2024 sales: $409 million
Previous ranking: 41
Employees: 66 full-time, 14 part-time
50 Pearl Road, Suite 300
Brunswick, Ohio 44212
Phone: (888) 227-0845
Website Executives
PRESIDENT/CEO: Rick Zimmerman
VP, SALES AND MARKETING: Geoff Cox
VP, FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION: Karen Siburt
VP, INDUSTRY RELATIONS: Anita Pagliasso
VP, AGENT ENGAGEMENT: Bill Coyle
COMPANY FACTS
* Privately held host agency.
* Owned by Rick Zimmerman.
* Works with 5,334 independent contractors.
* 99% of sales completed by hosted advisors.
* Sales: 100% leisure.
* A member of Travel Leaders Network.
DEVELOPMENTS
* Experienced a record-breaking year of paying weekly commissions with a single-week record of $1.6 million in June and 15 straight weeks paying more than $1 million.
* Expanded one-on-one coaching to involve more team members in groups, marketing, social media and other sales.
* Answered more than 10,000 support phone calls.
* Added Extensions of Learning opportunities for those who attend its Boot Camp 1.0, Boot Camp 2.0 and Group Camp events to practice their skills and learn about new destinations, resorts and cruise lines.
* Created educational courses about social media and Marketing Beyond the Screen.
* Enhanced its agent-engagement efforts through events across the country, monthly webinars, check-in phone calls and resources for all levels of agents.
LOOKING AHEAD
* Developing a comprehensive luxury program that includes offerings from luxury suppliers, a monthly luxury travel newsletter, the Luxury Symposium at Hotel Cleveland in the fall and luxury travel education opportunities.
* Expanding the number of trips offered to top-producing agents to include invitation-only travel experiences for its Diamond Elite, Diamond, Platinum, Gold and Silver Pinnacle agents.
* Launching a partner membership option that enables advisors to pair up and work under the same brand.
* Fostering leadership, community-building and networking for the next generation of travel professionals through the growth of its senior leadership team and new young professionals program.
* Continuing the renovation of in-house training facilities to host Boot Camp events at the corporate office in Ohio to make in-person education (and virtual attendee options) more affordable and attainable for more advisors.
* After a slower Wave season at the start of 2025, because of pricing and limited availability, company's outlook for the rest of the year and beyond is bright.
* Seeing the biggest growth in elevated travel with value-added services and exclusive experiences. There's a strong demand for cruises because of capacity growth and the rise of interest in short cruises.
* Anticipating larger growth on the cruise side (more than 15%) compared to land (2% to 5%).