Wingbuddy takes flight with growth & B2B strategy: PAX connects with CEO & Founder Chris Hakim

Since its beginnings in 2013, Wingbuddy has focused on a simple concept: offering rich, all-inclusive travel experiences that are easy to book. Long focused on direct-to-consumer sales, the Québec -based company now has renewed ambitions on the B2B side.

Here, Wingbuddy’s Founder and CEO, Chris Hakim, reflects on the company’s history, its growth, its vision for the market, and the relationships he hopes to strengthen with travel agencies.

PAX: Tell us a bit about Wingbuddy’s story.

Chris Hakim (CH): Wingbuddy didn’t happen overnight. I grew up in travel through my mom's agency, Voyages Routair, which she has been running here in Québec for almost 40 years. So yes, you could say I’m a true “travel guy.” In my twenties, I explored other industries, but I eventually joined the agency in 2008 with a clear goal: bring in new tools, modern booking platforms, and fresh ideas. At that time, the internet was already transforming the travel industry, and advisors had to adapt, just like they have to today. In 2011, I officially registered the name Wingbuddy, and by 2013, I decided to turn it into a full-fledged tour operator entirely dedicated to rich, hassle-free travel experiences. That’s really when the story of Wingbuddy, as people know it today, began.

PAX: When did the company officially launch?

CH: As mentioned, I had been working on the idea for a while, but Wingbuddy truly took off in 2013. This year, we’re proud to be celebrating our 12th anniversary!

PAX: Why did you choose the name Wingbuddy?

CH: That’s a question I get all the time! The name Wingbuddy came from the term wingman, which means “partner.” The goal was, and still is, to be every traveller’s trusted travel partner. We’re a proudly Québec-based company, and at first, I hesitated to keep the name because I wasn’t sure how it would be received. In the end, Québec travellers truly embraced it — even if the pronunciation in French isn’t always perfect.

PAX: Are you the sole founder, or did you start the company with partners?

CH: Yes, I’m the main founder of Wingbuddy, but I’ve always considered the very first team members as essential contributors, almost co-founders. They played a huge role in laying the foundation and shaping the company’s growth. We grew together, learned together, and faced challenges side by side. From day one, Wingbuddy was built around three clear priorities: making rich travel experiences more accessible, ensuring traveler satisfaction, and taking care of our employees. Over the years, more talented people have joined us, strengthening our team and helping us scale. Today we have over 60 team members and we expect to reach around 100 employees within the next two years. I’m deeply grateful to everyone who has contributed and continues to push Wingbuddy forward every day.

PAX: What motivated you to start the company?

CH: From the start, I wanted to create something different, to make experiential travel around the world as easy to book as a single click. I quickly realized that this segment hadn’t evolved much in decades, even as the rest of the travel industry was being transformed by technology. Wingbuddy was born to fill that gap by offering turnkey, once-in-a-lifetime travel experiences that are easy to book and completely hassle-free.

PAX: What’s the concept behind the company?

CH: The concept is simple: offer rich, hassle-free travel experiences around the world that are turnkey and as easy to book as a flight or an all-inclusive vacation!

We currently offer three main types of turnkey packages: tour Packages – organized, semi-organized, and freedom; All-Inclusive Ocean Cruises; and All-Inclusive River Cruises Every one of our departures is guaranteed, no matter how many travelers are on board, and we also handle custom group requests.

PAX: What sets Wingbuddy apart in the travel market?

CH: What truly sets us apart is the combination of value and quality we deliver, our obsession with traveller satisfaction, the ease of booking, and the fact that every departure is guaranteed. Technology also plays a central role, it’s what allows us to deliver all of that efficiently and consistently.

PAX: Who is your main clientele?

CH: Our travellers are primarily retired and pre-retired individuals, but we’re seeing strong growth among other groups too. People travel with us as couples, with friends, as families, and increasingly, as solo travellers!

PAX: Which products are performing the best?

CH: Our Tour Packages remain our core product line, but our All-Inclusive Ocean and River Cruises are seeing major growth as well. They’re an essential part of what we offer and have become very popular.

PAX: How has the company, its offering, and its concept evolved since the beginning?

CH: In the early days, we had only a few packages, and our first two destinations were Italy and Bali! Today, Wingbuddy offers more than 150 packages with thousands of guaranteed departures each year across over sixty countries. 

PAX: Did it take long for Wingbuddy to establish itself in the travel industry, or did success come quickly?

CH: From 2013 to 2016, we worked incredibly hard to build a foundation. It was really around 2017 that things started to take off, both organically and thanks to additional marketing efforts.

PAX: What was your strategy?

CH: I focused on turnkey travel packages with attractive itineraries and pricing that were simple to book, just like an all-inclusive vacation. From a marketing perspective, we partnered with platforms that already had strong visibility to increase awareness. Once sales started to grow, we were able to expand our product line and reinvest in operations and marketing. Although we’ve always offered commissions to travel advisors, our initial focus was on travelers themselves. Often, travellers would discover us online and then ask their advisor to book through us which we have always been very happy to support. The idea was simple: the more travellers knew about Wingbuddy, the easier and more rewarding it would be for advisors to sell our trips.

PAX: Wingbuddy presents itself as a 100 per cent Québec-based travel company headquartered in Montreal. Do you also have a presence elsewhere?

CH: We’re very proud to be a Québec-based company, with our headquarters and almost all our team here in Montreal. While we continue to grow strongly in Québec, we’re also thrilled to see more and more travellers from other regions choosing our rich, easy-to-book travel experiences supported by our team here at home.

PAX: You are both a tour operator and a travel agency, working in both B2B and B2C. Has that always been the case?

CH: Yes, that’s always been part of our model. However, up until now, our focus has been mainly on direct-to-consumer sales. We now have very exciting growth plans for our B2B business, and we’re ready to make that a priority. It’s an amazing opportunity for both agencies and advisors, and for us.

PAX: What motivated you to develop a B2B offering?

CH: We believe travel advisors deserve access to products that are appealing, reliable, and easy to book. This expansion helps us broaden our distribution network while giving agencies and advisors new ways to generate exciting, meaningful revenue. We want to be a trusted partner, one that saves them time, simplifies their work, and helps them offer their clients rich, turnkey travel experiences.

PAX: Does working with travel agencies present different challenges compared to direct sales?

CH: Yes, it does. We’ve learned how to inspire and build trust directly with travelers, and with agencies, it’s about doing the same, motivating them, showing the value of our products, and proving that they can grow their revenue with us. It’s all about building trust over time and delivering consistently on what we promise.

PAX: Are the most successful B2B products different from those that perform well in B2C?

CH: Right now, they’re quite similar. A big part of our B2B sales still comes from travelers who discover Wingbuddy through our marketing and then contact their advisor to book with us. Our goal is to keep offering the same product line for both B2C and B2B. Whether someone books directly or through an advisor, they should always get the same level of quality and value.

PAX: What do you offer agencies that collaborate with you?

CH: We offer clear, competitive commission rates, quick quotes, and dedicated support from our team. We’re also creating new tools to make it easier for advisors to promote and send our packages to clients.

PAX: How can advisors book your products?

CH: Advisors can easily submit a request through our dedicated travel agent portal and receive an almost instant quote, which they can forward directly to their clients. They can also ask questions and communicate with our agents through the same email thread where they received the quote or by phone. Although most advisor bookings still happen by phone, we’re continuously improving our online booking process. Advisors can even finalize a reservation directly from their quote email, at whatever time works best for them as we understand their work hours don’t always stop at 6 p.m.!

PAX: Do you have a dedicated B2B support team or representative?

CH: Yes. We recently hired a new director of business development for Québec and another for English Canada. We’ll be announcing them officially soon. In the meantime, agencies and advisors can always contact us at agent@wingbuddy.com for more information or to discuss collaboration opportunities.

PAX: What’s your best argument to convince agencies to work with you?

CH: Your income depends on sales and commissions. A product with no commission isn’t attractive, and a product that’s hard to sell isn’t either. At Wingbuddy, we offer attractive commissions on packages with a much higher average value than a typical booking, and they’re easy to sell. That combination maximizes revenue and growth for our partners. We also believe that the first agencies and advisors to position themselves as Wingbuddy specialists will have a real strategic advantage, one that can deliver strong, lasting growth over time.

PAX: What are your goals for the coming years?

CH: To grow together, with agencies and advisors who are as excited to work with us as we are with them. We aim to exceed 100,000 travellers per year while maintaining, and even strengthening, the quality of our products and customer experience.

PAX: Do you plan to expand your product offering or explore new markets?

CH: Definitely. We plan to expand our product line, but we do it thoughtfully. We’re not looking to launch hundreds or thousands of products overnight. We focus on developing each one carefully and adding them progressively. We’re seeing strong growth here in Québec, which we plan to continue, while also expanding beyond our borders.

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