106. How To Make Yourself Invaluable As A Destination Wedding Specialist with Ashley Morris
Dive into one of the most exciting and lucrative niches for travel advisors - destination weddings and group travel! Ashley Morris, founder of Alpaca Your Bags Travel, shares her journey of becoming a top destination wedding planner. From setting client expectations and handling budgets to marketing yourself as an expert, Ashley covers it all. Learn the benefits of having a repeatable workflow, partnering with the right vendors, and establishing boundaries to create a sustainable business. Ashley also discusses her role with Destination Wedding University, where she provides educational resources for aspiring destination wedding advisors. If you’re looking to make destination weddings a profitable part of your business, this episode is full of strategies and tips to help you get there!
About Ashley Morris:
Ashley is the owner of award-winning Alpaca Your Bags Travel and is currently based in Kansas City, MO. She came to the travel industry after spending 15 years in media and advertising, working with clients like Target, Kohl’s, Verizon and Spotify. She started Alpaca after a less-than-ideal experience planning her own destination wedding. After being frustrated with the planning process, she went to travel agent school and started her agency in 2015. Ashley built Alpaca into a million-dollar agency in under two years, all while still working at her advertising job AND commuting from KC to NYC twice a month. This is a woman who knows something about time management and working smarter, not harder!
After having her own destination wedding, Ashley wanted to bring that joy and fun to others. She is a graduate of Will’s first ever Destination Wedding University class, way back in 2018. Ashley and her husband, Matt, are fur parents to 2 dogs (chihuahua Ellie and beagle Jack) and 2 cats (Mork & Mindy). They are avid explorers and try to explore the world as much as possible, whether it’s an African safari or towing their Airstream camper.
Today we will cover:
- (04:30) Ashley’s background and journey into travel
- (09:10) Destination Wedding University
- (12:15) Selecting a specialization; creating efficiency and profitability
- (16:55) The role of a destination wedding travel advisor
- (25:35) Can new advisors specialize in destination weddings?
- (40:15) Managing guest expectations and challenges
- (43:45) Handling price matching and contracts
- (46:15) Building strong tour operator partnerships
- (49:05) Establishing boundaries; using automation for repetitive tasks
- (58:45) Ashley’s marketing efforts; creating a referral program
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