Cruise Planners hosted its popular Land and Luxury Symposium at the Hyatt Zilara Cap Cana this month.
The event, which began as two separate conferences in 2014, has become one of the anticipated industry-leading events, bringing together land and luxury suppliers with Cruise Planners travel advisors for training and resource-sharing opportunities. The event showcases Cruise Planners' evolution from a cruise-dominant company to a leader in land and luxury sales as well.
"The demand for luxury travel is at an all-time high, especially after the last few years," said Michelle Fee, CEO and co-founder of Cruise Planners. "Our advisors are ready to hit the ground running and want to be able to offer the best vacations for their clients and we want to equip them with the knowledge and products that will take their sales to the next level."
Cruise Planners continues to develop top-notch, immersive and upscale training opportunities for travel advisors, helping them drive more high-end sales.
The four-day event was hosted by Fee, Scott Koepf, Vice President of Strategic Planning and Laura Blanco, Director of Sales.
The event was met with positive feedback from attendees.
"This event gave me the opportunity to further solidify my relationships with some of my key suppliers as well as learn about other suppliers," said Kelley Mundi Austin, a franchise owner who also presented to fellow advisors. "Relationships are key in this industry and being able to spend a few days creating or strengthening relationships is immeasurable."
Many executives from Cruise Planners' partner companies were on hand to meet with advisors during the symposium, including Mark Conroy, Managing Director of the Americas, Silversea Cruises, who made the keynote speech.
Dawn Campbell of Visit Anchorage; Tim Behn from Allianz; Olivia Hernandez and Liz Purkey of Sandals; and AMR's Susan Lang all participated in fireside chat sessions dubbed "Supplier Hot Seats."
Several panel discussions also took place during the event, which included topics such as Destinations in Depth, River, Hot Trends in Resorts, Think Outside the Box and Unique Cruise Experiences.
The main event was hosted at the Hyatt Zilara Cap Cana while the "Night Out" was sponsored by the new Margaritaville Island Reserve by Karisma resorts.
"The CP Land and Luxury Forum is the go-to conference to grow your business," said Nick Pena, a top-producing luxury franchise owner. "Having one-on-one appointments with our partners and listening to our speakers for updates is invaluable. I am back and energized to grow my luxury sales."
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