Check-in Podcast by TMR

Episode 10: Checking-in with Jenn Lee

Jenn Lee, the vice president of sales and marketing at Travel Planners International, is one of the most vocal and vibrant personalities in the travel trade, but her road to success has not been a straight line. 

Lee, who now lives just a short distance from the Florida hometown she grew up in, speaks about her history in the travel industry during this episode of TMR’s Check-In. Lee recounts her career, including going from an hourly employee of the Publix supermarket chain to becoming the first-ever employee of Marriott Vacation Club, and now leading one of the fastest growing marketing and support agencies in the travel trade. 

Episode 9: Checking-in with Kristin Karst

AmaWaterways' Kristin Karst has come a long way, both physically and metaphorically, since her humble beginnings in Dresden, Germany. 

In this episode, Kristin joins TMR to talk about her childhood, including growing up in Eastern Germany prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and how she ended up working in hospitality. She also talks about growing AmaWaterways into the river cruise powerhouse it is today, including the philosophies that make the company so successful, and the future of the business.

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Episode 8: Checking-In with Chris Austin

What makes someone successful in dealing with the changes in roles, and locations, that a long career in the travel industry can bring? 

In this episode, TMR editor Daniel McCarthy talks  Chris Austin, the current chief sales officer at Explora Journeys, the new luxury cruise brand from the MSC Group. Austin’s 30-plus-year career in travel spans segments, from hotels (Austin spent almost two decades at Starwood Hotels) to established luxury cruise lines (he’s the former SVP of global sales and marketing at Seabourn). 

Austin speaks about his time growing up in Bournemouth, England, his most recent move from Seattle to Miami, and why he pursued a career in travel in the first place. 

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Subscribe to TMR's daily newsletter here: https://www.travelmarketreport.com/tmr-sign-up 

Follow Dan McCarthy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DMcCarthy_NY

Episode 7: Checking-In with Vanessa McGovern

Being comfortable taking risks has long been part of the formula for success for so many entrepreneurs and for GTN’s Vanessa McGovern, it was no different. 

Vanessa joined TMR’s Dan McCarthy for Check-In episode 7 to talk about her career in travel and how being comfortable taking risks, including leaving her home country of Canada, has helped her go from a youth counselor aboard a Celebrity Cruise ship to one of the industry’s leading entrepreneurs.

**Subscribe, like, and comment for more #travelagent content** 

Subscribe to TMR's daily newsletter here: https://www.travelmarketreport.com/tmr-sign-up 

Follow Dan McCarthy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DMcCarthy_NY

Episode 6: Checking-In with Brian King

Marriott is the largest hotel company in the world, a massive public company that has a bigger international presence than almost every other travel company. But, at its heart, it remains very much a family business. 
 
In this episode, TMR editor Dan McCarthy talks with Brian King, the current president of Marriott's Caribbean and Latin America divisions. King has spent his entire career at Marriott, from his humble beginning at a Marriott-owned, and now-defunct, theme park near Chicago, to now helping Marriott expand into an all-inclusive powerhouse in the Caribbean. 
 
King talks about how it feels to work for a company like Marriott, what makes Marriott different, and the legacy of Arne Sorenson. 

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Episode 5: Checking in with Betsy O'Rouke

How does someone go from dreaming about being the first female Secretary of State to a 30-plus year career in travel? For Betsy O'Rourke, the Chief Marketing Officer at Xanterra, that's exactly what happened. In this episode, Betsy talks about her career in travel and her time with companies such as Hilton, Wyndham, Royal Caribbean, and more, including what she loves most about the industry. She also touches on her favorite National Parks and how, when she was part of US Travel Assocation, her and her team helped lift the industry back up after 9/11. 

Episode 4: Checking-in With Peter Yesawich and Travel’s Recovery

More than 12 months after COVID-19 came to North America, TMR’s Dan McCarthy sits down for a short chat with MMGY Co-Founder Peter Yesawich. In April 2020, during the onset of the pandemic, Peter spoke to TMR about COVID-19 and gave four predictions on how the crisis would impact travel and how the industry would ultimately recovery. Now, in the midst of that recovery, Peter and Dan revisit those predictions and talk about Peter’s career in travel. Aside from founding MMGY, Peter has appeared as a commentator on travel trends in publications including the New York Times, wall Street Journal, CNN, CNBC, BBC, and more. 

Episode 3: Checking-in with Reginald Charlot and NYC

Perhaps no other city in the United States had been as adversely affected by COVID-19 as New York City. A New York post headline from the summer of 2020 said that “New York City is Dead Forever” because what the pandemic had done to the city. But that’s something that New York has heard before, and something that the city will, no doubt hear again. 

On this episode, TMR’s Dan McCarthy checks-in with Reginald Charlot, the managing director tourism market development with NYC & Company, the city’s tourism arm that is going to be tasked with helping bring tourists back to New York City, something that is going to be crucial to its return. 

Reginald speaks about how NYC tourism has changed throughout the pandemic and what the future looks like for the Big Apple. 

Episode 2: Checking-in with Scott Koepf

How can you put a global pandemic in perspective? It’s not an easy thing to do, but it’s something that became the task for Scott Koepf in March 2020. A week prior to COVID hitting North America, Scott, a senior vice president at Cruise Planners, underwent brain surgery, something that he expected to be his “big” event for his 2020. Little did he, or the rest of the world, know what kind of impact COVID would have.

In this conversation, Scott reflects on his career in travel and how a backpacking trip he took with his friends in his early 20’s led him to a 40-year career in the industry. He speaks about how he has dealt with the impact of COVID, both professionally and personally, and how he cannot wait to get back on the road.

Episode 1: Checking-in with Jennifer Wilson-Buttigieg

When you and your family have built careers, and a major luxury agency, in the travel industry, how do you react when the world is shut down and borders are closed seemingly overnight?

In this conversation, Jennifer-Wilson Buttigieg, the co-president and owner of Valerie Wilson Travel in New York City, talks about her experience over the last 12 months and whether or not she ever felt the urge to get out of the industry, especially as business went down more than 90% during last year.

Jennifer talks about how her family went from Iowa to London and then to New York City, all the while been driven by “the travel bug” that has drawn so many into the industry.