The Travel Agent of the Year's Advice

Like many travel agents, Lisa Fitzgerald inadvertently started her career by planning trips for family and friends. It took her a little while before she realized that this was what she was meant to do for a living.

In 1985, Lisa Fitzgerald had the opportunity to live in Holland. It was her first time out of the country, and she fell in love with European travel.

Her first introduction into the world of travel planning was actually as a tour bus coordinator while working for the Department of Morale, Welfare and Recreation.

“This department of the military planned tours within Holland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Benelux,” said Fitzgerald, who now owns Fitzgerald Travel in West Chesterfield, New Hampshire. “This was not how I started as a travel agent, but as an ambassador of travel experiences, it was my job to make sure I returned with the same number of people we departed with and to keep them entertained along the drive. I was very fortunate to have had this experience and I never lost one passenger.”

MORE Travel Agent

ASTA Rolls Out Health Insurance for Members

Online Travel Sales Continue Upward Trend

Valerie Wilson Travel Acquires Island Travel

After returning home from her stint with the military, she started to sort through boxes of memorabilia.

“I came across an itinerary I planned for my parents when they came to visit,” she said. “This was one of many itineraries I constantly planned for friends and family. As I looked at the itinerary I planned for my parents in Rome, I started to realize how much this trip meant to my father, who is second generation Italian. It was his dream to go to Rome.”

It became obvious to her that she had already been working unofficially as a travel agent to her family and friends.

“The next step for me was clear,” she said.

“I immediately got up from the floor and called several travel agent schools and enrolled to become an official travel associate. I became a travel agent because travel enhances and grows our life story in such limitless ways. My entire view of life and of our world changed the moment I put my feet on foreign soil. I wanted to be able to help people go to places they never imagined, in ways they never expected. Travel changes you. It changed me and I want to share that with everyone I meet.”

Her specialty is helping adult travelers experience European river cruises, barge trips and custom European itineraries.

“I decided on this specialty for two reasons,” she said. “The first is my love for the water runs deep and, when you sell with passion, it becomes obvious to your clients that you are passionate about their experience too.”

Her second reason is from personal experience.

“I love to help clients who have recently retired from successful careers and are now experiencing ‘empty nest syndrome’ to reconnect with each other,” she said. “When our last child flew the nest six years ago, my husband and I literally had to find new interests together to take us beyond the conversation of the kids.”

Fitzgerald really goes the extra mile for the benefit of her clients.

This past summer, she had clients who were traveling on a river cruise to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary. The trip was planned for 10 months, and her clients had travel insurance.

“Their pet was seriously injured a few weeks prior to their departure and required very expensive surgery and recovery, but something like this was not covered by travel insurance companies,” she said.

Nothing could be done—or so she thought. Fitzgerald asked her clients if they would travel at another time of the year and they agreed. She wrote the river cruise company a heartfelt letter explaining the situation.

READ MORE: 6 Ingredients of a Successful Travel Agent

“The company understood how stressful this situation was and agreed to let them sail on any cruise with their company on any itinerary as long as they took the cruise by the end of 2017,” she said. “The reason I feel that I stand out as a travel agent is because I apply my entire heart in every situation, the good and the bad.”

Her efforts were recently recognized by the American Society of Travel Agents as the 2017 Travel Agent of the Year Extra Mile Award winner.

“Winning the award honestly validates everything my father ever taught me,” she said. “Treat people the way you want to be treated and always do your best no matter how big or small the task. He always taught me to make the best decisions, though sometimes I did not always do that; This award moves me for too many reasons to list.”

She recognizes that there are still obstacles for the industry.

“I feel the biggest obstacle for travel agents is not feeling confident enough to charge a professional service fee each and every time a new client opportunity presents itself,” she said.

“Not all travel professionals realize their self-worth and how valuable their knowledge is to the potential client. Learning how to overcome that obstacle can be a challenge. It is the client reaching out for to you for expertise and your advice is worth charging a fee.”

To others who want to become travel agents she advises them to align with a host agency who truly understands how to support you through building and promoting your own personal brand and profitability and not someone else’s.

“Working from home can be isolating, but connecting with the right community can be vital. I have found that with Gifted Travel Network,” she said. “My entire career has shifted, grown and flourished because I found the right connection to best serve my needs.”

Her favorite client story is about a 90-year-old man named Joseph.

“Joseph was born and raised in southern Italy,” she said. “He migrated to the United States after meeting his wife in Naples. They moved to New York and started a family. Joseph came to me through a friend, and we began working together closely. Joseph did not have email or Facebook or even a cell phone. He was old, stubborn and set in his ways, not to mention incredibly direct. I truly tried to fire him once, but he wouldn’t let me go.”

He wanted to take his two adult children, their wives and his grandchildren to Italy to retrace his love story with his wife: “The trip was during Easter which was also his departed wife’s birthday, so a Papal audience and mass were essential.”

READ MORE: 5 Things a Travel Agent Should Still Do This Year

Joseph had many requirements including seeing a fountain in Italy where he and his wife threw coins, but he couldn’t remember which one.

“We found the exact location through an old Jimmy Roselli song,” said Fitzgerald. “I learned a lot about love, commitment and how important it was for this amazing person to share his love and life story with his children and grandchildren. Joseph taught me a lot about patience, doing things the old-fashioned way, listening and appreciating life each and every day as if it was your last. I am grateful every day for Joseph. He is my heartwarming story that will stay with me forever.”

Fitzgerald’s favorite place to travel in Europe is Holland and Germany.

“Holland because I fell in love with the waterways, the people and the Dutch lifestyle,” she said. “Even my daughter who was born in Holland is named after the country, Holly Lynn. My second favorite place to travel is Germany. I am an incredible romantic and love the ebbs and flows of the rivers, the valleys and the castles.”

For more information on Lisa Fitzgerald and Fitzgerald Travel, visit fitzgeraldtravel.com/.