What to Expect from Host Week 2022 with Steph Lee

Welcome to this strategic travel entrepreneur. My name is Rita Perez.

Hello.

I've been a travel Advisor for over 10 years and am navigating this winding road of entrepreneurship with you. I created this podcast because I wanted to share all the things I've learned from leaders both in and out of our industry that I really wish I would have known way back then. But alas, the important thing thing is I'm aware of them now and I want you to be too. Ready for this week's show. Let's jump in. Alrighty. Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the podcast.

I'm super, super, super excited to have you here because there is an awesome event that is happening next week that you all need to be aware of and that is Host Week, so. So I have a very special guest, Steph Lee from Host Agency Reviews here with us today to tell us everything we need to. We need to know about registering and why we should be attending Host week. So welcome, Steph.

Thank you, Rita. Hello, everyone. So happy to be here today.

Yes, yes, that now I do. I want to like dive right in deep because I just registered for Host Week myself and when I registered and then looked up the lineup, it was not what I was expecting, which ended up being like a really great thing because like I told you, I thought it was just going to be host agencies talking about their agencies. And that is quite. It's a little bit, but it's way more than that. So tell us why you decided to put on Host Week and who is it for?

Why we decided to put on Host Week was, you know, about 80% of our visitors to the site, we get about 70,000 visits a month. And so 80% of those are people that are new to the industry or like first time visitors to the site. And like when you have 70,000 visits a month, even that 20% for experienced advisors is still a lot of advisors. And so what we did like last year was our first host week and our goal was to kind of bring, to recognize the hosted community. Everyone knows it exists within travel and it's a big thing, but it was like the celebratory thing where we're like recognizing different hosts and we're talking about like educating both new and experienced advisors. And last year was our first year and it was probably a better event for experience or, I'm sorry, new advisors, because it was a lot of host agencies or for someone that was looking to switch host agencies. But this year we really wanted to make it so it's much broader because we work with both new and experienced advisors. And so we wanted to add a lot of trainings and education, keynote speakers.

That's something that would be of interest to both new and experienced advisors. So we still have the host agency component where we're giving everybody the same questions and do like a 15 minute interview with them where you can get a flavor for them. But the, the other portions that we added this year is we have, we call them think tank. So they're kind of, we, we've got different sessions that people, we've got one from a travel attorney where people can learn about the four things that they. They need for that. We have things on how to tell your story. We have things. Mary, our editor, did one on kind of blogging.

So there's a lot of different subjects that are helpful for an agency of.

Any level that I was going to say, who is this more tailored to? But I could see every different stage being assisted for Host Week.

Yeah, that's kind of the goal behind it. And, you know, we got a bunch of keynote speakers. There's a keynote speaker every day. And they, you know, we have Vicki Fried coming on from Royal Caribbean just to kind of lift everybody's spirits and talk about. We have Mark Meter from ASTA who's kind of talking about what's ASTA done in the last year for advisors, what's on the agenda this year, and the importance of. I think we all realized when the pandemic demolished our industry, how important having lobbying on the Hill is. So making sure that people are aware of asta, give them an opportunity. Joan.

And we have a lot of specials, so we do like Host Week exclusive specials.

Mm.

So if you're looking to join a host agency, it's really cool because there's exclusive deals that come if you attend Host Week, but there's also deals like ASTA has a membership deal. We have things for acta, which is like, we actually have a more Canadian focused day. And it's. Who's on there is like, ACTA does a little bit about what their national trade organization is doing up in Canada. But then we also have like, we group together the host agencies that accept U.S. and Canadian advisors. We group them into one day so that Canadian advisors don't have to like pop in for like 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there.

Okay. So I, I figured that this is why. But I saw baseballs and Maple Leafs next to some of the presenters.

Yes, that's what it is. So it, I was trying to look for an emoji. I was trying to do the US flag. But it just showed up as it wasn't coming over. It showed up as an E and an N. I was like, apple pie. I was like, what else can I put for the United States? And so I came up with a baseball emoji and then the Canadian leaf.

Yes, I love that. So if you see both icons, that means the host agency serves both countries.

Yep, yep. Okay.

And when we're talking about the host agencies that are going to be there are.

Is it.

I feel like some people are going to worry that it's like the big, the big kind of like mega host agencies are going to be there. But is there also going to be a collection of like maybe the more smaller boutique host agencies?

Yes. There's 25 hosts that we're doing and I would say there's maybe only like, you know, five or five larger ones or 10 maybe at the most. So there's a lot of smaller host agencies in there. There's agencies that specialize more on the higher end luxury. There's mainstream host agencies. So there's a whole variety within there. And I think the thing for people to understand is this is not. We like, we don't really like doing boring things at har.

I love that.

So we didn't want this to be like this 15 minute, 20 minute interview with every host where it's, I mean, boring, honestly, where they go over all these details and it's. So we ask everybody the same questions, but they're kind of fun questions. So they give you a real good feel for the culture and who the representatives are. So I feel like the feedback we got last year was a lot of people were able to get a really good feel for these host agencies. If they were, they, they were checking them out beforehand and then they would listen to the webinar and they'd know within, you know, that first 10 minutes or five minutes, like, yes, I'm going to keep this on my list or that's way too corporate for me. Or that person is completely zany.

Right. How many minutes is each host going to be able to answer these questions?

They, it varies on how quickly they answer, but I would say on average it's about 15 minutes. Some people finish it really quickly and it probably takes 10 minutes. And some people are a little bit more verbose in their answers and they might go 20 minutes.

Okay, perfect. Yeah. Because I remember when you guys were, you had the candidates for ASTA board.

Oh yeah.

I love that that you asked the same because yes, you can identify. I'm Like, I don't want you representing me or yes, I need to vote for this.

Yeah, yeah. That was so fun. I love the asta. I think we're going to do that again this year because it was a really cool. They had the highest turnout for voting for the board of directors in the history. Well, I should say recent history. Maybe in like the 40s it was higher. But it was just really exciting to know that so many people are buying into this and making our trade organization so much stronger so that we have a better voice on the Hill.

I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have until I went to.

A legislative day that and I like, now we're sidetracked. But I'm thinking about going to lunch day this, this year because it's not on my birthday this year.

Oh, it's so good. It's so much fun.

Yeah, yeah. But what I appreciated with those interviews and I'm sure that's going to come out is that personal aspect because people can write all they want to write on their websites or the flyers or whatever. But I think personality is super key. Like I was just mentioning before we hopped on, one of the reasons I selected the host that I'm currently with is because they're as kooky as I am.

Yeah, you can, you can watch it and be like, those are my people.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think that is so important. So what are the dates and what can we expect? Like how long are the days running? So it is.

It technically starts on Sunday, January 23rd. That's when we go ahead and release all our specials for the week. And sometimes the specials go beyond the week. The, the companies get to decide how long the specials are going to run for, but we release those out on the blog. And then throughout the week, we start every day at 12pm Central Time, except for Friday, it starts at 11:30. And then Saturday we also have a think tank with the Travel Institute that afternoon. So it's. Yeah, we had so many think tanks we couldn't fit it in during just the weekdays.

It was very exciting.

So what is happening during these think tanks? Is it like an additional presentation or is there Q and A?

So what we're doing is we're pre recording everything that's streaming live. Like it'll be live streamed but pre recorded just because we're only a team of four and that's a lot for us to do.

Yeah.

Manage. So we're, we're pre recording everything. But then with these think tanks, the people are going to give their instructions. And sometimes it's just them and sometimes it's a hard team and it's more of a conversation. But the goal of each one is then we have a follow up interactive think tank at usually it's the next week where like during the session, the original session, they may give you some kind of a worksheet on how to craft your storytelling abilities or whatever it is. And then the following week you can choose to show up for this interactive think tank where you can actually talk with them and share and screen share. So that way you get that interactive aspect of it that is missing unfortunately, when we do the prerecorded. But we will be in the comments while it's streaming.

So if people have questions, it's not as if you're typing them into space. The presenter and a hard team member will be there. So.

Oh, that's so good. Oh, I love that. So it's going to be like a presentation style and then you get the strategic travel entrepreneur is brought to you by Mailbox Power. Harness the power to attract and nurture your clients through something many entrepreneurs have forgotten about. The Mailbox. Create beautiful custom campaigns and automate annual mailings for birthdays and holidays. And with a pro account, get access to mailboxes not currently on your mailing list that are just waiting for the travel service you offer. Visit my Mailbox Power affiliate link in the Show Notes to get started today and support this podcast.

Not one on one, but it's like group where if you have a specific question, they'll be able to answer you directly.

Yeah, and it's really cool because like things like Thomas Carpenter is doing something on. I know he's everywhere. He's doing something on legal aspects for travel agencies and then he has kind of his ask me anything the following week. And while all attorneys always put on disclaimer, this isn't legal advice.

Right.

It's like a chance where you can talk to an attorney and for free, which is super cool, and learn things you probably. I didn't know before.

Right, right. I learned something new from him every single time I listened to it.

Actually, we just did the recording yesterday and Maureen on our team was saying, I learned she's been in the travel industry for like 20 plus years. She was like, I learned. I learned so much by watching that and like talking with him. I was like, good, that's what we want. Yeah.

Yeah. So I'm thinking, I know hosted advisors will obviously get benefit out of attending, especially if they're looking to part ways with their current hosts and kind of go a different direction. But what about advisors who aren't hosted? Maybe they're just with the consortia or they're just doing their own thing solo.

Yeah. So the independently accredited agencies, I think can still find value in it. Obviously they're not going to tune into our get to know a host section.

Right.

But the think tanks, I think are applicable whether you're new or experienced. If you're hosted or you're independently accredited. Those are great resources for anybody. And as well as there are some, like, specials and deals that aren't just host agencies. So you can log into there and, you know, take advantage of some of the deals with your. When you rsvp. So. And now the other thing we're giving away, and I guess this isn't necessarily applicable for people independently accredited, but we every year we do our luminary awards.

Mm.

Which is where we do like the best of the best host agencies. So we're, we're giving that away. We have the ceremony on Friday, so. Well, I'll give you a sneak peek of everything. So I just got these printed like.

Omg. I love that. For those of you who can't like see it's Star wars themed.

Except for it's Harwars.

Yes.

Mum's the word. Because we haven't told any of the host agencies about this yet that it's Star Wars. Star wars themed. But it'll, it'll be really fun. It's just kind of like a fun time and, and the hosts really get into it that, that win the awards. Like they have a lot of fun with the pictures they sent in. You know, it's not like I said, we just don't like boring things that much. And it's, it's fun to see the hosts that are participating really having fun with the pictures.

Like somebody just sent in a picture of their team in astronaut costumes and they're floating in space with their, their awards. So it's really cool. It's fun.

Yes. Oh, man. I mean, I love that. I think like one of my unofficial pillars for my take the helm support business is to have fun, because it is not. I mean, how are we supposed to stay in business if we're not having fun at it?

Yeah. And it's not fun to run your business when it's like crushing your soul. So you should definitely have fun.

Exactly. Exactly. When you, you said. So you have three keynotes during the event. Who are your keynote speakers by chance?

Yeah, so we, we actually have one every day. So I'm doing the first keynote and I'll just talk about kind of the trends that we see at HAR over the past year. Last year I did a keynote kind of on the longitudinal how hosted advisors went from being the black sheep to the industry darlings. And this year we'll just kind of talk about some of the interesting trends we've been seeing. That seems like it might be a shift in the hosted advisor channel. Then we have Mark Meter is doing one on asta. We also have acta, like I mentioned, npath, the professional association of travel hosts doing not keynotes, but like kind of little clips on what they do in making people familiar with them. But then we have Vicki Fried and her and Anthony Meluro are kind of doing a conversation and actually let me pull it up because I can't remember the title of theirs.

Theirs is called Be a Value Interpreter. Whether you're a newbie or seasoned pro, your biggest challenge in business right now may not be what you think it is. Why? Now is a great time to be in the travel industry. So that'll be actually really refreshing with all the news headlines that have been so devastating.

Yes.

But we also have Shannon Stowell, the president of the Adventure Travel Trade Association. And if you've never met Shannon, he's, he's just super nice and really friendly and down to earth and kind of learning about sustainable travel. And how do you, how like even if you're not this eco person and selling eco tours, how do you try to make travel more sustainable and more equitable in the destination so we don't have the over tourism problems? So that'll be a really like fun conversation. And then let's see who our other one is. Oh, and then we have Sandra McLemore. So she's coming on and she's doing. It's like a conversation between the two of us and we talk about the distractions that are hurting people's businesses and how to stay focused. So.

Yep, yep. I was gonna say I'm guilty of being distracted myself. I think we're all, especially with the, with all of the Instagrams, TikToks, Reels, everything. Yeah, I'm doing it for business. We're definitely having fun for, for personal.

Very true.

Yeah. There you can like quickly spiral on that. So is there a cost to attend host week?

There is not. We've got some sponsors that make it so we can create it as a free event at har. We, I think like everything we provide is for free. I don't yeah, we don't make money off really anything. We're really supported 95% by our advertisers and so it's free. We just ask that people rsvp. And the reason you want to RSVP is so that there's some links that won't be published on the site that you might need. And then you can get the emails with the days, every day.

You'll get the agenda, where you need to go and when, and some other details within there. So.

Okay, awesome. So also, does that mean if someone's not able to watch something live, that they can still come back to it via those links?

Yes, yes, we'll be. Everything will be recorded with the exception of those live think tanks the following week. Okay, those are not going to be recorded, but everything during host week will be recorded and be on our YouTube channel under our host Week playlist.

Awesome. So where can people go to register for Host Week?

You can go to hostagencyreviews.com hostweek all one word.

Awesome. Is there anything else we should know or we should talk about before we hop off?

You know, I should use this opportunity to think of something, but I've got nothing. My brain is so. It's so full from everything at Host Week. I got like lists everywhere. So. No, I mean, it's a really fun event. Definitely sign up for it and check it out. And if you're someone listening to this that wants to get involved with Host week, whether a supplier, a host agency, someone that provides a service to travel advisors or, you know, there's a lot of ways to get involved for free with a site.

So always reach out to us and you know, we love to have work and collaborate with other people. So.

Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much. I think we've touched on a lot of things because I was going to ask, are there like top three things that we should know? But I think we've covered like the keynotes, the host sessions, and then the fun think tanks, which I think that is going to be super valuable to travel advisors.

Yeah, it's going to be really fun. I can't wait for it because it's going to be fun. But I also can't wait because I'm really excited to have less going on in my brain and on my desk.

I was going to say after prep for wave that I put on in October, I can certainly relate. So I. Once everything's finished, I'll be doing a little party dance here on my end for you guys.

Yay. Thank you. We're gonna be. We're gonna definitely be dancing with you, too, so.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, thank you so much, everyone, for tuning in to this week's episode. Make sure that you register for host week that is starting next week. I'll make sure to have the link into the show notes and I'll see you guys here next week. Have a great one. Thanks for joining me on the Strategic Travel Entrepreneur. Please subscribe and leave the show a rating on your favorite podcast platform.

Oh, and don't forget to take a look at the show notes for important information and links. See you next week.