Cruise Planners hosts premiere Luxury Forum at Secrets St. James & Wild Orchid in Jamaica
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – Aug. 31, 2023—Fresh off the heels of a highly successful and lauded Land Symposium held in Fort Lauderdale, Cruise Planners is upping the ante and following up with another premiere Luxury Forum event held at Secrets St. James & Wild Orchid in Jamaica. The industry-leading event brings together over 60 eminent luxury suppliers and nearly 150 advisors offering training and resources to help advisors sell their products successfully. Cruise Planners has become a preeminent seller of luxury vacations in the past years and many advisors specialize in this highly lucrative market.
Fellow franchisees and supplier partners at the Luxury Forum shared best practices when it comes to boosting travel sales, and how to attract, service and retain luxury clients.
“Luxury travel is more popular than ever and we are seeing many clients shift gears and splurge for the experience, especially once they’ve had a taste of it,” said Michelle Fee, CEO and founder of Cruise Planners. “Our advisors are highly trained and adept in this arena and have the knowledge to help guide clients to their ultimate, luxurious vacation and events like these only strengthen their sales acumen.”
The three-day event was hosted by Fee and Scott Koepf, Chief Strategy Officer. The event opened with a rousing welcome from Fee, who detailed the growing demand for luxury travel followed by a welcome reception for all attendees.
Fee hosted a Luxury Agent Panel that featured top producers well-versed in this niche market that shared their best-practices and ideas on how best to succeed. Ignacio Maza, Executive Vice President of Signature Travel Network was the keynote speaker for the event and offered incredible insight on luxury travel and was a fan favorite. In addition, the forum consisted of supplier presentations from Viking, Seabourn, Cunard, Regent Seven Seas, Explora Journeys, Space Perspective, Scenic, Atlas Ocean Voyages, Azamara, Avalon, Tauck, and Rocky Mountaineer. Advisors were also able to network and speak to suppliers at the trade show and learn more about what each had to offer.
In addition to trade shows and various luxury travel brand presentations, the Luxury Forum comprised of several key panel discussions with topics such as:
- The Luxury Traveler– Moderated by Ignacio Maza from Signature Travel Network
- Luxury Land Travel Partners – Panel moderated by Scott Koepf and Michael Heim, featuring Kensington, Classic, Brendan, Pleasant Holidays
- CP -Luxury Agent Panel – Rodney George, Marc Bokoff, Anoop Mittra and Nick Pena and moderated by Michelle Fee
Advisors were also able to have a unique networking event at the pool and cabana area, giving them access to mingle in a more relaxed setting. The Farewell Reception was held at Barracuda Beach and hosted by Secrets St. James & Wild Orchid.
“Cruise Planners has once again exceeded my expectations by bringing over luxury vendors and their representatives to engage with us on a personal level,” said Rhonda Reinhart, a franchise owner. “The value of that one-on-one contact and experience is immeasurable and I can’t wait to share what I’ve learned with our clients.”
As always, Cruise Planners corporate outreach program, CP Cares, participates with a local organization to give back and this year, chose to partner with Garland Hall Memorial Children’s Home in Montego Bay. Donations included household items, school supplies, books, toiletries, gift cards and more for the orphanage.
“There is not a better forum to learn about luxury travel trends and make contacts across the industry,” said Jason Poole, a franchise owner and top producer. “The take-aways will benefit my clients to the max with exclusive amenities, contacts with the top travel brands, and new tools to make their vacations perfect in every way.”
Company Background
Cruise Planners was founded in 1994 and is the nation’s largest home-based travel agent franchise network. As a leader in the travel franchise industry, Cruise Planners positions a nation-wide network of 2,500 franchise owners for success by providing award-winning and innovative marketing programs, proprietary and cutting-edge booking and technology tools, as well as professional development and travel agent training with the industry’s top executives. The company continues to be an industry leader and was named the No.1 travel franchise by Entrepreneur magazine for 18 consecutive years and awarded by Franchise Business Review as “Best-In-Category” for 3 years and ranked #20 on Travel Weekly’s 2023 Power List.
Franchise Business Review also ranked Cruise Planners #3 OVERALL on their list of Top 200 Franchises of 2022. Cruise Planners was recently featured in Entrepreneur as one of the top 30 franchise innovators in technology, has been consistently named as one of the Top Women-Owned Businesses by the South Florida Business Journal, is on the Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America, and was recognized as one of the Top Workplaces by the Sun Sentinel.
Visit our website, www.cruiseplanners.com, for more information or to view the complete list of awards and honors. For those interested in becoming a franchise owner, please visit https://www.cruiseplannersfranchise.com/.