On Location: Trevello ramps up luxury strategy, aims to add 1,000 advisors in 2025 with U.S. expansion

Trevello Travel Group is implementing new strategies that will help its network of travel advisors grow their luxury sales as the demand for high-end experiences remains strong.

Speaking to PAX at Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas this week, Zeina Gedeon, CEO of Trevello’s Canadian operation, said luxury represents a “a big percentage” of Trevello’s bookings.

“Our sales are up 40 per cent over last year and that’s partly because of the luxury portion,” Gedeon told us Tuesday night (Aug. 13) at the Aria Resort and Casino, where Trevello held a reception for its advisors attending this year’s Virtuoso conference, on now until August 16.

Trevello’s growth in luxury travel is significant, so much so that the host agency is looking to hire a full-time person “to help us elevate luxury in our organization,” said Gedeon, noting that the recruitment process for this new role has started.

The host agency will also soon add a training program dedicated to helping advisors boost their luxury sales.

“We’re putting training in place that will help advisors get customers who are willing to pay $5,000 [for a trip] to pay $10,000,” Gedeon said. “We’ll be offering more education and training.”

The 26 Trevello advisors attending Virtuoso Travel Week – which, this year, has welcomed more than 4,700 luxury travel advisors and suppliers from 97 countries – are a group of “work smarter, not harder” professionals, Gedeon explained.

"“Instead of doing 1,000 bookings, they can do 100,” Gedeon said, referring to the higher price points (and commissions) that come with selling luxury.

Trade secrets revealed

This is one department Trevello’s Carl Henderson, who specializes in travel to Tahiti, knows well.

Attending Virtuoso Travel Week for his sixth time, Henderson participated in a peer-to-peer panel this week that offered up tips for advisors on how to become a seven-figure seller.

“Lots of secrets were shared,” said Henderson.

The panel revealed all kinds of income-boosting strategies, from charging daily fees to securing a client base that not only generates income, but also joy. Looking at financial statements and comparing margins to find inefficiencies is also key.  

Henderson found his success in carving out a niche (Tahiti) and becoming an expert in it. In fact, Henderson’s time in Vegas is already up as he flies to French Polynesia today.

His week at Virtuoso’s conference was spent connecting with his Tahiti-based suppliers, including cruise lines that sail there, such as Paul Gauguin, Ponant, Silversea, Seabourn and Regent.

Business, Henderson said, is good – even amid talks of a potential slowdown.  

“Our business is still up over last year, which was a record year,” Henderson shared. “All the suppliers are saying that things are slowing, so I’m happy that we’re still up.”  

A “super solid” 2025

Trevello’s cruise segment is driving incremental growth, noted Caroline Hay, Trevello’s general manager of cruise.

The host agency’s year-to-date cruise sales are up 39 per cent over last year, which was 63 per cent over 2019, she said.

Hay said Trevello is seeing growth “on every single component of cruise.”

She says 15 per cent of Trevello’s overall cruise sales are in luxury and expeditions, 39 per cent fall into premium, 25 per cent in contemporary and 21 per cent in river.

“Our numbers are through the roof on cruise,” Hay said, adding that 2025 is proving to be better than 2024.

“In most cases, for our main cruise partners, we have the same amount of business that we had ending last year already booked into 2025,” she said. “I don’t see demand cooling at all.”

With the U.S. election in full swing, cruise lines are, notably, reporting a slower Q3 and Q4. “However, for us, our 2025 business is super solid,” Hay said.

Trevello begins U.S. expansion

Spotted on the scene yesterday was Elizabeth Crabill, who has been tapped to lead Trevello’s expansion into the United States. 

Crabill, a 20-year industry executive, was recently hired as CEO of Trevello World Holdings, Trevello’s parent company.

As previously reported, she will be responsible for expanding Trevello’s host business model into new markets, increasing its network of independent travel advisors, growing profitability and market share, maximizing sales revenue and building brand awareness.

Gedeon, CEO of Trevello’s Canadian operating company, will continue in the same capacity, driving the growth and operations of the business in-country. She will also serve as chief operating officer of Trevello World Holdings.

For Crabill, attending Virtuoso Travel Week has been an opportunity to meet Trevello’s advisors face to face for the first time.

“Virtuoso is always a place to meet the best of the best agents. To meet the Canada group is to see that Canada provides an incredible high-level quality of travel advisors,” Crabill told PAX. “It’s amazing to learn about their experiences and what we can do for them.”

Crabill said it “feels great” to learn about the different specialities that exist within Trevello’s network.

“These are really skilled advisors who are great at selling cruise, luxury, expedition, adventures…The quality and breadth of experience is incredibly impressive.”

Speaking to PAX about Trevello’s U.S. expansion, Gedeon called it a “normal progression.”

“The U.S. is such a big market. It’s natural for us to want to go there,” she said. “We get calls from U.S. advisors who want to join us because of our programs and services.”

Will Trevello’s entry into the U.S. impact advisors in Canada? The short answer is no, said Gedeon. But there will be some enhancements that Trevello’s Canadian advisors can look forward to.

“Positively, we can learn from each other,” Gedeon said. “But the reality is that Canadian advisors are different from U.S. advisors. It will be two different verticals.”

Trevello advisors in Canada and the U.S. will, however, have shared services, such as IT support and marketing resources, Gedeon said.

In Canada, Trevello currently has 982 travel advisors in its network, but as the expansion takes shape, Gedeon hopes to add another 1,000 agents from the United States by 2025, which will bring the host agency’s total network to the near 2,000 mark.

Some of the growth will be organic. “We’re also looking at acquisitions,” Gedeon revealed.

It sounds like Trevello is turning its kingdom into an empire. Even Gedeon is no longer referring to herself as “the Queen” of travel.

“I used to say Queen,” she said. “Now I say Empress.”

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