Sales are booming for Dream Vacations and CruiseOne, two World Travel Holdings (WTH) franchise agency brands. “In terms of cruise, this division since the pandemic has been performing better than our direct-to-consumer brands—and not by a small amount,” Debbie Fiorino, chief operating officer for the two franchise agency brands, told 600 agency franchisees and their associates attending the annual 2024 “Elevate"-themed conference on Celebrity Ascent.
“That has held true in 2024, and we expect it to hold true in 2025,” she stressed. And "when you add cruise to the incredible growth we have seen in land, we are a force to be reckoned with. In land, once again, we will see double-digit growth—getting incredibly close to $200 million in [annual] sales.”
Speaking at a general session in the ship’s theater, Fiorino also clearly laid out the mission ahead for the two groups' advisors: “'How are you going to sell amazing experiences like this one to your clients? But just as important, ‘How are you going to elevate that client database?'”
Elevate Your Business
To do so, she urged the trade audience “to leave here with new ideas, plans and inspirations.” Hosted by Celebrity Cruises, this year’s annual conference is energetically unfolding with general sessions in the ship’s theater, plus workshops, training, a trade show and supplier interactions.
More than 90 individual supplier representatives from 50 different travel brands are onboard to interact with advisors. Plus, advisors are experiencing three destinations with Celebrity. They ventured ashore Monday at Bimini in the Bahamas. Wednesday, the advisors are exploring Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos. Later in the week, they'll visit Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands.
Fiorino told advisors on Tuesday that success for Dream Vacations and CruiseOne businesses is happening this year because consumers desire a travel professional they can trust—one who will fulfill their needs and travel dreams. "It also continues to be clear to us how successful you are as individuals,” she said, in comparing her groups' performance to other competitors within the industry.
It's the Journey
So, how can advisors "elevate" and make 2025 their best year? “Planning and goal setting is critical, and measuring your success along the way is equally important, but I think most of us all know that," she said, adding that everyone has ups and downs along their personal journey. But it's important, she said, for advisors to follow what's espoused in this famous quote: “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.”
So, if an advisor has a goal of hitting the $1 million club and all is going along well, but then, as Fiorino said, "Bam, life happens," what can be done? Maybe the advisor has to take care of a loved one or has to move. Maybe something occurs that's simply outside of the advisor's control. Or, "simply, what you’ve planned just doesn’t work out as you thought it would,” Fiorino emphasized. What many people do, she stressed, is say, “Well, I didn’t hit my goal, so it’s over.” But she says, “If you have a goal to hit $1 million in sales and you get $750,000 and that’s up from the prior year, is it over?"
No, Fiorino stressed: “Again, planning on where you want to go is important but what you do along the way is way more important. There will be bad days. There will be days that you say, ‘I can’t do this.' But the difference between people who get what they want and people who don’t is that they realize this, but they keep going in spite of this.”
Avoid Comparisons
Also, Fiorino has told advisors in the past and would reiterate: “Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle. You should never compare yourself to someone else.” Yes, she says, it’s good to be inspired by them, learn from them and value them, but if you choose a path in your business to “do something more than what you’re doing today, then you can have something more," she believes.
In another vein, for those who think about other advisors and say, “They have it so I can’t have it, too,” that’s not the case, Fiorino believes. “It doesn’t mean you can’t have it, as well.” She explained that advisors in the audience have gone beyond what they did in the past “because they were inspired by other people in this room. Someone else showed them the way to dream bigger." In addition, she stressed this: "Saying, ‘I want that’ is okay, but it's also okay that someone else has it now.”
And to any advisors who look around at other agency owners and then tell themselves that they simply can’t be in that same top tier or can’t achieve this or that, Fiorino responds and asks: “You can, but do you want to be?” Anything is possible, she says, except if people say they can’t do this or that or they’re not good enough or it’s too hard. “Well, if that is what you believe, that is what you’ll get,” she emphatically stated.
Instead, she suggested that “when you think, you become, when you feel, you attract; and what you imagine, you create,” a philosophy espoused by Buddha. “It is a mindset,” she said. No, just thinking about it isn’t going to result in reaching a goal. "But thinking you can’t will definitely stop you from getting there. Your mindset and your thoughts absolutely have a role in the journey to accomplishing your goals. This is not just self-help talk. It's rooted in psychology and neuroscience.”
Preparation Meets Opportunity
Fiorino told the advisors that "success happens on purpose," and she strongly believes that what advisors do determines that. She showed them a slide on the big screen, which offered a thought by Roman philosopher Seneca: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
She advocated to “start from where you’re at, start small, elevate your habits and your actions, and your goals will look different" from person to person. That said, any actions the advisor takes to fulfill their overarching goal should be both practical and sustainable. “And patience is critical,” she adds. But overall, “do something,” Fiorino said. “It will lead to more, and it will compound. You have to do something to become something.”
Tip: Stay tuned this week and early next week for more from the Dream Vacations and CruiseOne conference. See the separate story in Travel Agent Central about the conference’s kick-off and look out for a separate announcement on the new Mar-Tech (marketing and technology) updates and enhancements.
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