Running a small to a medium-sized travel agency is tough. With the economy, political strife, COVID, violence at home and abroad, and a myriad of other factors, it is becoming more and more difficult to run an agency of any size. Toss in some of the bigger online competitors with gigantic marketing budgets, and what’s a small agency to do?  How do you compete with them?

SPOILER: You don’t. Face it, you can’t.

But that does not suggest you need to throw in the towel and upload that resume to Indeed.com. Quite the contrary.  When you fly Southwest, you know exactly where you are in the boarding process. And that is the key to successfully running an agency today—know your place in the industry. And it is…

"Revenge is like a rolling stone, which, when a man hath forced up a hill, will return upon him with a greater violence, and break those bones whose sinews gave it motion." ~ Jeremy Taylor

I cringe when I hear the term "revenge travel." The phrase seems wrong on so many levels. Primarily, it runs counter to the reason I travel...it seems imbued with a bit too much anger. With millions of passengers striking out on "revenge travel," a certain amount of mayhem seems…

Do you have a college reunion or a big annual conference on the horizon for 2025? There’s an increased chance it might take place on a river cruise ship.

Transcend Cruises, a new river cruise line formally announced at Seatrade Cruise Global in April, aims to be a straight-shooting B2B travel company that will open for charters in spring 2024 on two identical, 442-foot-long, purpose-built ships. In addition to their charter-only approach, sustainability and a wellness focus are built into the DNA of the…

Today’s message introduces two reminders that I feel are extremely important. The first one reminds us of the Law of Attraction, while the second reminds us of how to use just three questions to position strangers for future interaction. Let’s look at one at a time.

I remember the day like it was yesterday, when I first found myself attracted to a member of the opposite sex. And it wasn’t my idea.

If my memory serves me correctly, I was around ten years old when I experienced my first “crush.” A very interesting series of events unfolded as soon as I heard that somebody thought I was a cool dude. I remember immediately returning the feeling. “If Mary liked me, then I liked Mary.” Not knowing it…

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) delivered a notice to domestic airlines indicating the airlines should adopt policies to allow families to be seated together on flights rather than being separated by seats. The notice indicates that in November, the DOT might respond with new regulations requiring the seating of minors with accompanying adults.

The DOT notice stated airlines “should do everything that they can to ensure the ability of a young child” to sit next to older family…