthaler asked advisors about included building and nurturing client relationships, mistakes new advisors should avoid, and strategies for managing cash flow, among several other topics.

How to Build a Client Base from Scratch

With much of the audience at Cruise360 new to their careers as travel advisors, Ritzenthaler asked the panel about building a client base.

“Specialize,” said Jeff Anderson, co-CEO of Avoya Travel. “Pick what you’re going to be the best at… because you will become infectiously excitable about that topic. That will spread,” he said.

Another way of looking at this is figuring out how to pull clients towards you, he added, rather than the classical way of marketing, which is to push messaging out.

“When you can pull somebody in towards you because you are the expert, there’s nothing better than that.”

Lori Speers, CEO and owner of Levarté Travel, recommended new advisors take to Facebook.

“A popular strategy right now is Facebook groups, because you can build… You can put specials in there, you can talk about when you travel, and it really builds clientele in a different way,” she said.

InteleTravel’s president Tara Minson told the audience not to forget about their friends and family.

“Start with your holiday card list. Start with your friends and families,” she said. “That will grow into referrals. They can be your first and sometimes your best customers. It’s okay to make money off your family.”

Theresa Scalzitti, Cruise Planners’ chief operating officer, also recommended advisors look at joining or starting a travel club.

“If you don’t have a travel club in your area, create one. Everybody loves to get together and talk about where they’ve been and where they want to go,” she said.

But Scalzitti also said, no matter which strategy advisors choose it all boils down to one thing: “Tell people you are a travel advisor.”

She also advised investing in logo-wear or something that says: “I sell travel.”

“Be big and bold and walk around and say, ‘I sell travel.’ It will be a conversation starter.”

Strategies for Nurturing Client Relationships

While none of the five executives offered any earth-shattering advice when asked about how to nurture a client base, their advice served as strong reminders of the most basic tenets of customer service.

“Constantly keep in touch with your clients,” said Minson. “And be real. You are a human, you are a person, that is why your customers pick you…”

Communication both when planning travel as well as after a trip has been booked is equally as important, added Scalzitti.

Scalzitti recommended advisors use an automated email system to stay in contact with clients throughout their travel booking/planning journey – from thank you for the booking emails to time to book your shore excursions, and more.

“Something that doesn’t take a lot of time for you, but to the client, they feel like it’s you reaching out to them. Those are the touches they won’t get from an OTA,” she said.  

Danny Genung, MCC, CEO of Harr Travel, was all in on Minson’s “be real” advice.

“Authenticity is absolutely everything in our business,” he said, adding that advisors should also be enthusiastic in their dealings with clients. “If you love what you do it’s going to show, and that connection is going to grow.”

Common Mistakes New Advisors Should Avoid

Back to the focus on new advisors, Ritzenthaler asked the panel about common mistakes advisors often make at the start of their careers.

Harr was quick to point out the mistake that he made early on, which was trying to keep track of his clientele without the help of a CRM (customer relationship management) tool.

“I knew my clients, I kept them up here,” he said pointing to his head. “But the value of a travel agency is in the data. It’s in the relationships and the data and the ability to go back and forth between those two.”

CRM tools make that process easier. These tools also allow advisors to track the ROI of their clients over time.

“I think that ROI is something that people look at and say that’s down the road. ROI starts on the first day.”

Minson echoed a message from earlier in the panel discussion, reminding the audience to narrow down their focus.

“Advisors come in and they think they have to know everything about everything. You will not succeed that way… You can’t be drinking from a firehose in the very beginning… Start small, start with your passion,” she said.

Anderson emphasized partnerships and not going it alone.

“People get really excited about the industry and then they charge into it alone,” he said. Instead, advisors need to find partnerships that make sense. “They’re excited and very proud entrepreneurially. But the reality of it is, doing everything is hard and its exhausting. And we’re usually not good at everything. Focus on finding a partnership.”

While Anderson danced around what type of partnership he was talking about, Cruise Planners’ Scalzitti did not.

“If you are new and you are not with a Host, you’re making a big mistake,” she said.

Tips for Cash Flow Management

A challenge many travel advisors face, especially at the start of their career, is cash flow. Commission checks take time to come in, so what can they do to ensure they get money flowing in as quickly as possible?

Anderson offered two pieces of advice. First, he said, be careful not to overspend at the beginning.

“This is why friends and family referrals are so important because you don’t need to go and spend a lot of money,” he said. “You don’t need a super fancy marketing campaign.”

Similarly, if you already have a laptop, use that. You don’t need the highest-end computer when you’re just getting started.

Second, Anderson said, to get money coming in faster, don’t be afraid to mix in some products that travel faster.

“It’s okay to sell a four-day or a five-day cruise, those travel pretty quickly. They’re not [booked] a year out.”

Scalzitti offered advice specifically for advisors who are still working part-time.

“If you have a certain amount of money that you need to make in order to completely step out of your career into this full time… think about what that number is that you need to live on for 9 to 12 months. Sock it away, all the travel money that you make and anything extra that you can afford to, put it to the side.”

Then, and only then, should advisors step away from their current careers to go full time.

Speers further said that all advisors should have a number in their head, and they should keep that number in mind whenever making money decisions. She told the audience she sees too many advisors spending more money on things that don’t necessarily drive their business forward, like client gifts.

Out-of-the-Box Marketing

Though about half of the panel’s time was taken up speaking about technology, the executives primarily spoke about leveraging their Host or consortiums technology products, incorporating AI into their daily processes, and social media.

There wasn’t much new that even the newest travel advisor hasn’t heard before, but Avoya’s Anderson brought up an interesting option: texting.

“One of the most obvious ways to reach people and the one that takes the most amount of time but is also the most effective is text messaging,” he said, adding that big companies struggle with this because there are many laws that “get in the way.” But advisors, who have individual relationships with customers, can text.

“You have a unique opportunity,” he said. “Emails go to the spam folder, or they’re really quick to delete them. The open rate is over 95% on text messages.”

He added, “You’ve got to be smart about it… make sure the message is relevant.”