We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Annette Benjamin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Annette below.

Hi Annette, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I have always had a love for travel and traveling during the military sparked my curiosity to explore the world.

I was once asked “if you had your own business what would it be”? I immediately answered…”it would have to be something travel related”. This was in 2010 and I had no knowledge of how to run a travel business.

That conversation remained with me over the years as I continued to travel and assist family and friends with their travel planning.

In 2015 I stepped out on faith and contacted a Travel Agency Owner who then mentored me through my first year. I also met another Travel Agency Owner while attending Delta Vacations University in 2016 who has also been a great mentor and friend.

I am thankful to both of those women for all that they have done to assist me with achieving my dreams of being successful in the travel industry.

Annette, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am Annette M. Benjamin owner/operator of sublimeXcursions LLC which is a boutique travel agency. We currently have three additional experienced travel professionals.

A love of all things travel turned into a passion for assisting clients with curating their ideal travel experience. The organizational, research and customer focused skills that my team and I employ are an integral part of our success. We take the work out of vacation planning and leverage our expertise, connections, and skills to provide our customers with the trip of their dreams.

We are a full-service agency, however group trips especially our escorted trips have provided the biggest growth in our customer base. This isn’t surprising since pictures of my personal travels always garnered positive reactions from friends who wanted to be including on the next trip.

My most recent escorted group trip consisted of 48 people. We explored Barcelona then departed on a week-long Mediterranean cruise in June 2022. This cruise dubbed Med Part TWO was a follow-up to our original Greece and Med intensive cruise that we enjoyed in June 2018 with a total of 29 passengers.

Our group cruises are always so popular and so much fun because our clients get the sublimeXperience: a stress-free vacation designed to your fancy with, without or adjacent to the group. We always enjoy group dinners, photo shoots, tours, karaoke, and dancing in the club while on board.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Covid-19 affected all our lives. It completely decimated the travel industry and affected trips that were booked for clients as well as our agency’s fifth anniversary group trip to Thailand. We unfortunately had to cancel bookings for 38 travelers that were ready to experience Bangkok and celebrate the new year in Phuket.

My team and I thought of a great pivot to provide something joyful for which to look forward within pandemic parameters. By Thanksgiving of 2020 I started advertising our next group trip which would be a cruise in June of 2022. While I knew the idea of a cruise wouldn’t be well received by some travelers due to Covid concerns, I was convinced that it would still be an awesome experience for those willing to travel.

That trip in June of 2022 is now our largest group trip thus far attended by many of the travelers that were set to travel to Thailand.

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

I am most proud of the organic growth our agency has experienced over my six years of being in business. My first official escorted sublimeXcursions trip consisted of 4 people in February 2016 when we explored Cairo, Egypt.

The growth of our clientele has been largely due to our group trips and referalls from past and existing clients. Providing excellent customer service to our clients is the most efficient and effective way to build our business.

The volume of photos that are shared during and after our group trips on social media by the attendees always provide an incredible opportunity for us to add new customers to our travel family.

Image Credits
Annette M Benjamin Melvin M Thomas Kendra C Julion