After 45 years in travel, Louise Gardiner is doing something she’s never done before

Louise Gardiner thought she had retired from travel. 

Then, at an ACTA summit cocktail party, Judith Coates, founder of Wired for Travel and co-founder of the Association of Canadian Independent Travel Advisors (ACITA), suggested she become a travel advisor.

“Me? I’ve never sold travel to any customers in my whole life,” Gardiner recalled telling Coates.

After more than 45 years owning agencies, leading teams and working with suppliers, Gardiner had plenty of industry contacts. 

But booking a client’s vacation herself would be a first.

“How about I just refer people to you?” Gardiner suggested.

The two established a referral arrangement. 

By January 2025, however, Coates was encouraging Gardiner to complete the bookings herself.

“You’re doing all the work anyways,” Coates told her, Gardiner said. 

“You’re talking to the clients. Why don’t you just finish off the sale and do it?”

Gardiner began advising through Wired for Travel that year. 

Now, she has launched Traveltrend Navigator, a luxury travel business affiliated with The Travel Agent Next Door (TTAND).

PAX spoke with Gardiner about starting a business after retirement, her approach to luxury travel and “Sassy Lassie,” the ChatGPT assistant helping her put her plans into practice.

What inspired you to launch Traveltrend Navigator after decades leading travel agencies?

“I was never at the front line. I spent more time with suppliers than I did with clients through my whole career. And this next chapter was an opportunity for me to work directly with travellers," she said.

Gardiner had long considered starting her own business, although she wasn’t sure whether it would involve consulting or selling travel. 

Now, she plans to focus on luxury travel and referrals, drawing on decades of supplier relationships while setting her own schedule.

“I’m always out there talking about travel. I may as well help them go," she said.

You’re focusing on luxury travel. How do you define it?

“It has to be what the client needs in that time in their life that makes them feel that they’re doing something special. So my goal is to find out what their definition of luxury is," she said.

For one couple planning a vacation in Italy, that conversation took place over a glass of white wine at their home. 

As they discussed Rome and Florence, Gardiner asked whether there was something they had always wanted to do in Italy. 

The husband told her he had always dreamed of visiting the Ferrari factory, so she worked with a supplier to make it happen.

“The business of service is getting the clients to talk about what they want. Not saying, ‘What’s your budget? Where do you want to go? When do you want to go?’ And then making the decision on their behalf," Gardiner said.

Gardiner devotes the most time to the initial client meeting, then reconnects before departure and after their return to learn what worked and what could be improved.

What would you say to newer advisors who are still building their knowledge and connections?

“My strength is talking to people. It’s relationships with people. And then once I can figure out what they’re trying to accomplish, what their vision of travel is, then I can find the right supplier that has that knowledge base," she said.

“So even if you’re new to the industry, you can still do this. You don’t have to have 45 years of experience.”

Gardiner continues to take supplier training, but emphasizes that newer advisors don’t need to know everything about every product.

They can draw on suppliers’ expertise while building their own knowledge and client relationships.

Your goal is to work 10 hours a week while running a successful business. How do you plan to make that work?

“I know how much I want to make an hour, and I know how many hours I spend on each booking, and I know whether I’m successful or not based on that. So that means that I have to work smart," she said.

“I want to be successful, but I don’t want to be spending a lot of hours here in my home office working when I can be out golfing and skiing. And socializing with friends.”

For Gardiner, profitability means accounting for every hour spent on a booking, from the initial consultation to the post-trip follow-up. 

She credits TTAND’s integrated technology with helping her work efficiently while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

You’ve seen travel evolve from paper bookings to online agencies and now AI. What have those changes taught you about embracing new technology?

“A lot of people said they would never use email. A lot of people said they would never shop online because their credit card’s going to get compromised. Everybody uses email. Everybody shops online. Everybody’s going to use AI. That’s the way that I see it," she said.

Gardiner recalled a corporate agent who insisted she would never use a mouse after years of typing commands. Eventually, she adapted. 

Gardiner believes AI will follow a similar path, but says advisors need to be mindful of privacy and data security when using it.

“You have to go in with your eyes wide open. You have to be careful of what you do and how you do it, and you have to make sure that you do it in a secure way," she said.

You call your ChatGPT assistant “Sassy Lassie.” How did she get her name, and how is she helping you?

“I call her Sassy Lassie because I gave her a sassy personality, and she talks to me, and she’s like my personal assistant. So when I ask her to do something, and it comes back, it’s pretty much the way I would do it.”

Gardiner turns to Sassy Lassie for branding, social media and business planning. 

After completing a six-month luxury course through TTAND, she photographed 25 pages of handwritten notes and asked Sassy Lassie to create a 12-month plan. 

The result was “exactly what I would have done on my own," she said.

When Gardiner told a friend in human resources that Sassy Lassie was starting to think like her, the friend asked, “But how do you know that Sassy Lassie isn’t training you?”

What gives you the most satisfaction now that you’re working directly with travellers?

“I love that I can have a relationship with a client. And while I’m speaking with them, realize that one of my preferred friendly suppliers is there to fulfil their dreams, and then bring those two worlds together, and create a memory for someone," she said. 

“I think I get the most joy out of being able to make someone’s experience come true, someone’s vision of travel come true.”

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