Industry Events

Five Ways to Build Stronger Advisor-Supplier Partnerships

By Newsdesk Feb 20, 2025 10:53am

Internova Travel Group’s annual Internova PLUS event kicked off 2025 by convening industry "power brokers" at the Vinoy Resort & Golf Club in St. Petersburg, FL.

To attend Internova PLUS, travel provider partners must send high-level representation from their leadership team, including owners, general managers and C-Suite executives. In turn, Internova vets advisors with an application process and verified production. At the event, these "travel elite" came together for a series of Think Tank sessions where they tackled industry challenges with thought exercises designed to co-create richer future partnerships. Five key insights emerged from the 28 individual sessions:

1. The Future of Collaboration: Data-Driven, In-Person Connections

The future of luxury travel collaboration lies in precise, data-driven matchmaking between advisors and travel partners. Additionally, there is growing recognition that luxury sellers beyond major metropolitan areas play an increasingly critical role in the industry. Expanding relationships with travel advisors outside of key hubs such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago is a worthy investment for luxury travel providers.

2. Marketing That Rises Above a "Sea of Sameness"

Luxury travel advisors receive hundreds of partner emails daily, making it difficult to cut through the noise. AI and machine learning now play a pivotal role in helping advisors prioritize content, filter offers and identify the most relevant opportunities for their clients. Top takeaways on how to stand out:

Personalization is paramount – Mass emails are often automatically deleted based on email platform settings, so direct communication is much preferred
Update to stay up-to-date – Maintaining buyer profiles with accurate specialties and geographical data helps ensure advisors receive relevant invitations and offers
Embrace artificial intelligence – AI can streamline supplier-advisor communications, ensuring a higher level of efficiency in luxury travel planning

3. Relationship-Building Shortcuts

Internova PLUS participants universally agreed that personal relationships are the essential driver in business development. Three factors emerged as most likely to build connections that create effective relationships—trust, transparency and communication:

Win-win – Trust develops most quickly between advisors and partners when each acts simply in the mutual interest of the client
Strong support and quick responses – A lack of response, or an untimely one, can break trust even between reliable partners
Transparency and honesty – If something goes wrong, advisors expect partners to communicate proactively rather than reactively

4. Supplier Selection in Crowded Markets

With dozens of luxury destination management companies and hotels in major global hubs such as London, New York and Paris, selecting the right provider has become a complex process. Internova-affiliated advisors now rely on data-driven insights to match clients with the best-fit luxury experiences, ensuring that bookings align more seamlessly with their clients’ specific preferences. This level of hyper-personalization requires a deeper exchange of information from both parties:

References are key – Advisors prioritize partners with whom they or a trusted colleague have successfully worked before
Clear differentiation – Travel providers must readily share their unique selling points and offerings compared to competitors

5. What’s Next with Industry and Agency Events

Bigger is not better, according to Internova PLUS 2025 delegates. They much prefer smaller, curated events that offer the opportunity for more meaningful connections, and where information overload and untargeted networking are less likely. While one-to-one appointments remain the gold standard, attendees prefer the trend toward data-driven matched meetings as well as “loosely structured” networking opportunities. They also appreciate events with charitable endeavors that give back.