Quality over Quantity & Owning an Independent Travel Agency, with Kemi Wells-Conrad (Canada)

My guest today is Kemi, originally from the UK but residing in Vancouver Canada for the past 12 years. In the height of COVID, she decided to launch her own travel agency, Wells Luxury Travel, a boutique collective for advisors specializing in four key pillars: adventure, celebration, sustainability and wellness travel. In our discussion we go into her very candid business thinking behind starting an independent agency versus the more popular route of joining a larger host agency. Kemi is a member of the Travel + Leisure Advisory Board, is a featured A-Lister in their annual awards and sits on Virtuoso’s Global Member Advisory Board and the Canadian Board. She also sits on the advisory board for Lindblad Expeditions - National Geographic. This conversation is most suited for those who are travel advisors, who may be wondering what’s next. Who may look at those running the host agency they’re beneath, wondering could I do that too? Or perhaps there’s a lot of noise, distraction, hard to know what is real or right, can I opt out? Or those like me, who felt like a host agency served them very well for a period of time, who may be looking around saying hey I’ve been here, I’ve given to them, they’ve given to me, it’s time for me to move up and on, and for someone else to fill my spot.  I hope you all enjoy this conversation, this will be the last one for a bit as I head out on some travel abroad of my own. I plan to do a solo episode for you all, recapping my experience with this first collection of conversations, what I’ve learned, what I’ve loved, what topics may continue, what may change.