@Juan Landaverde thought of you! This was at Excellence El Carmen in Punta Cana. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXh9qjCD4-T/?igsh=MXFzb2RhMDZzcDJ2Zw==

Been getting some questions about something I've been quietly building , so figured I'd open it up to the group. I run group trips for adults 50+ and rooming compatibility has always been one of the trickiest parts. Wrong pairing kills the trip experience before it starts. So I built a traveler compatibility and rooming match system intake form plus an AI-assisted screening tool that analyzes travel style, rooming preferences, lifestyle compatibility, and flags potential friction points before anyone books. It's designed for advisors and group trip operators who want to reduce rooming drama and streamline the intake process. The interest has been enough that I'm now looking for 3–5 travel advisors who run group trips to beta test it with a real client group. You use it, I refine it based on your feedback. If it saves you one uncomfortable rooming conversation, it's probably worth it. Two questions: 1. Is rooming compatibility actually a pain point in your group trips? 2. If this were a polished tool you could license and use with your clients what would make it worth paying for? Drop a comment or DM me. Genuinely want to know if this is useful to the people in this room before I build it out further.

Link to the full article from Travel and Leisure: https://www.travelandleisure.com/best-solo-travel-advice-11931112

You've probably heard the term. A trusted person uses their social credibility to fill a group trip, and the operator rewards them for it. Most advisors learn about it, nod, and move on. Here's what I think gets missed: the model isn't just a free-trip perk. It's a structured system for filling group departures without depending entirely on your own reach and it works whether you're running custom trips or booking groups onto established itineraries. The concept breaks down into three roles: 1. You — the Guide. You design or select the experience, hold the trust, and lead the group. Every trip runs through your credibility. 2. The Co-Leader. Someone already booked on your trip who agrees to invite people from their own network onto the same departure. They don't plan anything. They just say "I'm going come with me." You reward them with trip credits, a room upgrade, or a reduced rate depending on how many convert. 3. The Referral Connector. Someone who doesn't travel but sends people your way a local connector, a community contact, a trusted friend. A simple cash or credit thank-you per converted booking is enough. What makes this work is matching the reward to your trip economics before you make any promises. A $150 credit on a $3,000 trip is a 5% cost. That same Co-Leader's converted referral earns you $300–$400 in commission. The math holds. The real shift is in how you identify Co-Leaders. The best ones aren't strangers you recruit. They're people already inside your community or client list who are enthusiastic about a specific trip. They comment on your posts, tag friends, ask about roommates. That excitement is the signal. The ask isn't a pitch it's an honor. "I thought of you first. If you know 2–3 people who'd love this trip, just tell them about it and send them my way. I'll take care of the rest." I've been formalizing this system inside my own community and it's changed how I think about trip launches. Instead of one channel (me), every departure has 2–3 people actively talking about it in their own networks.

Working through pricing on a New Orleans group trip right now… Curious how others approach this: Do you anchor higher with a premium hotel option first, or lead with the most accessible price point? I’m seeing pros/cons both ways depending on the audience.