The growth of sites such as Unsplash, Pexels, and Pixabay have so revolutionized the stock photography landscape that giants like Getty Images, which owns Unsplash, and Canva (Pixabay and Pexels) are now major players. It all seems most attractive. A no-cost registration gives the travel professional millions of images to use on their website, Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms without laying out any money at all. It is the best of all worlds for the travel marketer.

Or is it?

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We have previously discussed the need to train clients. Let’s revisit the discussion. It is not an exaggeration to indicate the success or failure of your travel business will depend on the extent to which you are capable of taking charge of your client relationships and professionally leading them into behavior conducive to traveling safely and well. Top travel professionals train their clients to be good clients. Training your client assists both you and the client to achieve optimal results from every travel planning effort. Read the rest of this entry »

We have noted a decided uptick in the number of actions being taken against travel advisors by “copyright trolls.”  Copyright trolls are entities or individuals who scour the internet for the purpose of finding copyright infringements, no matter how slight. These predators primarily target unwitting breaches where images, music, or text have been used without proper permission or license. Once they’ve found a potential infringement, they swiftly send out legal threats or demands for licensing fees, often exorbitant in nature, preying on the fear of costly litigation to compel a quick settlement. Read the rest of this entry »

Public relations includes:

• ​media (articles about you),
• networking
• speaking opportunities,
• events; and
• writing (articles by you).

In each of these efforts, your personality is at the core of the marketing tactic. When the public reads an article about your agency, hears you speak, works with you at an event, or reads an article you have written, they engage you as an individual, not as a faceless company. That encounter is intensely personal and carries an authority that an advertisement cannot. People are trained to ignore advertising. They are equally well-trained to engage those in their presence. Read the rest of this entry »

I want to end this year by thanking our readers and sponsors for their support with one of my favorite columns.

Raise your right hand if you have ever had a problem client, the type of individual that made you reconsider your entire career as a travel professional. Keep your hands raised. Now, raise your left hand if you currently have a problem client. Even at this distance, I can see most of you have both hands in the air. Go ahead and lower your hands, you are going to need them to assist some of these clients to the door. Read the rest of this entry »

As a nation, we are a jaded lot. From Willy Loman to the used-auto hucksters in countless movies, the public in general holds sales people rather low on the scale of esteem. Indeed, most of the people you encounter are so afraid of being “sold” something that they refuse to speak with salespeople when they enter a store or walk onto a car lot. “I’m just looking” is used as the warding spell against the salesperson, and woe to the one who persists beyond that point.

Most travel consultants share this cultural bias against “sales.” Ironic, isn’t it?

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Over the next two years, Patrick and Beth McIntyre are acquiring Image Tours from Monique and Mike Kasmauskis. The purchase was initiated on December 1, 2023.

Founded in the Netherlands in 1939, Grand Rapids, MI-based Image Tours offers escorted European tours dedicated to providing Superior Value with a Personal Touch. “This has been a family company since its founding, and while we are not part of the founding family, we are excited to continue running Image Tours as a family-owned and operated business”, said Patrick McIntyre, who is transitioning into the President and General Manager roles for the company.

Monique Kasmauskis wishes to convey, “Mike and I feel confident passing the torch onto Patrick and Beth McIntyre to provide leadership and strategic implementations which will preserve the quality and authenticity of the product while also making improvements throughout the operation.”

Monique and Mike will remain involved in the business operations as the sale process will be completed in November of 2025, ensuring a smooth and effective transition to the McIntyres. Beth’s career focus has been in advertising and marketing at an advertising agency in Chicago and as owner of a retail business in Traverse City. Patrick has an extensive background in the travel industry as he grew up in the family that founded, owned, and operated Passageways Travel in Traverse City, MI, and then worked at the travel agency from 2005 through April of 2012 in a variety of leadership roles. Since 2012, Patrick has owned and operated Management Reporting Services, a consulting and data management company in the travel industry.

“Beth and I are committed to living up to the standards set by Monique, Mike, and everyone that’s part of the Image Tours team both now and into the future”, stated Patrick McIntyre. The business plans to continue operations in its current location with the same staff team as it enters this next phase of leadership.

While I am a proponent of the thoughtful use of “artificial intelligence” (AI), I understand and fully appreciate the concerns many have voiced regarding the training of AI on existing creative works. Critics of AI often raise charges of plagiarism and copyright violation because of the way in which AI integrates existing text, graphics, and art into its generative efforts. Read the rest of this entry »

“Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.” -Dalai Lama

In many ways, Thanksgiving is the greatest of holidays, a reminder of the debt of gratitude we owe to everyone and everything around us.  It is always tempting to magnify our losses and minimize the ordinary, daily miracle.  We long for big, outrageous fortunes and forget the small, mundane but truly astonishing gifts.  One day of the year, however,  is a reminder to contemplate the undeniably interdependent nature of our existence.  How amazingly special is it when a client takes the time and effort to say “Thanks”?  Being on the receiving or giving end of gratitude is a pretty special thing. Especially now.

Everything is connected. We don’t have to look far to find people and institutions deserving of our thanks. Every success we enjoy, every small achievement, is the result of an interplay of grace and circumstance.

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Branding is a vitally important component of your overall business and marketing plan. A strong branding strategy ensures the public will clearly understand your company’s value proposition. Poorly implemented, however, a brand strategy can leave clients perplexed and unimpressed.

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Every destination has its distinctive charm, hidden aspects, and traditions most travelers miss in the rush to check off the popular sites listed in travel guides. However, to travel is not merely to see but to experience, understand, and connect. Recommending “slow travel” to those of your clients open to suggestions is a great way of providing them with an alternative experience many will welcome. Here are a few ways to experience a destination in greater depth. Read the rest of this entry »

We have previously discussed the need to train clients. Let’s revisit the discussion. It is not an exaggeration to indicate the success or failure of your travel business will depend on the extent to which you are capable of taking charge of your client relationships and professionally leading them into behavior conducive to traveling safely and well.
​ Read the rest of this entry »

The September Alaskan air was cool but not cold. Nevertheless, I didn’t begrudge the coat I brought with me. I was too excited by what lay ahead to feel anything but anticipation in any event. It was my first trip to Alaska, and the second for my wife Judi. Today we were going to have the opportunity for a special adventure. Our destination: the glaciers of the Knik River Valley, a mere 45-minute drive north of Anchorage, where the Alaska Glacier Lodge would serve as our departure point into the vast, icy wilderness. Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s consider the tactics we will use to achieve the goals we have set out for our business. In each instance, we want to be certain our mission statement remains our touch-point. This will keep us consistent and properly focused. Likewise, each tactic should be designed to contribute to our marketing funnels, continually drawing both existing clients and potential clients closer to us, engaging with us and becoming evangelists for our travel practice.

There are an endless variety of possible tactics you can employ. Read the rest of this entry »

Before your client becomes a repeat client, before they ever book with you at all, they have to know you exist. Before your client becomes a repeat client, before they ever book with you at all, they have to know you exist. In fact, the most difficult and expensive part of any marketing strategy is building brand awareness: alerting prospective clients who you are and what you do. Too often, travel professionals market not according to a plan, but impulsively, with a heroic “give it a try” mentality. That certainly is one way to market, but tends to be error-prone and expensive. Read the rest of this entry »

Just 11 more weeks and 2024 is here. I like both endings and beginnings, the opportunity to evaluate how the year has gone and the opportunity to plan for the next. I’m hoping you have begun to work on a business plan for next year. A business plan has the following two goals:

• the retention of existing clients; and,
• the acquisition of new clients.

Your existing clients are your base and represent your steady income. New clients represent growth and replace clients you may lose or fire along the way. Whatever steps we take in building a plan, we will want to ensure that we are acting to either retain desirable existing clients or acquire desirable new ones.
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I once had a travel professional take me to task because I provided them with an article in USA Today which also contained advertising for other travel programs. That would never do, she assured me, because like so many other papers and magazines, USA Today was “filled with travel advertising.”  Likewise, many agents will not link to travel articles that include the contact information of hotels or tour operators.

I believe many travel professionals sometimes work with an over-broadly image of their competition because they have failed to properly define their customer base and their proper relationship to their clients. To these few, the landscape is filled with competition. This perspective is informed by the idea that the travel consultant is “selling” travel.  That is what Travelocity does, just as suppliers do.  They sell travel with few frills, often based on price alone. Read the rest of this entry »

I once had the good fortune to attend a couple of three day seminars conducted by Breakthrough Enterprises entitled Falling Awake. Lead by a group of exceptional individuals, Falling Awake is geared to the idea of taking full responsibility for creating the life you most want. Many of my columns are informed by the lessons I have learned as a result of the work I did with this organization. I truly believe any professional would benefit from the Falling Awake curriculum and I commend it to you with the highest of regard.

One of the most interesting and useful pieces of information I brought back home with me was their description of the power of language and the way it shapes our reality. According to the life coaches at Breakthrough, we often trap ourselves with language. Read the rest of this entry »

“There were two ways to be happy: improve your reality, or lower your expectations” ― Jodi Picoult

Setting your expectations high is an important part of moving your travel practice forward. Let me explain.

Unrealized expectations are not strangers to most of us.  It’s pretty common to decide in the course of any given day our clients, our family, our employees, or our friends are not meeting our expectations. Some will tell you even having expectations is futile and the sure path to unhappiness. Have you had someone tell you “Expect the worst and you’ll never be disappointed?” People who repeat this aphorism often nod knowingly like they have just let you in on one of life’s real secrets.

Yikes. Read the rest of this entry »

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” ~ Albert Einstein

Talent.  You have it or you don’t… Right? Isn’t talent the reason Bobby Fischer was a grand master chess player at 19?  Isn’t talent why Bill Gates was a boy genius and is now one of the world’s richest man, or why Tiger Woods was a child golf prodigy? Is talent why some people seem to be natural born successes and others struggle up and down the steep slopes of the Pareto Principle their entire life, never breaking into the top 20% of their chosen field?

Maybe not. Read the rest of this entry »

I still hear many travel professionals complaining they don’t “make sales” from their website or their social media efforts. For some inexplicable reason, digital efforts like social media marketing take the brunt force of a lot of misplaced expectations. In a correctly understood marketing campaign, tactical sales is not primarily the role of social media marketing. Public relations doesn’t make “sales” either, but few would diminish its importance. Complaining about Facebook not making sales is like being upset at your cat for not playing fetch – it’s simply not his job. Read the rest of this entry »