There’s a reason nearly every website has a testimonials or review page. People love to know what other people think about dining at a new restaurant or visiting a popular salon in town. First-hand knowledge is valuable in the travel industry, and if you can personally speak to the excellence of a property or destination, your guests will be at ease knowing it comes with your recommendation.
What are FAMs?
FAM trips, or familiarization trips, are designated opportunities for advisors to visit a destination to learn more about it for their travel business. Often deeply discounted, FAM trips are offered by vendors to travel advisors and industry experts to get first-hand experience of the property or package before booking it for their clients.
Why we recommend FAMs
FAMs are an excellent way to learn more about a particular property or vendor brand. Aside from the first-hand experience of staying or sailing with the vendor as a guest would, you can learn directly from the staff about their methods, partners and opportunities to enhance your stay that may not be common knowledge.
It’s also beneficial to get the lay of the land for your clients. Countries vary in their relative safety and openness to visitors, and helping your clients navigate cultural differences, safety protocols and social norms will ensure they’re well prepared and can enjoy their time abroad.
This is especially true in today’s climate. Every country approaches COVID precautions differently, and it’s important to help your clients navigate the different protocols for testing, quarantining and social distancing. It’s much easier having done it all yourself and prepared the necessary documentation, downloaded the right apps and contacted the right government agencies to get where you need to go.
FAMs are also an excellent way to promote your business on social media. We encourage advisors to chronicle their trips on Facebook and Instagram so clients can watch videos, see their pictures and get a feel for the trip. Advisors can go live in their hotel to showcase the comfortability of their suites and the quality of the amenities. Clients even request a booking immediately after watching an Instagram story. What better way to get clients excited about a destination than showing them how you’re being pampered?
Levarté Travel FAMs
Levarté offers several member-exclusive FAMs every year. These typically come at an extreme discount for advisors, and are an excellent way to stay connected to your Levarté Travel team and other members. Past destinations include Dubai, Punta Cana and Puerto Vallarta. For 2022, we’re planning at least 2-member exclusive FAM trips, Greece and a Celebrity Cruise. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with future FAM announcements.