www.giftedtravelnetwork.com
704-585-7732
Email Host Agency
197 Medical Park Rd. Suite 202 Mooresville, NC 28117 I switched to GTN after much searching, interviewing and reference checks of various host agencies, I kept coming back to GTN. What most inspired me to join was the support they give the entrepreneur with mindset and all things business. My former host did only supplier trainings, I knew there had to be more and I am happy I found it. I appreciate GTN and my colleagues I have met, and those I haven't met yet. So many willing to offer assistance when needed (like 6pm on a Friday night in the summer!).
I am glad I trusted my gut and left my former host and switched to GTN. I have learned so much I didn't realize I didn't know, and there's always more to learn! My business is growing and I am excited for the future.
Being a part of Virtuoso is a great perk as well. I was with another consortia, I liked them and they offer good training, but now I get reviews on Virtuoso and leads from my profile. I will be experiencing my first Virtuoso week this month and am excited about that. People do perk up a little when they hear you are with Virtuoso. It all adds up to what you need to start your travel business!
GTN is really a community. The GTN team has done so much to foster a network of agents that act as a team instead of competitors, and that share information and advice, and they actually get to know their members and are involved in helping them overcome challenges. GTN's Travel MBA program is focused on much more than just products and sales - they know how important mindset is and offer inspiration to keep you driven and excited about your travel business. As someone who is brand new to the travel industry, I am glad I chose GTN and the Travel MBA program, because I feel like I have a team with me every step of the way. It's so refreshing and inspiring to see this amazingly well-run company founded and led by strong, successful women!
Gifted Travel Network (GTN) takes 'hosting' to the next level of support for their independent contractors. I was initially hosted with another agency until I discovered GTN's business development calls, weekly supplier shop talks, private Facebook forum, and extremely supportive environment encouraging each of us to learn, share, grow our individual businesses. I am know hosted with GTN and feel they are my partner, not my competition since they have no side travel agency. Through GTN i have gained a solid sales foundation and began implementing many aspects to grow my business. Look no further is you're searching for a host agency!
I have been the Travel MBA program since November 2017, and I am very pleased. In the 2-3 months that I have been in the program, I have learned so much. I am currently with another host agency, but I am transitioning to Gifted Travel Network. I have been participating in a couple of webinar series and received some great feedback. Meredith, Vanessa, and Lisa have been wonderful. The ladies have answered all of my questions and exceeded my expectations. They are also very encouraging. I have even received an email from a fellow student who heard me on the mentoring calls. The MBA program modules breaks down every single topic, which makes it very easy to understand. With each module I am learning something new that I haven't heard before. The ladies have taught me the difference between treating my agency as hobby and treating it as a business. I am looking forward to completing the MBA Program and hopefully I will be able to take advantage of more programs GIFTE has to offer. Thank you Ladies.
It is a very common misconception that a burgeoning independent travel agency, and the individuals driving them into entrepreneurial success, need to "conform" to the requirements of a Host Agency in order to reach that "next-level" success that so many in the industry crave. GTN shatters that myth by providing the tools and support so that entrepreneurs need to conform to only one requirement...to be as successful as they want to be! Nowhere else will you find such an empowering combination of back office tools, as well as the training in how to most effectively use them, along with the style of mindset and emotional encouragement that provides clarity and focus on the individual's specific brand, as well as how to monetize passion and energy into a finely crafted, truly unique brand.
Whether you are new to the industry, or a seasoned veteran looking to revitalize your business with a "fresh eyes" approach, I would encourage you to entrust Gifted Travel Network, and the amazing ladies that lead the team (Meredith Hill, Vanessa McGovern, Jen Cochrane, and Lisa Fletcher) to awaken (or reawaken!) your passion and desire for phenomenal success in the travel industry.
I joined GTN after seeing Meredith Hill speak at travel industry events I attended with my job at Carnival Corporation. Right away I recognized there was something different about what she was saying compared to the rest of the travel agency. She made it sound possible to make a lucrative career from selling travel and it didn't have to be a painful, life-sucking process! She sounded optimistic, yet informed and experienced. Once I found out about the Travel MBA Program, I dived in to start my new entrepreneurial journey. With the mentorship of Lisa Fletcher throughout the Travel MBA Program, I was able to start my business off with a solid foundation. Then, with all the added benefits of the program: Vanessa's genius in marketing, Jen's genius in operations, Meredith's genius in vision and mindset, the facebook forums, the supportive community of travel agents, the support of the office (Sarah, Caroline, Sandy, Dana, Shaneka, Amanda), the many events, webinars, and opportunities - I feel so successful. I feel like I'm on the right path, with the right people, at the right time. Not to mention, the Group Mastermind Program which involved a river cruise with AMA Waterways along the Rhine River this summer and extra coaching to get started on a thriving group business. Joining this community has changed my life in so many positive ways.
My wife literally spent hours and hours reviewing host agencies. When she had finally narrowed it down to two options - a franchise model and the Gifted Travel Network - I had the credit card in-hand ready to sign up with the franchise. But she did a cursory review of pros and cons and said that it hasdto be GTN because they allow you the freedom to name your business, encourage your own branding, have a generous, graduated commission scale and offer the amazing TravelMBA program that allows you an opportunity to learn how to build a travel business from the ground up. We learned that GTN focuses on the solutions and not just the product. We are a few months in to our TravelMBA year and we are very happy. The true basic fundamentals for building a business have been provided in the online modules, countless webcasts and the mentoring leadership she has received from Lisa, as well as the marketing and leadership provided by Vanessa and Meredith. Thanks for allowing us to be a part of the GTN family and we can't wait to see how high our new travel business will fly!
I feel so lucky to have found GTN as my host agency. I have never met a more supportive group of people that genuinely care about me and my business success. The team at GTN are constantly looking for ways to grow and change and have already proven to adapt to the needs of their hosted agents. I love the accessibility of everyone at GTN – even as the number of hosted agents has grown, it still feels like we’re a small host agency where everyone knows each other.
I joined GTN new to the travel industry and I started with the Travel MBA program. I’m so glad that I took the plunge and joined the MBA program though – it was a great foundation for my business. The program modules are done through pre-recorded videos, but the real value of the program is in the mentoring and live learning. I loved the one-on-one mentoring calls with Lisa – she helped me so many times with everything from basic questions, to being a sounding board for business ideas, and helping me with out of the box thinking to help me with new clients. The live classes (which are also recorded if you miss them) are so helpful, and I found things I didn’t know in each class. When I joined GTN I had recently finished grad school for my MBA and another Masters Degree so I was hesitant to join the Travel MBA program because I was so opposed to the idea of ‘school’ and ‘homework’, but the MBA program has helped me grow as an entrepreneur and become more successful than I had expected.
When I finished the Travel MBA program I was worried that I'd be on my own, but I've still gotten so much support from the GTN team as well as from the FB group as my business has grown and my needs changed. I love the mentoring and business development calls, and could not go without the Friday emails keeping me in the loop on everything travel related. I absolutely recommend GTN for the Travel MBA program and as an amazing host agency.
GTN is an amazing host agency. Their leadership and support to be a travel agent and entrepreneur is great, being part of GTN and the network of agents, you feel very connected and encouraged by everyone, they are very helpful and willing to share their knowledge. It is a great community to be part of.
I was very disappointed with their Travel MBA program for what it offers at $3K though. I was expecting a higher level of training with the materials and mentoring program given that they use the "MBA" acronym. The training modules and videos are good for someone new to the industry and who wants to start their own business, but they lacked some of the basic information for a new travel agent like sample forms one needs to use. If you have no previous experience in this industry, you don't know what paperwork you need to give to a client. Other agents in the network were very helpful and shared their forms in the Facebook group when you asked for help. But this should be included in the Travel MBA program. The monthly mentoring calls are helpful when you have questions or issues, but if you are new, sometimes you don't know what to ask and the calls were not productive. I really enjoyed the calls, don't get me wrong. But if you are paying $3,000 you want to make sure you are being mentored. If I could do things differently, I would have signed up for GTN’s annual membership only and not paid for the Travel MBA. GTN offers an incredible amount of learning opportunities through webinars, videos, questions and answers from other travel agents in the FB group. That is how I learned most about the industry and running a travel agency. I hope this feedback is helpful to GTN (other travel agents shared the same opinion). They are a great host agency and their leaders are incredible at what they do, and I hope they just continue getting better and more successful.
Thank you for taking the time to review Gifted Travel Network (GTN) and share your thoughts on your experience. We are glad you feel that GTN has served many of your needs as a host agency. We are sorry you were disappointed with the Travel MBA program and what you received for your investment. We believe your disappointment stems from a common expectation from those new to the industry - that there is a template approach to selling travel. Selling travel is an art, not a science and you can’t teach art with templates and forms. Rather, you teach it with foundational and basic education combined with experiential coaching and mentoring. We have structured the Travel MBA program to be a combination of these. We have the static modules that give teach the basics, foundations and big picture understanding. We also have the monthly Live Classroom trainings which offer more detail and experiential training. Another super valuable benefit is the one on one coaching and mentoring, which is again, how you teach the art and not the science. In your statement you refer to the Modules and that there were things missing in the material. We believe you were just looking in the wrong place for the forms. The kind of forms you said are missing are in fact provided in the Live Classroom sessions where we offer more specifics/detail and can be accessed at any time. We believe the program far exceeds the $3000 investment when considering ALL of the benefits: the static modules, the 3 years worth of Live Classroom recordings, the fact that we create new content each month sharing experiential learning, the one-on-one coaching and mentoring with a 20-year industry veteran for 12 months, access to the private forums at GTN, AND all your hosting fees which give you access to a huge array of other benefits including GIFTE membership. The goal of the Travel MBA program is to make students feel confident as entrepreneurs AND selling travel. You said that our forums are very helpful in terms of finding what you need. That’s exactly what an entrepreneur needs - access to resources and support. We hope you see our perspective a little differently now.
I started my travel agency this spring. I have been an entrepreneur for 20 u area and wanted to start a travel business. In my experience product and details you can learn from your vendor partners. What is more difficult to find is a partnership in business. This host agency truly partners with you to help you build your business. You can learn the fundamentals of running a business as well as the ins and outs of the travel industry! Fantastic group of mentos!
I have been with GTN since April. I am currently in their "Travel MBA" program. I did a lot of reasearch before choosing GTN and it's a perfect fit. I am new to the industry, so I was a bit hesitant, but they offer all the support you need to be successful. From your mentor, to office people ,to other GTN members, the support is always there. It's not about pressuring you for sales every month, it's about giving you the tools to market yourself and your " medicine"...