By Mike Foster/ Early in my career, I thought I understood exactly what a client wanted. I was bidding for the travel account of our city. City hall, the mayor, senior leadership. It felt like an important piece of business, not just financially, but reputationally. I assumed – confidently – that cost savings would be the deciding factor. After all, this was public money, and always open to scrutiny.
So, I built our proposal around lowest price – cheaper fares, and savings wherever they could be found. On paper, it was compelling.
We didn’t win the bid.
Instead of moving on, I asked for a meeting with the city manager who had led the process. Not to argue the outcome, but to learn. I wanted to understand what we had missed, so we could do better next time.
He was generous with his time – and very clear on a lesson I never forgot.
Yes, cost mattered. But cost was not the same thing as price. Saving a hundred dollars on an airline ticket might look good on a spreadsheet, but if it required extra connections, longer travel days, missed preparation time, and added stress before an important meeting, it could end up costing far more. Time had value. Energy had value. Arriving focused and prepared had value. Flexibility mattered, and so did reliability.
My proposal had optimized for the most visible number, while ignoring the real trade-offs being made.
I left that meeting realizing something important: I had assumed I knew what the client wanted, without first understanding what actually mattered to them.
That lesson stayed with me – not because it cost me a piece of business, but because it reframed how I thought about my role. The job was not to find the lowest price. It was to design the right outcome, taking into account costs that don’t always show up on an invoice.
The role we inherited
For many years, the role of the travel advisor was clear – and valuable.
Information was scarce. Suppliers were difficult to access. Booking travel required expertise, relationships, and systems most consumers didn’t have. Advisors were knowledgeable generalists, trusted to navigate options, secure arrangements, and solve problems as they arose.
That role built strong careers and lasting client relationships. It deserves respect. But it was also shaped by the environment it lived in.
Distribution had layers. Information moved slowly. Clients relied on advisors not just for judgement, but for access. Much of the advisor’s value was embedded in “finding” – the right fare, the right hotel, the right routing – and making it all come together.
What’s changed is not the professionalism of advisors. It’s the context around them.
What changed – and why reacting is no longer enough
Information became easier to access, but harder to interpret. Clients began arriving with screenshots, spreadsheets, and strong opinions – often without a clear sense of the trade-offs involved.
Travel itself became more complex – more rules, more exceptions, more disruption. Small decisions now carry outsized consequences.
At the same time, expectations accelerated. Clients want speed, reassurance, and certainty – often all at once.
The inherited role was built for responsiveness; this environment demands intentional design.
Reacting well is no longer enough. Advisors are now required to frame decisions before they are made, surface trade-offs early, and set expectations long before anything goes wrong.
From agent to advisor to architect
- An agent responds to requests
- An advisor guides decisions
- An architect designs the conditions for good outcomes
Architects do not just solve problems when they appear. They anticipate where friction tends to arise and design processes, boundaries, and expectations to reduce it.
This shows up everywhere in travel – leisure, group, and corporate alike. Whether planning a honeymoon, a family reunion cruise, a group tour, or a time-sensitive business trip, the work is the same: clarify what matters, make trade-offs explicit, and protect the experience from unnecessary risk.
The difference is not the type of travel; the difference is where the work happens.
Where the work really happens
Much of the advisor’s most important work happens quietly, long before anything is booked.
In the questions asked early. In expectations set while optimism is high. In documenting choices and explaining what happens if plans change.
This work is rarely visible, but it is always felt. When it’s done well, nothing dramatic happens. The trip simply works. That calm is not accidental, it is designed.
Why this changes how value is understood
When the advisor’s role is framed primarily as booking, value becomes transactional. It is judged by speed, access, and visible price. When the role is understood as designing outcomes, value becomes easier to recognize.
Clients may not see every decision being made on their behalf, but they feel the result – in fewer surprises, clearer communication, and greater confidence when plans change.
This is true across every type of travel. A leisure traveller feels it when a trip unfolds smoothly. A group organizer feels it when expectations are clear and issues are handled calmly. A family feels it when trust replaces anxiety.
In each case, the advisor’s value is embedded in the experience as a whole.
This is why conversations about fees often become easier as advisors grow into this role. When value is framed around outcomes rather than transactions, compensation no longer feels defensive. It becomes part of a professional relationship grounded in judgement, responsibility, and care.
A role worth naming
None of this diminishes the work advisors have always done. It builds on it.
The industry did not suddenly become more complex. It gradually asked more of the role – more judgement, more foresight, more responsibility – often without naming the shift.
What many advisors struggle with today is not whether they provide value, but how to articulate it. Naming the role helps.
It helps advisors recognize the work they already do. It helps clients understand what they are really buying. And it helps the profession move forward with confidence rather than defensiveness.
The future of travel advising does not belong to those who simply respond faster. It belongs to those who think more clearly, design more intentionally, and take responsibility for outcomes that matter.
That work may not always be visible. But it is felt – and increasingly, it is chosen.
(After nearly 50 years in the Canadian travel industry, Mike Foster recently retired as the president of Nexion Travel Group Canada, having also served with ACTA, TICO (still serving), and other industry organizations, as well as teaching tourism at Fanshawe College, in London, Ont., during his distinguished career).
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