This week, more than 350 travel advisors and suppliers gathered for the 11th Global Travel Marketplace West (GTM West) conference, an event designed to build bridges between top-selling advisors and suppliers.
The group mixed and mingled at The Westin Lake Las Vegas Resort & Spa in Henderson, Nevada, over a period of three days.
Primary components of the conference (which is produced by Northstar Travel Group, parent company of TravelAge West) included small-group boardroom presentations and 50 one-on-one appointments in a six-minute, speed dating-like format. Attendees also connected at a dinner reception at Play Playground, an immersive indoor venue with games, eats and drinks on the Las Vegas Strip.
Face-to-face appointments between advisors and suppliers are a vital (and beloved) component of the event.
Credit: 2024 GTM WestHow GTM Chooses — and Centers — Advisors
Vegas may be known as a place to party, but travel advisors and supplier partners arrived to this year’s GTM West ready to get down to business. Securing a seat as an advisor is competitive; hundreds of applicants vie for spots, and ambitious, top-producing advisors (with annual sales of at least $800,000) looking to grow their sales even more are hand-picked after individual phone interviews and reference checks.
“This is my second time attending GTM West, but it's the only travel industry event that I've ever attended, period,” said advisor Melissa Parrish, owner and founder of Real World Travel out of Arkansas, who heard about GTM from a fellow advisor.
Parrish pivoted to the travel industry after working as a national account manager with Walmart, and she found quick success as an advisor by helping her corporate connections plan incredible family trips to destinations such as Egypt, Turkey and Thailand.
A hallmark of GTM West is that travel advisors are centered; they are pitched to by suppliers in boardroom presentations, and in one-on-one meetings. The speed-dating sessions are a favorite event element for Heather Konigsbauer, owner and travel advisor World’s End Adventures out of Great Falls, Montana.
After nine years in the industry, Konigsbauer left her host agency this year. Eager to establish herself as an independent travel seller, she found that GTM West was an ideal way to do just that.
Boardroom presentations led by suppliers provide time for authentic discussions in small groups.
Credit: 2024 GTM West This is the event to attend if you want to bring your business to the next level.
“This is the event to attend if you want to bring your business to the next level, and if you want to meet suppliers that might completely change the direction of your business,” said Jacqueline Hurst, director of trade recruitment and engagement with Northstar Travel Group. “Our format is proven; people have doubled their business. And if an agent has ever felt pigeonholed into selling one thing, they want to meet the suppliers on our list. You get to sit face-to-face with them, and start to grow those relationships.”
GTM West is also a time for peer-to-peer connection.
Credit: 2024 GTM WestHow Suppliers Benefit From GTM West
This year, 166 suppliers attended GTM West in order to forge relationships with advisors such as Konigsbauer and Parrish. Norwegian Cruise Line, CIE Tours, Seabourn, Xcaret and Titanium Tours were among those suppliers, to name a few. All of them pay to attend.
Hurst helms the search for advisors. Every year, 60% of them must be new to the event, while the other 40% are alumni. That means there are always fresh faces for suppliers to meet, and new doors to open to extend their business.
Noshane King, regional sales and marketing manager with Norwegian Cruise Line, was at GTM West for the second time. Just like the advisors, she especially enjoys the face-to-face appointments. And she appreciates the caliber of the advisors in attendance.
Everybody in this room is someone you want to work with.
“Everybody in this room is someone you want to work with,” King said. “And it can be hard to connect with advisors from their homes, and when they’re so busy. Here, we all get to maximize our time.”
Nate Ugale, senior transient sales executive with The Westin Maui Resort & Spa in Kaanapali, was thrilled to be a first-time attendee at GTM West. Ugale capitalized on appointments with advisors to share that the Maui property — and locals like himself — are eager to welcome back responsible travelers after Lahaina’s devastating fire.
“Lahaina is resilient,” Ugale said. “And this is a fantastic event to share that message. You get to talk to 50 advisors, who then can talk to fifty of their friends. I am so appreciative to be here.”
It’s an intimate event, with a real respect for the business, and 100% the attitude is to lift each other up.
The boardroom presentations also offer suppliers unique opportunities as well. They get to share company news, but they also get to have authentic conversations with small groups of advisors. For example, after Willie Fernandez of Rental Escapes pitched his company’s vast villa portfolio to a small group of advisors this year, one advisor shared a positive experience her clients had already had with the company, and peer-to-peer conversation ensued. The same thing occurred after a presentation by Michael Gelber of Iworld of Travel. These small, unexpected moments are part of what makes GTM West special.
“As a company, we’ve always aimed to educate the community and to be a liaison between the suppliers and the advisors,” said Mary Pat Sullivan, executive vice president of marketing and partnerships for Northstar Travel Group. “This event is a living, breathing representation of that. So, to hear these conversations happen, to watch those relationships build — we absolutely love it. It’s an intimate event, with a real respect for the business, and 100% the attitude is to lift each other up.”
