The Travel Agent Next Door held their 4th annual conference at the beautiful Majestic Colonial resort in Punta Canada this week and one thing was clear – this is a company with a big heart and lots of passion for helping people, both agents and locals alike.

“We have something called the 3Ws – Win for the agent, a Win for the supplier who is our business partner and a Win for TTAND," Founder Flemming Friisdahl tells TravelPulse Canada. “Everything we do is based around the 3Ws."

Approximately 140 agents, 30 suppliers and 10 staff attend the conference, a conference Friishdahl says is very different than others in the industry as they allow agents to choose between different sessions and they also provide a “One on One” with suppliers - a huge benefit to agents who don’t have that opportunity to connect with them.

“We do the one on ones because it’s about building the relationship with the suppliers. If you don’t have that relationship, when you need help, when you need support then you’re going to be in trouble. The interaction between agents and suppliers here is bar none.”

Friishdahl doesn’t charge a conference fee to attend, as the company doesn’t use it as an income generator, but more as a tool to overall success.

“It’s important to me to have the agents here. This is us saying to our agents, hey, we want to be successful and the way we do that is selling travel,” said Friishdahl. "It’s one of our tools and no one gives them as many tools or as big of a bang for their buck than we do.”

Giving Back

So far the week hasn't been all sessions and sun however. On Tuesday, a group of about 85 TTAND agents went to two local schools to help paint a basketball court and spend time with the kids. The schools were so in need, they didn’t even have a soccer ball. Stacey Knight of Alberta donated soccer shirts, shorts, socks and also medals for the kids. About 90% of agents brought down bags of supplies with them to help donate to the program.

The Travel Agent Next Door has also partnered with Pencils for Kids, a charity dedicated to helping women in Nigeria graduate and go on to attain scholarships. The company has been working with the charity since their 2nd conference and has helped over 250 women graduate. Pencils for Kids focuses on self-sustaining; it’s not about giving money but teaching the skills necessary to flourish.

“Their philosophy is feed them for a day, feed for life and 96-97% of money goes directly to those in need,” said Friisdahl. “Pencils for Kids is run entirely by volunteers and we see the difference in these lives.”

This year The Travel Agent Next Door raised a total of $9,300 (at press time) via a draw and a silent auction. For every $20 donation, agents got a ticket and could also bid on the silent auction. The Travel Agent Next Door matched donations up to $4,000 and agents raised the remaining $5,300.

One of the silent auction items was a cruise from RCL, where the late Mary Ogaki was a big supporter of Pencil for Kids.

Friishdahl says the biggest thing for him is not about being successful through the number of agents but it’s about being successful by helping agents who want to increase their sales. It's also about the opportunity to talk to agents and see what the opportunities are.

“It’s very important for me, I mean when did I become more important than my customer? It’s just not what I believe in. This isn’t a week for me to relax, it’s a week for my agents to relax and learn and for our suppliers to bond.”