Offloaded
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Richard Taylor and Ann-Catherine Jones are joined by guests to discuss the Australian travel industry.This is a Travel Community Hub production. Visit https://www.travelcommunityhub.com/ for more information and to sign up for our newsletter that includes more details on each podcast, as well as other good stuff.
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1 day ago
The Hero In Your Back Pocket, with Tamara Kobiolke
In the final episode of the first series Richard and AC were joined by *Tamara Kobiolke*, to discuss hotel representation and why everyone should have a 'hero in their back pocket.'
TK illuminated us on how advisors can best utilise her and folks like her to 'sprinkle the fairydust' onto a booking to make magical things happen, and in turn ensure clients keep coming back.
Her businessss is called *Numinous Luxury Travel Representation* (*website*), and is based in Melbourne.
Aside from learning a thing or two about hotel representation we discussed violinists at candlelit tables, arriving on a helicopter to rescue a fam trip armed only with cashmere blankets and hot chocolate, and why we should trawl coffee shops for potential staff members. She also tells us why she wants us all to bother her with phone calls and emails.
*Our series sponsor is Viking, and this is a Travel Community Hub production. More info is available at **www.travelcommunityhub.com**
Tamara's LinkedIn - **https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamara-kobiolke-0b21601a/**
Richard's LinkedIn -** https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-taylor-tch**
AC's LinkedIn - **https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-catherine-jones-158b3260/**
Jerry Kobiolke on Facebook : **https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009423543360*
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Aug 12, 2023
50 Shades of Influencer, with Myles Stedman and Honida Beram
Richard and AC were joined by journalists Myles Stedman and Honida Beram to discuss the rightful place of influencers within the travel industry.
Myles started all this off with an article entitled "Why The Travel Industry Should 'Cancel' Influencers", which led to Honida - aka Honey, of Cruising With Honey and an influencer in her own right - responding to it. And that has led to this podcast, where we wanted to get into this topic in greater detail.
What transpired was a delightful conversation that we hope you'll enjoy.
* Myles' original article, "Why The Travel Industry Should 'Cancel' Influencers" is *located here**.*
* Honey's reponse article, "Cancel Culture Has Reached New Heights", *is here**.*
* Myles' follow-up piece on the subject, "What the Travel Industry REALLY Thinks About Influencers" *is here.*
Myles is an Associate Editor at *Travel Daily*, also writing for other publications in the *Business Publishing Group* stable that includes *travelBulletin**, * *Cruise Weekly** *and the consumer-facing *Travel & Cruise Weekly*. * *
Honida's blog, with a mere 375,000 subscribers, is *Cruising With Honey*, and within the industry she's perhaps best known for her *Cruising With Honey Facebook page*. She can also be found on Instagram and no doubt other platforms too, but we've run out of energy searching the links for you. Just Google it!
*Our series sponsor is Viking, and this is a Travel Community Hub production. More info is available at **www.travelcommunityhub.com**
Myles' LinkedIn - **https://www.linkedin.com/in/myles-stedman-a056b1105/**
Honey's LinkedIn - **https://www.linkedin.com/in/honida-beram-0976806b/**
Richard's LinkedIn -** https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-taylor-tch**
AC's LinkedIn - **https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-catherine-jones-158b3260/*
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Jul 9, 2023
Nicola Strudwick - Regional Agents and Professional Bed Testers
"If you don't do it, it just does not get done".
Richard Taylor and Ann-Catherine Jones were joined by Nicola Strudwick for this episode that talks about the unique needs of regional travel agents and advisors.
Nicola's job title is General Manager Sales at Travellers Choice, a national retail travel group whose independent member travel agencies are the only shareholders. They represent travel agents located throughout Australia's capital cities, metropolitan and regional areas, and it was the uniqueness of those regional agents that we wanted to delve further into.
Nicola also talked of her extensive work she's done with tourism students, guiding them towards travel with an enthusiasm that we thing you'll be hard pressed to equal elsewhere.
Along the way we heard stories about professional bed-testers and being helicoptered onto warships with briefcases full of cash.
You can find out more about Travellers Choice here: *https://www.travellerschoice.com.au/*
*Our series sponsor is Viking, and this is a Travel Community Hub production. More info is available at **www.travelcommunityhub.com**
Nicola's LinkedIn - **https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicola-strudwick/**
Richard's LinkedIn -** https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-taylor-tch**
AC's LinkedIn - **https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-catherine-jones-158b3260/*
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Jun 11, 2023
Roslyn Ranse - Elevating The Profession
Richard Taylor and Ann-Catherine Jones meet Travel Agent Achievers (TAA) founder Roslyn Ranse about elevating the profession of the travel advisor.
As the first frontline travel advisor to come onto the show, we were interested in Ros’ take on the current state of play in the industry and the new dominant force that is the mobile travel advisor.
Ros also tells about her motivation to start her learning and development platform Travel Agent Achievers and what support she can offer travel advisors to become more polished, more professional and more successful.
She lets us in on the secret of how she juggles being a mum, running a million dollar travel business, hosting a podcast, mentoring other advisors and running the Travel Agent Achievers community.....and apparently it doesn’t take a time machine in the lounge room to be able to fit it all in!
*You can learn more about Travel Agent Achievers here :* *https://www.travelagentachievers.com/*
*Our series sponsor is Viking, and this is a Travel Community Hub production. More info is available at **www.travelcommunityhub.com**
Ros' LinkedIn - **https://www.linkedin.com/in/roslynranse/**
Richard's LinkedIn -** https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-taylor-tch**
AC's LinkedIn - **https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-catherine-jones-158b3260/*
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May 22, 2023
Peter Kollar, Leotards and Travel Industry Introverts
Richard Taylor and Ann-Catherine Jones speak to CLIA's Head of International Training & Development , *Peter Kollar*.
We wanted to get Pete's take on the cruise industry and his rather large influence on how cruise is positioned and sold to consumers. Whilst doing that we found out he is a former primary school teacher than ended up traversing the globe on cruise ships dressed in leotards. We also discussed the increasing diversity in cruise passengers, why much of the travel industry are introverts, and why you can't judge new clients by their handbags.
More officially, Peter is a seasoned voice for the cruise segment, designing professional development programs on behalf of CLIA - the representing trade body of the cruise industry. He's had a career of more than 25+ years in the industry, from onboard roles of servicing guests and training crew through to his current role.
Peter's list of achievements would take too long to type, so head to his LinkedIn profile (listed below) if you'd like more intormation.
*Our series sponsor is Viking, and this is a Travel Community Hub production. More info is available at www.travelcommunityhub.com
Pete's LinkedIn - **https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-kollar-425b2954/**
Richard's LinkedIn -** https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-taylor-tch**
AC's LinkedIn - **https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-catherine-jones-158b3260/*
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Apr 27, 2023
Fiona Dalton, and Is Travel Advisory a 'One Size Fits All'?
*Richard Taylor* and *Ann-Catherine Jones *are joined by travel industry doyenne *Fiona Dalton* for a discussion on, well, a great many things. Fiona is the General Manager Australia & New Zealand for Virtuoso Travel, the 'leading global network of travel agencies specializing in luxury and experiential travel', in their own words.
For all our episodes, visit https://podcast.travelcommunityhub.com/
Our series sponsor is Viking, who are wonderful people with a product you need to experience!
https://www.vikingcruises.com.au/
This is a Travel Community Hub production, and more info, including options to contact us and sign up for our newsletter, is available at www.travelcommunityhub.com
Fiona's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/fiona-dalton-7830356/
Richard's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-taylor-tch
AC's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-catherine-jones-158b3260/
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Mar 25, 2023
Andy Buerckner, Sno n' Ski, and Social Media
*"A Problem Shared"
*Richard Taylor and AC Jones speak to Platinum Travel Group CEO Andy Buerckner, for very frank discussion on the trauma the industry is still carrying, and how he's rebuilding his business after the pandemic.
In June 2020, Andy made a post on LinkedIn entitled 'It's Time To Say I'm Struggling', that received huge feedback and led to the piece being run by KarryOn, here: https://karryon.com.au/community/its-time-to-say-im-struggling-andrew-buerckner-platinum-travel/
It was a piece of writing that showed many others that it was OK to not be OK, and led to hundreds of important conversations.
Richard and AC ask what happened afterwards, and how Andy and his sister Sarah began to rebuild their business.
You can follow Andy on LinkedIn here, where the highlighted post is the Andy's 'Address To The Nation' on Sky News that we talk about in the podcast: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-buerckner
AC openly questions whether we should all be pumping social media for business, and finally we're joined by Emily Porter of Sno n' Ski for a chat about the state of play for agents selling ski to travellers. More information on Sno n' Ski can be found at https://snonski.com.au/
Our series sponsor is Viking, in case you weren't paying attention.
https://www.vikingcruises.com.au/
This is a Travel Community Hub production, and more info is available at www.travelcommunityhub.com
Richard's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-taylor-tch
AC's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-catherine-jones-158b3260/
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Mar 9, 2023
Steve Hui, Ormina Tours and How To Behave On Fam Trips
*"There IS such a thing as a free lunch"
Richard and AC are joined by the founder iFlyFlat, Steve Hui, to uncover the secrets of his unique business that helps travellers effectively collect and use airline and credit card points to fly in business class.
Steve gives us an industry insider lesson on both status and points, and explains why he has the highest booking fees of any travel agent in Australia. We plunder the best trips and tricks, and ask Steve whether he pretends to be someone else while travelling in taxis.
You can follow Steve on LinkedIn here: **https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenhui/**
AC covers her 10 Golden Rules of How To Behave On Fam Trips (copyright Ann-Catherine Jones) that she made up a few minutes before the show.
And Richard is joined by Anna Jones (no relation to AC Jones, even though her name is also AC Jones) from Ormina Tours for this week's Sales Call. Anna speaks on how the company has adapted its modus operandi to adjust to the overwhelm experienced by travel advisors, and offers advice for them on effective and efficient selling.
Our series sponsor is Viking, in case you weren't paying attention.
This is a Travel Community Hub production, and more info is available at www.travelcommunityhub.com
Richard's LinkedIn -** https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-taylor-tch**
AC's LinkedIn - **https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-catherine-jones-158b3260/*
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Feb 25, 2023
Dean Long (Part 2), LIVN and Leave Means Leave
*Offloaded is a new podcast for the Australian travel industry, presented by Richard Taylor and Ann-Catherine "AC" Jones. *
*Leadership and Love - Part 2
Richard and AC are joined again for Part 2 of the interview with AFTA (Australian Federation of Travel Agents) CEO, Dean Long.
In Part 2 we discuss our industry's impact on government and how that might continue. We also cover the important issue of who in the travel industry knows the most about hot chips.
AC talks about leave meaning leave, and LIVN (Livn.world) COO Steve Martinez is here to talk about how travel professionals, their groups and online agencies can better employ technology to connect to tours, activities and attractions.
Our series sponsor is Viking, who have always been supportive and wanted to help get Offloaded up and running. We’re really grateful for their support. *
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Feb 18, 2023
Dean Long (Part 1), Collette, and Bring Back Kindness
*Offloaded is a new podcast for the Australian travel industry, presented by Richard Taylor and Ann-Catherine "AC" Jones. *
*“Leadership and Love”
In this opening episode Richard and AC are joined by AFTA (Australian Federation of Travel Agents) CEO, Dean Long. With the arrival of 2023 and the prospect of the first full calendar year of travel since Australian borders reopened, it’s a great time to speak to the leader of the industry’s peak body.
In this first half of the interview we challenge Dean with some of the perceptions that some have about AFTA, discuss how the pandemic was handled and look at how the association is adapting for the future.
AC talks kindness, and Collette’s Head of Sales David Farrar dropped by to tell us about the current explosion in demand for small group touring.
Our series sponsor is Viking, who have always been supportive and wanted to help get Offloaded up and running. We’re really grateful for their support. *
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Feb 16, 2023
Trailer!
Richard Taylor and Ann-Catherine Jones present Offloaded, the podcast launched in 2023 that charts the progress of a recovering Australian travel industry.
This is the trailer episode to get things going. AC and Richard introduce themselves and explain the concept of the podcast, to avoid boring you at the start of every episode :)
Offloaded is a Travel Community Hub production. For more information and to sign up for information on these sessions and other good stuff, visit https://www.travelcommunityhub.com/
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