Luxury Travel Executives and Top-Performing Advisors Reveal Insider Intelligence at Cruise Planners Annual Convention

Luxury travel “assets” share top-secret tips and strategies with COO Vicky Garcia while top-producing advisors are handcuffed, tied up and held hostage for a playful cross examination hosted by CEO Michelle Fee

Cruise Planners, the nation’s largest home-based travel advisor network, continuation of Convention inspired more than 700 travel advisors to make their 2020 goals possible through fun, yet educational panels.

Themed “Mission Possible,” Cruise Planners, an American Travel Representative, celebrated accomplishments, shared cruise and travel industry updates and learned from top-producing overachieving travel advisors with two exclusive panel sessions.

The first panel session “Where in the World is Vicky Garcia” featured leading executives from a select group of luxury travel partners lead by Vicky Garcia, COO and co-owner of Cruise Planners.

Disguised as Craven Sumfood (aka Jason Douglas); Magnum Cool Guy (aka Jeff Verlotta); Sand E. Beaches (aka Lisa Doss); Seymour Places (Lionel Garcia) or Paris Knight (aka Kristen Steele) participated in a fun-filled covert panel with Vicky Garcia (center)

The “Where in the World is Vicky Garcia” panelists included:

Lisa Doss, Apple Leisure Groups’ Regional Director of Sales
Lionel Garcia, Azamara’s Strategic Business Development Manager
Jeff Verlotta, Classic Vacations’ Strategic Account Manger
Jason Douglas, Crystal Cruises’ Director of Key Accounts
Kristen Steele, Globus family brands’ Director of Key Partners

“Our supplier partnerships are essential to the growth of Cruise Planners and our agents’ individual business success,” Garcia said. “The opportunity to have a collection of the luxury travel brand executives in one room sharing their experiences and extensive knowledge and tactics is indispensable. Our industry is rapidly developing, and our top priority is making sure our advisors are armed with the most updated information on ships, excursions, land travel and more.”

The second panel “Michelle’s Cross Examination” lead by CEO and Founder Michelle Fee included the three top-producing Cruise Planners travel advisors:

Julie Irovando (Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL)
Michael Consoli (Roswell, GA)
Nancy Bogert (Williamsport, PA)

(L - R) CEO Michelle Fee played a “cross examiner” with top-producing overachievers Julie Irovando, Michael Consoli and Nancy Bogert donning comical themed shirts for the educational panel

The trio gave the entire group an inside look at how they have achieved record growth year after year in their franchises.

The group shared insights on: the importance of developing a team in order to grow their individual businesses; leveraging Cruise Planners’ proprietary technology for booking, client insights, insurance and much more; and tips for networking, hosting events and client acquisition and retention.

“Recognizing our top producers isn’t just an opportunity to congratulate them, but it’s a chance to share their best practices with our travel advisor network to help raise the bar for everyone,” added Fee. “We have more than 2,500 agents throughout the United States, and to have our Team in Green in one room hearing how our top advisors have built their businesses will continue their mission to infiltrate the travel world.”

The annual Convention ended with a three-night cruise onboard Princess Cruises’ new ship, the Sky Princess.