by Brian Major
Last updated: 5:15 PM ET, Wed March 26, 2025
Two of the travel industry’s most experienced and
influential advisors have extended their organization, the Association of Black
Travel Professionals (ABTP), to encompass a ground-breaking host agency.
ABTP Travel is the brainchild of ABTP founders Veranda Adkins and Shawnta Harrison, who aim for no
less than an upheaval in the advisor-host agency relationship.
The retail travel landscape is populated by a multitude of host
agencies, including programs offered by some of the largest and most prominent retail
travel networks. There are even websites dedicated to finding host agencies.
Still, Adkins and Harrison identified a need for a
responsive host agency partner dedicated to empowering travel professionals
with critical industry knowledge, tools and resources. Recognizing that many
host agencies were not performing effectively for their members, the pair teamed
up to create ABTP Travel in January.
Led by another seasoned travel professional, Brittany Shuford, the group’s director of agency development,
ABTP Travel offers comprehensive education and training programs designed to
cultivate expertise, foster innovation and support agency growth.
TravelPulse spoke recently with Adkins and Harrison to discuss
the factors that led them to create their host agency.
TP: How did the idea of forming a host agency
originate?
SH: [Advisors] felt like they didn't want to be a number. They
didn't want to be a part of host agencies who could not pick up the phone and
have conversations with them.
Veranda and I were both doing a lot of what host agencies
are supposed to be doing, so we said since we’re already doing it, you know, why
not? So that's where ABTP host agency came to fruition. We saw the need.
TP: Is there a type of advisor that’s
particularly suited for ABTP Travel?
VA: ABTP Travel is really for those agents that are new to
the industry, who want to come in and learn how to sell travel. This is not
tied to recruiting other people or doing something like that. We have developed a training program and we
have ABTP’s professional development organization, so it's not just them
learning from myself and Shawnta they’re also learning from the people running
the host agency side.
TP: Why do advisors need the
support of an effective host agency?
VA: I think one of the biggest things is that people get
into the industry and it gets lonely because you're at home by yourself, working.
I’ve always said all [an advisor] needs is someone to clear things up and
answer questions.
TP: There are already a lot of travel host agencies.
What makes you believe there’s a need for another?
SH: We have some members who are currently with host
agencies, and the conversations and phone calls we’ve received let us know we
don't want any more [host agencies] like these! I feel like I should be able to
reach out to my host to ask questions.
The [advisors] Veranda and I spoke with don't feel like
they can ask their host agency questions. Something is wrong if you have a host
agency where you can't pick up the phone or send an e-mail and get a response
within a certain amount of time. To me that screams a problem and that's one of
the issues that we are trying to address.
TP: What has been your approach when addressing
advisors who are already ABTP members?
SH: We sent the message out to the ABTP members to say, ‘Hey,
if you are with a host [agency] and you love it, stay with ABTP the
professional development organization. You do not have to being a part of ABTP
the host agency, because that is totally separate. So it's not a matter of us trying to take any business from
any other host agencies or anything like that. We’re literally just trying to
feel a need because we've seen it in the community we work within.
TP: So you are not requiring ABTP members to
join the host agency?
VA: I think that’s one of the great things about ABTP, is that
we've [operated] the professional development organization since 2020. We want to help everybody, so you can be a
part of another host agency, or you can be independent and be a part of ABTP.
TP: What is your initial messaging to new
travel advisors?
VA: There is no such thing as free travel. Suppliers are
sending you on fams because they see the potential of what you've already done
or what you're already selling. I was in my office trying to get groups
together and do all this stuff way before somebody ever called me and said, ‘Do
you want to go on this trip?’
SH: [ABTP Travel members] can't sign up today and start
booking travel tomorrow. They have to demonstrate that they have the skill set
to be able to sell travel. It's a process. They will have to complete the
training program before they can step out and sell vacations.
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