We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marcia Simon, a travel advisor and owner of Friendly Group Travel, a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Marcia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

Yes, absolutely. While ethics and trust-building are core for any successful business across all industries, my background as a journalist relies on research and objectivity. Always digging beneath the surface, escaping the mundane and striving to find new experiences is a challenge and a joy. Add to that, 20 years in public relations, including event planning and crisis management. The mantra remains, Hope for the Best and Plan for the Worst. What if the weather does not cooperate? What if your flight is cancelled? Thinking ahead to prevent and deal with unexpected circumstances is part of the overall travel advisor advantage – at least for me. I am a big believer in ongoing education, and maintain accreditation status as both a travel advisor (through IATAN and The Travel Institute) and in public relations (through the Public Relations Society of America.)

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Relations path that included event planning, crisis management, and – of course – the nuts and bolts of publicity and press releases, pitching stories and creating content as part of a strategic communication plan. No matter how you look at it, it all comes down to good communication and customer service.

I have always loved travel… from family road trips as a child heading from Long Island down the Skyline Drive to visit cousins in Florida, later taking my son on popular and predictable Disney and Caribbean beach vacations and visiting extended family in Europe and then branching out to places unknown and experiential wandering. A funny thing happens when your children grow up and, if you have done a good job as a parent, they embrace the launchpad of life, building their own futures, however influenced they may be by the values you ingrained in their beings. As an empty nester, I yearned for travel. Instinctive to a journalist, I want to know more and dig deeper into the way people live in different parts of the world. With all the negativity in the world and news today, it is essential to keep rediscovering just how beautiful this world really is. The power of nature, the kindness of strangers, and the similarities among people literally everywhere keep me loving the way travel keeps us feeling positive about life and everything it is.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

You can spend years earning trust, and you can lose it in a heartbeat. Honesty, ethics, high standards, reliability and the ability to listen are all part of the type of customer service that makes working with a trusted travel advisor a no-brainer.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Word of mouth. Without a doubt. Social media is surely helpful but, most of all, when a client recommends Friendly Group Travel to their friends and family, new clients come with a level of comfort and trust that gives the relationship a boost from the start. I write articles for a few local media outlets. And I take a lot of photos when I travel and post them on my friendly group travel Facebook and Instagram pages. A great photo speaks volumes about a destination; a portfolio of travel images tells an audience about the travel philosophy and approach of the curator toward a trip worth taking.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.friendlygrouptravel.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/friendlygrouptravel
• Facebook: Facebook.com/friendlygrouptravel
• Other: Email: [email protected] Contact no.: +1 860-399-0191