20 Things I’ve Learned as a Travel Advisor in 20 Years

Twenty years. Over a thousand trips a year. Seven continents. And today, the tenth anniversary of HC Travel Firm.

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s actually like to be a luxury travel advisor, or if you’ve worked with one and wanted a peek behind the curtain, this one’s for you. Here are 20 honest, hard-earned lessons from two decades in one of the most misunderstood professions in the service industry.

1. This used to feel like the happiest job in the world. The world has complicated that.

Travel has never been more stressful to navigate. Flight disruptions, global uncertainty, shifting entry requirements, and a 24-hour news cycle that makes every destination feel risky. I hold all of that energy so my clients don’t have to. That part of the job has gotten heavier, but it has also made the work more meaningful.

2. Sometimes we’re the bad guys.

We are the messengers of policies we didn’t write. Airline change fees. Non-refundable hotel deposits. Cancellation windows that feel brutal. When things go sideways, we’re the ones delivering the news, and sometimes that means absorbing frustration that belongs elsewhere. It’s part of the job.

3. And sometimes we’re the angels.

When the flight cancels at 11 p.m. and your connection is gone, we already know your booking details. We’ve been ahead of the storm before you knew there was one. When life throws a curveball mid-trip, we answer the phone. That is what you are actually paying for.

4. Keep your husband out of it.

This one deserves its own chapter someday. There is a very specific pattern among female business owners when it comes to who handles the finances and who makes the final call on a vacation. We notice it. We respect your household dynamics. We also wish more women trusted their own instincts when it comes to investing in an experience.

5. Travel technology is still a mess.

For all the innovation in this industry, the backend infrastructure that supports travel advisors is still painfully fragmented. Booking systems, supplier portals, GDS platforms, itinerary tools: none of them talk to each other the way they should. We spend a significant part of our day managing technology that is supposed to save us time. Good Lord.

6. Be kind to people in service roles. Full stop.

This is not a travel-specific lesson, but it plays out in travel more visibly than almost anywhere else. The gate agent who can reroute you when the system says no. The hotel manager who finds a room when inventory is sold out. Kindness opens doors that nothing else does. Karma is very real in this industry.

7. Most people still don’t understand what we do.

After twenty years, I still encounter the assumption that travel advisors are a relic of the pre-internet era. The public either doesn’t know we exist, dismisses us until something goes wrong, or dramatically overthinks what it means to hire us. We are professionals who manage the details of your time off so you don’t have to. It is not complicated. Stop making it complicated.

8. Don’t micromanage your travel advisor.

You wouldn’t call your accountant every day during tax season to ask which form they’re filing. You hired us because we have done this thousands of times. We know the hotels, the suppliers, the routing, the timing, and the pitfalls. Trust the process. We have you covered.

9. Someone will always expect us to know something outside our scope.

We know an extraordinary amount of random, useful information about destinations, logistics, culture, and hospitality. What we are not: your travel doctor, your immigration attorney, or your insurance adjuster. If you need medical advice before an international trip, see a travel medicine physician. If you have visa questions specific to your citizenship status, consult an attorney. We will gladly point you in the right direction.

10. Here’s exactly how we get paid.

Transparency matters, so here it is: travel advisors typically earn 10 to 20 percent commission from suppliers, including hotels, car rentals, car service, and tour operators. Airfare commissions largely disappeared years ago, which is why most advisors only earn on flights when booking premium international cabins. Hotel commissions are calculated on the pre-tax rate. And despite all of that, we spend a significant amount of time chasing payment from suppliers after travel is complete. It is one of the least glamorous parts of the job.

11. I started charging a planning fee in 2010.

Before it was common practice, I began charging for my expertise rather than relying entirely on commissions. That decision changed my business. A planning fee reflects the research, strategy, communication, and professional knowledge that go into every itinerary, regardless of what commissions are generated. If your advisor charges a fee, it is a sign they value their own expertise. You should too.

12. Most clients overplan. We will tell you to do less.

The perfectly engineered itinerary with an activity every morning and afternoon sounds great until day three, when everyone is exhausted and nobody wants to get back on a bus. More and more, we see clients return from trips feeling like they ran a race instead of taking a vacation. Part of our job is protecting your downtime and building in the space that makes travel actually restorative.

13. We used to send clients off with a single folded document.

A hotel confirmation. Maybe a tour. A car service pickup. That was it, and clients were perfectly happy. No forty-page digital itinerary with embedded maps and dining notes and QR codes. No app. Just the essentials, and the trust that everything was handled. I still believe that simplicity was a feature, not a limitation.

14. The best trips happen when clients trust the process.

I have planned thousands of trips. The ones that become legendary, the ones clients talk about for years, are almost always the ones where the client stepped back and let it unfold. They trusted the hotel recommendation without cross-referencing every review. They went on the excursion we suggested instead of the one they found on social media. They gave the destination a chance to surprise them.

15. The people are the magic.

Not the hotel. Not the view. Not the Michelin-starred dinner. The people: a local guide who shares something unrehearsed, a stranger at a market who becomes a brief connection, a family moment that happens in an unexpected place. That is what travel is really made of.

16. We travel to connect.

At the core of every trip, no matter how elaborate the logistics, is a human need: to connect with ourselves, with the people we love, or with something beyond our everyday world. That is why travel matters. That is why this work matters. I have never lost sight of that.

17. The influencer era has changed this industry in ways I’m still grieving.

There was a time when travel content was created out of genuine passion. Now a significant portion of what fills social feeds exists to generate affiliate income. The recommendations are sponsored. The “hidden gems” are neither. I miss the era of the honest travel writer and the trusted advisor who had nothing to sell you except the best possible trip.

18. We keep notes on the strange things we’re asked.

There is a running document. It is private. It is hilarious. The book deal inquiry is open.

19. Some seasons in this career have taken more than they’ve given.

There are stretches where the demands, the stress, the pace, and the complexity of running this business feel like they are winning. When that happens, I come back to the moments clients have shared with me: the anniversary trip that saved a marriage, the family reunion abroad, the solo traveler who finally did the thing she’d been postponing for a decade. I cannot imagine doing anything else.

20. Thank YOU for ten years of HC Travel Firm.

This business exists because people chose to trust us with something irreplaceable: their time, their memories, their people. Ten years in, across every continent, with a team of twelve advisors and thousands of trips, I am still humbled by that trust every single day. Only with God has this been possible.

Here’s to the next ten!

Ready to hand off the planning and actually enjoy your next trip? Contact HC Travel Firm to get started.