We’ve all heard the adage about taking three steps forward and one step back. It’s a struggle, but you are still making forward progress! But in the travel industry, coming out of COVID, I sometimes wonder.

Earlier this week, the headlines screamed Carnival’s entire fleet is back in service. Only to be followed up with, “I did not feel safe, Carnival’s cruise overwhelmed with COVID”

I opened up my email yesterday, and the headline that greeted me was “Three Americans Found Dead at Sandals Resort in Unknown Health…

The first quarter of 2022 is already a memory. Yikes! The new car smell is gone but we can all look forward to good things for the balance of this year. It's time to focus on enhancing every aspect of your travel practice, making every point of contact with clients as sharp as possible. As we have said to the point of extreme repetition, travel consulting is all about relationships.

The unique nature of your position as a travel consultant, however, is dual-facing.  Your relationships with clients are of primary importance.  But of nearly equal importance is the relationships you develop with your suppliers.  Knowing a supplier intimately is a very large part of mastering the art of being a travel professional.   — Travel Research Online
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Although nearly two decades ago, I remember like it was yesterday hearing the following words at the home of two Russian immigrants in Chicago. The husband was now an emergency room surgeon, and his wife was a successful travel consultant. Their home was modest, yet beautifully furnished.

After hearing their saga of eventually fleeing to America, arriving in New York City not speaking the language, the good doctor added after passing the rolls at the dinner table, “If you can’t make it in America, you can’t make it. “Those eleven words have stuck with me ever since.

That was over 20 years ago, and I think of that sentence every time I present to a room full of travel professionals. With a little poetic license, I put…