Wedding Planning Decisions, This vs That with Kelly McWilliams
An award winning wedding planning podcast hosted by expert planner-designer Kelly McWilliams. In each episode Kelly and her wedding professional co-host will help engaged couples navigate planning by weighing the pros and cons, "This vs That", of each decision they'll need to make from engagement to honeymoon and everything in between. Kelly is a 21 year veteran of the wedding industry and is a Martha Stewart Weddings Best in Class: The Top Wedding Planners and Event Designers. This vs That has been recognized as a top podcast by BRIDES.com and WeddingWire.com!
Wedding Planning Decisions, This vs That with Kelly McWilliams
The Art of Crafting Unique Honeymoon Experiences
Are you ready to discover the insider secrets of romance travel? This exciting episode features Pamela from Wedaways, a luxury travel agency that specializes in crafting unique travel experiences for couples seeking something beyond the traditional honeymoon. She peels back the curtain to reveal what truly defines 'romance travel' and walks us through the meticulous process of planning a honeymoon with a travel agency. If you're dreaming about a post-wedding escape that's perfectly tailored to your desires, Pamela's insights are a must-hear!
Ever wondered how a professional travel advisor could level up your travel experience? Well, Pamela demystifies it all! From firsthand knowledge of global destinations to personalizing your journey, she highlights the multitude of benefits that come with working with an expert. Worried about breaking the bank? She unpacks the commission and fees, reassuring you that premium service doesn't always mean extravagant costs.
Lastly, get ready for a deep dive into planning budget-friendly safaris and honeymoons without skimping on the luxury. Pamela serves up some invaluable tips and tricks, emphasizing the importance of maintaining an open budget when planning your honeymoon. She generously shares her wealth of knowledge to ensure your journey is nothing short of a dream. So, tune in to uncover the hidden gems of the travel industry and embark on the perfect path to your dream honeymoon!
Places to go - People to see:
Kelly's Site: http://www.kellymcwilliams.com
Kelly's Blog: https://www.kellymcwilliams.com/blog
Instagram: @kellyamcwilliams
About Kelly:
Kelly knows how incredible a well planned wedding can be. Every moment counts and every decision plays a part. Wedding planning should be fun and as easy to do as possible. Besides planning weddings, Kelly travels the globe as an industry speaker. Kelly is a Martha Stewart Top Wedding Planner & this podcast won Brides magazine and WeddingWire's best podcast.
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Hello and welcome to this Versus that making wedding decisions with Kelly McWilliams. This podcast is for you if you're making a wedding decision and want to know what to consider before saying I do to all the things that will make your wedding experience a great one. I'm your host, Kelly McWilliams, and I'm so glad to be a part of your wedding planning journey. In each episode, you can count on me and my expert wedding co-hosts to give you everything it takes to make the best decisions for the wedding that you're dreaming of. Hey, guess what? It's the last episode for this season. It has been the most wonderful season, I don't know. I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1:This last episode is all about planning your honeymoon, which I don't. I feel like we talked about it like maybe not honeymoon, but like it may be honeymoon and mini-moons or anniversary getaways. I feel like we talked about that with an onyx key. But so we have Pamela on today from Wedaways and boy did she spill it about planning honey moons. I asked her so many questions. I know it's usually like the back and forth, but I learned so much during this and I had to ask her a million questions. I was like now's my chance. So I'm really excited because I feel like this actually could be a game changer for you guys and maybe, just like truly the easy button you didn't even know was there, I'm 100% going to call her from now on to be honest with you, because this is, I'm just completely enlightened. Okay, so let's get Pamela on the line and we can do all about honey moons.
Speaker 1:Hi, pamela, I'm so thrilled that you came on to be my official first like travel person.
Speaker 2:I am excited to be here. So thank you, kelly, for inviting me. I'm honored, I'm excited in all the things.
Speaker 1:I'm excited that this is your first podcast.
Speaker 2:This is my first podcast and I know we went all through COVID and there were podcasts going on and I am an avid podcast listener. Oh, are you Well that's good, but this is really exciting. So thank you again for having me.
Speaker 1:Well, I think you have a great voice for it too, and okay, so we're going to our episode. Topic is planning your own honeymoon versus having a professional like you like guide you through the process or plan the whole thing for you in like silver platter, because you kind of do both of those things, don't?
Speaker 2:you, we do, we do Mostly. The latter silver platter is our forte. Like to just plan everything and make it amazing.
Speaker 1:Okay, cool. So, because this is your first time on the show, why don't you tell us a little bit about you, specifically Pamela Goldman, and then all about what a ways.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I would love to. I'm Pamela Goldman, co-founder of what a ways travel. I wasn't always in the travel space. I parlayed into this industry about eight years ago when I developed what a ways with my mom. So my mom is my business partner, which is fun, amazing, all encompassing all of the things all at once. And before travel, I worked in the startup world, so I helped startups become acquired by bigger companies and that really laid the framework for tackling big life transitions and just big adventures, because selling a company is quite an adventure and so, I would imagine, so it actually worked really well to parlay into this, into the travel sphere that I am in now. And what a ways travel is a luxury travel agency, so we specialize in five star, extraordinary experiences, so you're a travel agency.
Speaker 1:We are a travel agency. I do not even know that. Yes, you're going to teach me so much today. I'm very excited. Okay, I shouldn't have been interrupted you, okay, no, please so you opened.
Speaker 2:Yes, we started a travel agency, but the why that may not be so apparent at first is because we developed our brand specifically for the wedding market. So, rather than being just like a regular travel agency that you know books, you know Aunt Jane and Uncle Joe's travel to Minnesota and business travel and all these different types of travel we really specialize in this romance travel. So we partner with wedding planners, we help with some of the wedding travel needs of their events, but we also plan extraordinary honeymoon globally, all over the world. So that is a huge part of our business and I like to say that we're really romance travel specialists because it is what we do.
Speaker 2:We're not just a travel agency that plans a couple of honeymoon here and there we plan. What we do is plan honeymoons and then, you know, that turns into other types of trips for our former honeymoon couples, but our core really is honeymoon travel. So it's an amazing part of the travel industry because it's, of course, really happy, which hopefully all travels are, but it's so special because couples go into planning their honeymoon A lot of times wanting it to be romantic, wanting it to be special, wanting it to be once in a lifetime. So it's really a privilege to be part of that experience with couples.
Speaker 1:Can I ask you two questions?
Speaker 2:Please.
Speaker 1:Like when I hear romance travel. I'm not quite sure what that means. What is, what is that? Is that something that I should? Is that a word? Words I should know?
Speaker 2:No, and it's a good question. It's kind of like a buzz phrase, okay, because it's just a more general way of saying that we specialize in honeymoon. And when we say romance travel and and I Probably should also say that not all of our couples who we plan honeymoons for are romantic or Want anything romantic I have some couples that say we're not romantic, we're not into it, we want to be with a bunch of other people, like we just don't the one-on-one as much. Maybe they've been together for you know, decades or maybe they're just like to be in groups, but so I should probably rename that Kind of buzz phrase. But romance travel is just like an all-encompassing way of saying we really specialize in honeymoons, mini moons, anniversary trips, everything that's kind of centered around the wedding in some way.
Speaker 1:Okay, like I remember I told you I was like I'm gonna interrupt you because you're making me think of all these questions. I want to ask you now so okay, so there's honeymoons. Would you take one after your Get wedding, or get wedding Right after you get married? Or maybe not even just right? A lot of my clients don't do them right afterwards. They're like you know, we're gonna do the wedding and then we're gonna do the honeymoon, like three months, six months time, months later to kind of separate those times.
Speaker 1:But you also mentioned a couple of other things. So do you like? Are mini moons like? Like the mini moons follow right behind the wedding with their short Exactly, come do the big one later is out, that is yeah, exactly, we saw a ton of the mini moon in like the real COVID height.
Speaker 2:So, like 2020, 2021, we had a lot of couples getting married domestically and doing just a three night Getaway the day after the wedding or two days after the one, somewhere, either domestic or a quick Jaunt to Mexico, which was relatively open during COVID or, yeah, I completely open actually. So they did, you know, a quick getaway to Mexico because it was easy and quick, still luxurious, still amazing, still felt like something special, and then saved the bigger honeymoon to a location that may have just been had closed borders at that time and they wanted to plan it for later. Oh, okay, okay.
Speaker 1:I do a lot of destination weddings so Immediately my thought is they're already kind of out of destination and a lot of my clients in particular will go Somewhere close by for a little mini moon, but not like right at the same resort. You know They'll still leave town, like somewhere else in the state of Florida or something like that. But then they also have big weddings or honeymoon to planned, okay, and then I want to sorry to interrupt yeah, what to?
Speaker 2:they get married in a destination like. We have a lot of Cabo weddings, so they'll change hotels for three nights, stay in Cabo and, yes, you know, six months, eight months, a year later They'll do it.
Speaker 1:Okay, when most people do that, do they plan them separately or at the same time?
Speaker 2:It depends on the couple and it depends, like, how much they want to take on their plate at that moment. Okay, many of them are also in the thick of planning their wedding. You know they're using a Talented professional like you, they have a wedding planner, but they still. It can be overwhelming to plan both. Even though a mini moon is pretty Quick and straightforward, I would say it's about a split. Half of our couples will say, okay, I want to do a quick honey, a quick mini moon to you know, somewhere beachy, and then I want to do the big honeymoon on safari, and we'll plan them both Simultaneously. And then some will say let's just get the, the mini moon booked and then we'll talk about the honeymoon. So those could be within a week of one another or they could okay, they may take a couple of months break before planning the next trip. Okay, and then what?
Speaker 1:what other kind of like little vacations for romantic Travel? Is that we I already forgot was, yeah, we just all romance travel and romance travel. So what other kind of other Getaways or vacations you guys do? But just so I can kind of get those like listed somewhere Totally, and there are a lot of them and we believe every trip could be a romance trip.
Speaker 2:Say like the real mouth, you really like your wife or husband you hopefully. I Would say that the milestones really are like right after the wedding, like a mini moon a honey moon, baby moon, so you know that's like the.
Speaker 2:That's usually the next big kind of romance getaway would be a baby moon Anniversary trips. So we have one, a couple, that we plan every year to a new big destination on their anniversary. That's really fun and really big. And then sometimes our couples will have like a milestone birthday they're turning 40, but they want to do just a one-on-one trip with their partner and that kind of turns into a romance trip.
Speaker 1:Do you guys do non romance meaning like bachelor and bachelorette. We do.
Speaker 2:And that kind of came from our honeymoon business and our relationship with you know, the top wedding planners in the US, like you think, just kind of Turned into that. Yes, we absolutely do high-end, of course, bachelor and bachelorette and other group travel. We have a couple right now we just planned. They are he's celebrating his 35th birthday and they're going with a group of friends to Mexico and it's Non, it's definitely not romantic, it's definitely a fun group trip but we can plan that. So some of our clients only want us to touch their travels, so we plan their business travel. Some of our clients own companies and they want to do a corporate retreat and so we plan that travel. So it definitely, we definitely can plan all types of high-end travel. We just kind of specialize.
Speaker 1:In, got it, got it. So you know all the things, so you can actually do all the things is just, you really know the wedding industry well. Yes, Okay and I love that. You love weddings.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I love it. It's just such a beautiful thing to be a part of, so I love it.
Speaker 1:It really is so okay. So let's talk a little bit about what the differences are between, like, when someone's trying to plan their honeymoon on their own, versus when they work with someone like you. Are you the only people that do this, or is there other companies?
Speaker 2:I have to ask absolutely and there are other companies, absolutely and I mean any travel agent can book a honeymoon, can plan a honeymoon. It's just, it's not everybody's forte and I would say, when you are Looking for a professional to plan a honeymoon specifically, you should seek out ones that have experience and that kind of tote themselves as Honeymoon manors or romance Okay, because we kind of we look at it through different lens. It's not just an epic trip, it's an, it's a really special epic trip.
Speaker 2:Yeah and we also know what to ask of the hotel. Yes, and we know you know how to kind of Finesse the trip. So but there are absolutely other professionals that can plan exquisite honeymoon for sure.
Speaker 1:Okay, so Explain to me. You know like what having someone like you alleviates as far as like, like the workload or the research. Imagine the costs. Like yeah, I feel like I just need to ask you to like spill it.
Speaker 2:Totally, and I'm so happy to, because, let me tell you something, kelly and a lot of people think that travel agents are from the past, and you know I did.
Speaker 1:Confess, I confess Totally. This is why we do these episodes, because we don't know.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and you know, it's our job, my job as the next generation travel advisor to really Change the the Course of the conversation and tell people that we are a thing of today and actually more than ever, you need a travel advisor. You can certainly do it on your own. I mean, I have some couples that love to research and they know exactly which hotels they want to stay, but they don't want to have to put the pieces together of how to get here to here and what. So a lot of times we are very interactive with our couples. We're planning the trip together.
Speaker 2:Why want an epic trip? But I want to go to South America? And then we just plan the whole thing. But it just depends on the person. But I'll break it down like this and I am a planner, obviously I plan honeymoons and I love to research and I Always would plan my own trips prior to really entering this industry as a professional, and I did, of course, plan my trips like a travel advisor. That's why I make a very good one. But I will say that it was difficult to know what Resources were legit and what weren't, because Google is just like it's a such a huge resource.
Speaker 1:Google and I feel like Sorry told you, it's gonna interrupt you. I Feel like, like I like more recently, like in the last year, I've been like following more influencers because I've been traveling a little bit more and I, you know, I have to wonder like how much of that is really real and how much of that is made to make it look that much better. You know, and it's coming at different angles and they're only gonna show you what they want to show you and so, okay, sorry, I had to put no, you're absolutely right now.
Speaker 2:I was gonna actually touch on that because that's a really important remark. And first of all, google you. If you Google what to do with three days in Paris, you're gonna get all kinds of stuff show up and all types of companies you know purporting to be the best at the Food tour of Paris. You know there's so much out there that it can be very overwhelming, but also you may not be going to the right place for what you want to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so working with a professional will really help to drown out a lot of the noise and we have direct connections with local artisans, with local Destination specialists, so we're not just looking online ourselves for the best food tour in Paris. I call my contact who is in Paris and I tell her I have a couple that's coming and they want to do in the Fantastic food tour and they love chocolate and they love baguettes and we want to put together something really fantastic and they will bring, you know, the, the pastry chef from the top hotel in Paris to demonstrate something live. I mean, we really that's what you get when you work with a professional is really insider access and knowledge.
Speaker 1:And so it's just kind of like hiring a wedding planner. It's all the reasons that you would hire wedding planner because you only know what you know. You don't know what you don't know and you, like you, can easily Overspend. You don't know how to cut costs, you don't know how long it's gonna take to do something or who the right experts are. I could go. I mean, I feel like you're exactly me, except for you work after me. Well, you know what, probably work in use and probably at the same time. But you know what I mean like that's exactly we. That's, I feel like that's exactly what it is. But okay, so I have to ask you do you, do they pay, do people pay you directly? How does it?
Speaker 2:work. Yes, good question so, and I want to just make a comment that, yes, we're a parallel to you. Okay, same reasons I hire you. Obviously, you're planning an entire wedding, that's, you know, a lot bigger of an event, but it's just like seeking out a professional to find us. Yeah, you have a fee, of course, but my god, I bet every single couple is says that was the best money I ever spent. Wedding planner and.
Speaker 2:Travel advisors, myself included, have fees as well, because, as much as we love to do this, you know we do need to make a living. You have fees, and I will say the fees for a travel advisor, because it's different Then, what a wedding planner does, and wedding planners don't mention we do. Travel advisors earn commission on what we book. So, oh, information for everybody who doesn't know anything about a travel company or working with a travel advisor we earn a commission on the hotels that we book. It does not increase the price that a couple days. So, okay, we see a price online. They're gonna pay the same price if they book it through me or if they book it direct. In fact, sometimes, because we have a lot of insider access, we can actually get a better rate. So, you know, depending. Plus, we add a lot of perks like free breakfast and upgrade, you know, and then special honeymoon things when they check in. So, yes, they pay us a fee, but that fee is that easily Just taken care of as soon as we book one hotel for them.
Speaker 2:Okay and fees range. Fees range between travel advisors. Some charge an hourly fee, some charge a flat fee, which is what we do based on the scope of the trip. So I would say that you'll find travel advisors that will charge $250 per couple. You'll find travel advisors that charge $5,000 per couple, and that a lot of times depends on the scope of the trip. We charge between 750 and $1,500, depending on the scope of the trip. So, okay, you know, I'm ten days in Europe, so it's closer to the 750 to 1,000 mark. If it's three weeks in Africa, then it's a $1,500 fee, and but you're doing, like all the things, like flights and hotel Transportation.
Speaker 2:We can do as much or as little as the couple want, but typically, so typically, our couples are their booking flights with points because just a lot of times they've paid for much of the one on their credit card and so they've earned, you know, a million points, and so a lot of times they'll book flights on their, on their credit card, you know. However, they want to book through points or through sorry, they book flights through points. That's totally fine with us. The only thing that we can't facilitate is Booking hotels with points. We don't facilitate that. Yes, they'll have their flights.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so they'll book their own flights and then, as soon as they touch down In the airport, we will start providing every single service throughout their trip. So we can have and for most honeymoons I'd say about 75 percent of our honeymoons we have somebody meet the couple at the door of the plane and they take them through immigration. So they're saving like a ton of time. Yes, they're saving a ton of time. They have a dedicated assistant that whisks them through while they wave at the people waiting in the customs line and they get to go all the way to the front.
Speaker 1:So you guys can't see this, but my jaw just dropped because I had no idea. Like to me that right there is worth it, because the second you leave this country it is like customs and lines and you don't know what to pull up, where and do I turn left or right, and everything's written in a different language. I feel like that is the scariest and most frustrating part of travel to me.
Speaker 2:So that right there pays for the Totally, and it's also your first experience when you land. So I mean, what's better than that, having somebody? Just? There's nothing more special feeling than that, and I have been with this for many, many years and I book that service for myself when I travel, and even though I do it 10 times a year with that same service.
Speaker 2:Every time I have an assistant pick me up from the door of the airplane, I feel truly VIP because, yeah, there's nothing more VIP than that and you've got a lot of people looking at you like, oh my God, who is this? Is this a celebrity? Do I need?
Speaker 1:to take a picture. I have big black glasses on.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2:Because of the, the hiding under a hoodie, really, and you can't. Most of the time, a regular person, if you will like, just a, not a travel advisor cannot book that service on their own. We book it through our partners in the country. So many times that's not even available for somebody to book on their own, so that's already something that we can offer. And then we, of course, take care of them every step of the way. So, transportation, hotel activities If we're going to a destination like Africa Eastern or Southern Africa, safari requires charter flights and requires complicated logistics.
Speaker 2:We handle all of that. So, truly, it is a white glove service. And sometimes our couples are like I don't want to touch this. I'm busy thinking about the wedding, I'm busy working, you do everything and we plan soup to nuts, the most amazing trip within their budget constraints. And sometimes our couples are like I really like the planning process, so I want to be involved in it, and you work with them in tandem. Hey, this is a safari lodge we're going to book. Take a look at some pictures. Here's an alternative around the same price point. Take a look at some pictures. What do you prefer? So we'll go that way? Oh, ok. Lots of times they've seen things from influencers on Instagram.
Speaker 2:So they say what about this? And because we know we'll say well, yeah, it looks beautiful in pictures, but let me tell you the real lowdown on what this is. Those influencers are being paid to deliver this message, and from a professional, let me tell you how the scoop on what this really is.
Speaker 1:So yeah, the scoop is, they got BitBugs.
Speaker 2:Exactly. That's a good point. That has a filter, yes. So there are a lot of benefits Not to knock doing it on your own.
Speaker 2:I think I find great joy in planning travel, so I can understand that others would too. But it's great to have a guide. You know somebody that's saying, yeah, this is great. Or you know what, let's look at the logistics of the itinerary. Does it really work for what you want to do, location wise? So let's, you know, let's think of something else.
Speaker 2:And I can't tell you, kelly, how many times a couple says I just planned this honeymoon with, I just planned this wedding with my wedding planner. And you know we have 300 people and it's a four day event. It was this huge, this huge production and we just want to lay on the beach and just chill out. And they're like so we want to go to Greece and Greece is beautiful. But we explain to them what Greece chill out on the beach looks like, versus somewhere like French Polynesia where you have Bora Bora or the Maldives or some of the African islands or the Caribbean. So we get to tell them, hey, I love what you're thinking, but if you really want to chill out, these are the destinations you want to consider and obviously it's hard to get to. Greece can be hard to get to, yeah, and the longest trips back and forth I ever took.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, especially if there are no direct flights to Athens, for sure that can be, you know, I mean. That was a long trip.
Speaker 1:I'm glad I went, but I also, just like you said, I didn't know. When I went to Greece I looked like one picture and you know like everyone thinks it's all just like those white buildings, like on a cliff, like looking to blue water. That was not all of Greece, not even close. It's like one island or something right. But I also didn't realize like their beaches aren't all sand. The one I went to, I don't know if they're all like that, but the one I was at, it was pebbles. It was really cool, but I was like I never seen anything like it was like that is not a like relax on the beach kind of place.
Speaker 2:Totally not exactly. It's not where you go if you want that like Soft white sand yeah, it is water with the fruity drink brought to you, you know yeah, that's not.
Speaker 2:Greece service. No, there are great destinations for that and Greece is amazing. But if you would be remiss to go to Greece without doing some of the highlights of the history yachting Wine, you know there's so much more. So I think that the knowledge, just like anything, hiring a professional For a professional job is worth it, because there's just so much more that you will get out of it as opposed to trying to do it on your own back to you.
Speaker 1:Don't know what you don't know, because you only know what you've been exposed to and there's only so much research. Can I ask you a question so, do you have you like gone to many of the places yourself or someone on your team, or Just like, and then some of the places that you said? I think you said you have like relationships with people who really like, are there boots on the ground? Who can I say exactly like? Like you got like? What did they call them that with ci's? What did in the like the criminal tv shows where they have the person that knows everything? Yes, what are those people called?
Speaker 2:ci, was it a detective or the. It's like the air.
Speaker 1:No, it's like it's the person. It was a criminal, it was actually. They were criminals turned um.
Speaker 2:Oh, like undercover no.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, they used to be criminals but now they pay them under, like the police pay them to give them information.
Speaker 2:Oh, I think that is undercover or I gotta watch more of those shows.
Speaker 1:I'm getting so off track here, but you have your people there. So so for most people like you, um, who provide this service, have you been to most of these places and experience most of them and have all that insider knowledge like let me tell you, like, what it actually is, and oh, I've had the pizza at this place and that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, great question. So, yes, and you'll find this, with all good travel advisors, we are extremely well traveled, um, so we travel All the time. I mean two weeks out of the month typically. Um, oh, wow, not everybody, but that's how our team travels. So, yes, we have gone, not everywhere, um, I have a team that works with me. I have a team of five, um, I have one stationed in portugal, so she's traveling throughout europe all the time, and it's not only to go and experience, um, the destination, but also, especially post-covid, things change, hotels change. Oh, it used to be the best in the destination Is probably not the best in the destination five years later. So, you know, you could work with a travel advisor who has, you know, 10 year in the industry and has been doing this for 40 years, but if they hadn't been to the destination the last five years, you know, then you so much could change.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so much could have changed. And obviously we are people so we can't go everywhere, but in every single destination that we plan we have boots on the ground. And they're not employed by my company. They are independent companies that work with Select travel advisors all over the world, so they are our Vendors, if you will. But they are not direct to consumers, so a person couldn't find them and start to plan a trip with them. Got it only work with the travel trade and then, through us, you know, of course offer the service to our clients.
Speaker 2:But another, and I think one of the biggest reasons to work with a travel professional is because when you are in travel, we have a local phone number Available for you 24 hours a day. So if you are in Italy and you find yourself in a big pickle because you took a wrong left or you know whatever, you have a medical emergency, god forbid or you know something, you need something immediately, there is a local number that you call 24 hours a day. We also give you a number that you could correspond with via whatsapp. That is local. Of course, they also have access to our team, but, being there, it feels good to have a number that is also there that they could call in case of a need. Um, so we provide that to you. So you're not like, oh my god, who do I call? What do I do? I need to cancel the rest of my trip, like, how do I put that into motion? Oh my god, I need to do that all myself now. No, we have that done for you and I will say that's so nice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'll just from peace of mind. Exactly, yeah, and during covet I think the use of travel advisors Is probably quadrupled. I think people are starting to use us more and more and more because During covet it was a real it was so difficult to change plans Um, try and get refunds and try and postpone and all of these things Was was so difficult without an advocate, and a travel advisor is your advocate.
Speaker 1:So I never looked at that way. Yeah, you said that and put that word there. Yeah, just like you guys, you're the advocate of your client so yeah, exactly, I use that word all the time because it's exactly that.
Speaker 1:I feel like I have learned so much in half an hour, like I mean I don't think I realized, I don't think it's Okay, but really my favorite part was like the like getting greeted at the airport. Yeah I, I mean, it's your honeymoon. It's like it should feel that special, you know, and I feel like this is easy. But I do want to ask one other question. Do you think, do you know? I should say, do you know, is it most often that people in the end will save money with using your service, or do you find it's more that You're not necessarily saving money but the value in what you get is just exponentially more?
Speaker 2:Great question and it depends how I hate to do this, but it depends how you Consider saving money. So, overall, yes, the value is much better than if they did on their own. So in that sense, they're saving money because they're saving time and they're saving, and they're saving what you know, a trip that we plan to South Africa is going to be a better value than they can plan themselves, because we also Work with partners who have contracted rates. So a lot of times those are better than the rates that anybody is going to get on their own. So, yes, in that sense, definitely.
Speaker 2:But I will say that a lot of times, because we know destinations, a couple will come to us and say I want to spend, I'm just going to throw out a number 30,000 dollars for two weeks and I want to do a safari In southern Africa.
Speaker 2:I want to go to Cape Town, I want to go drink wine, and then I want to go on safari, and we'll say, great, um, we'll start planning the trip and we will let them know at which parts they may want to splurge a little bit, because it's an experience that's worth Sporging on and a lot of times, just like a wedding, they will end up over their budget by choice, because they have decided to Quote-unquote, upgrade or splurge on something that's really extraordinary, like a Helicopter to the top of the mountain for a private gin tasting. Um, that's something that we do a lot in Cape Town, which is amazing, and so that's a really special experience. They'll splurge on that, so they may go over the budget a little bit, but, yeah, it's my choice and always a great value. I will say that 100. Find yourself a travel advisor that can plan epic honeymoons, because, yes, there may be an upfront fee, but it is always well it sounds like it pays for itself to me, like, like I just want to go in lots of honeymoons now.
Speaker 1:I need to book some more weddings. But, um, even just for those little things, like those excursions and and like, I feel like you could never find the quality, is my guess that you guys have available to you like that In the amount of time I just can't even imagine, is it so? You said $30,000, is that how much is the safari cost? Cause I don't even know.
Speaker 2:That you know. It really depends because there is no cost really, and that's also a misconception about an African safari. A lot of people think you need to have a huge budget to do African safari.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I definitely did.
Speaker 2:That's not necessarily true. You can do a safari, you know, with being more budget conscious. We don't plan every level of safari because our connections and relationships really are at the high end, but I would say that you know you need I would say you need at least $1,000 per person per day If you want to consider it that way. So like that's a smart way to look at it, yeah, and that would get you in. But also to understand that when you're on safari, at the safari lodges, everything is included, so all of your meals, all of your alcohol, all of the game drive. So sometimes it can be a sticker shock when you're doing something in Africa because you're like, oh, you know that's a, but if you consider all that you're saving by not spending on food and alcohol it's actually it's a pretty good value.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because, like, if you go to Paris, you know you got to pay for your tickets to go on the Eiffel Tower, you got to go pay for every class of one you have, you have to pay for your train to get from here to there, so those little things add up and you don't see it. Like when you're planning it yourself, you don't see just the bottom line, do you? I'm sorry we're going like way over 30 minutes here, but I have so many questions. So when someone comes to you, should they come with anything like prepared for you? Like, should they come and say we have blank amount of dollars and we want to be somewhere PG, or we have blank amount of dollars and we want to go somewhere cold and we, but we don't like to ski, but we want to be outside, like, is that how it goes?
Speaker 2:So the more information, of course, the better. But we can pull out a lot of information on our initial discovery calls. So we always have a first call with a couple. It's usually about 30 minutes long and we ask them a lot of questions about themselves, about their travel style. Where have they been in the world? That's been their favorite experience? What hotel have they stayed in? That's been their favorite experience? The more information they already have is great With.
Speaker 2:Some couples say oh, I absolutely know, I want to go to Bora Bora for one week and I'm going right after the wedding and I want to stay at the Four Seasons. And it's very, you know, straightforward, and we book it for them and we add all kinds of perks. And it's amazing Could they have booked that online, because it was only a resort that they were booking? Yeah, they could have, but we provide a lot of value in all of the perks that we had upgrades and things like that. And also they have us to touch base with. Oh, my gosh, my flight was canceled. Oh, the boat, the weather, blah, blah, blah. We're there for them. So the more information the better, but we really can pull that out. I would say, the most important things to come to a conversation about the honeymoon with would be budget.
Speaker 2:I can't tell you how many times we have a call with a couple and they're like well, I don't know how much does it cost. And just like if they asked you how much a wedding costs, there are so many variables there's no way that we can give you that answer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so when I talk to clients the very first phone call I say tell me what you're comfortable with spending and tell me what you the maximum is that you can spend. So I know really where we're sitting and the students are like oh okay, so I understand there's flexibility there, but give me those two numbers and open the doors for that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we need that too. And totally fair that people don't know how much it costs. Because how would they if it's the first wedding, the first honeymoon they're planning? They don't know how much things cost. We're there to guide them. But if they want to go on an epic three week trip to Australia and New Zealand, we can tell them right off the bat if they're working with a budget that's too low.
Speaker 1:So that's why it's really that's so good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's really important to know a budget, to have discussed that with their partner, their families, whoever's putting the bill for our call. Dates are also really important. So dates are going to inform how much things cost. So there's a high season and there's a low season For every location, yes. And then there's a shoulder season. We in our industry call it a shoulder season. It just basically means mid-season. So dates are super important. If they know they want to go to X destination and they don't care when it is, that's easy. We'll just let them know the best times to go. But if they don't know where they want to go and they don't have any preference of when they want to go, that's when we really need to work together to narrow down dates that much.
Speaker 1:Do you also provide the service of being the expert, meaning that, like when someone calls me and they're explaining what they want, I'm hearing what they're saying and they think they know what they want, but I know what they really want. And not that I'm trying to be bossy, I am a little bit bossy but, like the example you said, they want to go to Bora Bora, they want to go and save the four seasons, but you and your head, as you're asking them questions, are thinking of a different place. Do you say, okay, you know that, you told me this, but can I give you another option that maybe you want to consider, that maybe you don't even know about, that you haven't been exposed to? Do you do that early on to like, like, give them the option Because, again, I go back to you, you don't know what you don't know.
Speaker 2:One million percent and, like I mentioned about Greece before, we've had couples that say I just want to lay out on the beach, so we want to go to Greece. Like, I know that that's not Greece, so let's talk about other destinations.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We definitely will help. It's such an educational process. So we absolutely help to educate on destinations. And if they say, well, I think Bora Bora is where I want to go, because I want white sandy beaches and I want overwater bungalow and I want an island, and so it's Bora Bora, we don't just say, great, we'll book you in Bora Bora, we will also introduce other options because at the end of the day, we want the couple to be in the best destination for what they do. So we'll say well, you know, the Maldives also has overwater bungalows, also has white, creamy sand and beautiful water, and there's a lot more resorts in the Maldives, and so we'll discuss different options that make sense for what they want. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:This has been the most enlightening episode, I think, where I got the most education out of it, even if it's just for myself so happy. And even just that you said, Pamela, about changing the mindset behind travel agents or advisors, because, yeah, back when I was a kid that was the deal. But then the internet came along and everyone just never mind, we just book everything online.
Speaker 1:And then the influencers came in and like we're gonna tell you where to go. And now I'm feeling like, oh, we definitely need to be leaning into the humans and not chat GPT to be setting up your entire that whole mess. I'm sorry, like I love AI, but I'm not gonna have that plan by any moon or any of the large vacation.
Speaker 2:Totally, and we have actually had very high end clients give us an itinerary from chat GPT and say I wanna do this, can you book everything? And I'm not gonna lie, the itinerary looked pretty good, but there were major holes in the actual area.
Speaker 1:So, definitely.
Speaker 2:Can you get great ideas from AI? Can you get great ideas from Instagram? Absolutely, but having a professional to really help with the human part of it. And AI didn't taste the food at this restaurant and this is where it is vegan, so why would you trust their steak and crete suggestion, you know like all of those things really play a role in it. So, yeah, you cannot take the human out of this business, just like what's happening. You just can't take the human out of it.
Speaker 1:Pamela, thank you so much. This is. You have to come back. I've already signed your. I forged your signature on the dotted line going Thank you. We are gonna talk about these four things because there's so much travel around weddings, so I really appreciate it and I'm very excited for those episodes Like they're like my wheels are spinning in my head. I really appreciate you.
Speaker 2:I appreciate you telling me. Oh, my God, what an honor to be invited. I just love chatting with you always, and this was so fun. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:You're welcome. I'm so glad to be able to share my wedding experiences and expertise with you, and that my co-hosts are so giving it theirs. We truly do want you to have the best time at your wedding, and our hope is that this podcast is helping you to make your engagement time while planning your wedding that much easier. May I ask a favor of you? If this is the case, would you just take a moment to leave a review of this podcast on your listening platform? It helps people just like you to find the podcast and to also find out their answers so they can make decisions. I would also absolutely love for you to give this versus that podcast a shout out on your social media. You can find us at this versus that wedding podcast on Instagram, and if you would like me to help you with a specific question, a wedding decision, please by all means ask. Send me a DM. I would love to hear from you and maybe, just maybe even have you as a wedding cast on a future episode. How fun. Here's to another great wedding.