Boutique Travel Services equips advisors with tools to prosper during Jamaica summit

Against the backdrop of palm trees and the Caribbean Sea, Boutique Travel Services’ Travelpreneur Mastery Summit kicked off this weekend with 42 Canadian travel advisors on location in Jamaica for a week of in-destination learning and exploration.

From social media strategies and tips on using Canva’s new AI features to insights on Ensemble’s latest advisor offerings, under the theme “Passport To Prosperity,” the workshops and presentations were designed to equip travel advisors with the tools they need to grow their respective businesses.

“We train on being a travel advisor, learning all the products, learning all the software, but also, what’s unique with us is we teach you how to be a travel entrepreneur,” noted Laurie Keith, founder and CEO of Boutique Travel Services. “Of course, we have all of the bells and whistles of a host agency including high commission split, access to booking systems, use of our IATA, exclusive supplier promotions, access to travel agent fares, FAM invites and supplier contacts, and a great community. But we have the motto that it’s not about the quantity of travel advisors on your team, it’s about the quality. We pay extra special attention to ensure that the needs of each of our team members are met and that we’re helping them achieve their goals on a professional level.”

Along with the advisors and BTS team, Racquel Queensborough, business development manager, Canada for the Jamaica Tourist Board, and Lee Zanello, director of member relations for Ensemble Travel, are also taking part in the 9th annual conference.

A new venture is born

After nearly two decades of experience running Romantic Planet Vacations, a retail specialist in destination weddings, Keith first launched the Boutique Travel Services brand in 2019.

“Boutique Travel Services was founded to fill a need in the Canadian market for a more intimate and personalized boutique-style host travel agency that values mentorship and professional development as much as commissions and community,” she said.

Following the pandemic, the endeavour successfully grew from a team of 12 to nearly 100 advisors across the country.

“Because the industry was totally devastated, causing a loss of 1/3 of travel personnel in two years, she [Keith] combined her passions to rebuild the travel industry with new talent because we had lost so many agents in the industry,” explained Jo Lynch, director of learning and development for Boutique Travel Services, during the opening remarks for the conference.

While many members of the leadership team have been in the industry for 15 years and beyond, most of the advisors on location in Jamaica have only been in the industry for the last few years.

“After the pandemic, I knew that I had to step it up and help bring in new talent to our affected community. In addition to my passion for travel and business, I am now able to fulfill my other passions of contribution, education, and mentorship by being an owner of a female-led host travel agency. I’m not only in the service of helping to fulfill travel dreams, I’m now in the service of helping to fulfill business dreams and that’s extremely rewarding,” Keith told PressToday. “So 81 per cent of attendees have under three years experience, but they are very driven and determined and see this as an opportunity to reach their personal goals. They are like a breath of fresh air with a renewed sense of energy, determination and drive that our industry can use.”

Jamaica immersion 

Along with educational sessions, the itinerary includes site inspections geared at showcasing Jamaica’s destination wedding offerings. There is also a free day for agents to either relax and unwind or explore the island with a variety of excursions on offer including e-bikes, river rafting or zip-lining at Chukka Eco Post at Good Hope.

“Working with BTS, it’s an opportunity to meet new agents because they have a lot of new agents that have come on recently,” shared Queensborough. “We’re introducing them to the product and the variety of accommodations available. We are going to see a variety of hotels that they can offer their clients. We want them to experience the destination firsthand because I always love the slogan ‘once you go, you know.’ We want them to learn what the Jamaica Tourist Board can do for them, how we work with them to, bottom line, increase their business, which helps to increase arrivals into Jamaica.”

The trip also has a fundraising and volunteer opportunity in support of the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation, a program for adolescent mothers 17 and under to continue their secondary education. Advisors were encouraged to take part in a purse donation with 10 personal care items such as toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, body or hand lotion, shampoo/conditioner, lip balm, body wash and more, and have the opportunity to volunteer at the shelter.

Tips of the trade

During a session on Content Creation & Conversion Panel, travel advisor Gabi Hradsky with DayDream Vacations outlined some of the ways agents can increase their engagement on social media by promoting newly booked trips as well as client testimonials with photos from the trip once they return as posts as well as stories.

“I use Canva, I love Canva, it’s such a great tool,” she explained, adding that she tags the clients in the posts to increase engagement. “The exposure has brought me so many bookings.”

Hradsky also takes a lot of photos while travelling and exploring her community to constantly have new images to work with for social media posts. More recently, she started posting Travel Tip Thursdays videos to connect with a larger audience as a travel expert.

“For me, this was absolutely scary, but clients love them and they say they look forward to them every week,” she shared.

Hradsky encouraged agents to have fun with their posts and let people connect with them on a personal level.

Meanwhile, Chris Whyte of Freestone Travel outlined the benefits of NotebookLM (Google) to create blog posts built on Gemini AI. While it has many helpful benefits, his favourite feature is that it can utilize the content and automatically generate it into a podcast without all the intense work that goes into creating a newly recorded original podcast.

“Generally, I don’t like AI stuff, but this is outstanding,” he shared, adding that the audio version turns the post into a conversation between a man and a woman, which can even be tweaked. “The audio portion is not them reading your blog, it’s not a carbon copy. It’s done as a conversation around your content.”