Travel Trends with Dan Christian
#1 B2B Travel Podcast. If you are looking to stay ahead in the travel industry, this new podcast hits all the highlights! The Travel Trends Podcast is where industry leaders converge to share & shape the future. Whether you're an emerging entrepreneur, a seasoned industry executive, or a dedicated travel professional, you’ll be able to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving landscape.
Uncover valuable insights, innovative strategies, and meaningful connections that will elevate your travel business or career to new heights.
Travel Trends with Dan Christian
Family, Legacy & Leadership: Inside Collette’s Journey with Jaclyn Leibl-Cote, CEO, Collette
Episode 2 of our Guided Touring Series takes an in-depth look at the evolving world of guided travel with Jaclyn Leibl-Cote, the fourth CEO and first female leader of Collette, a 107-year-old family-owned touring company. Under Jaclyn’s leadership, Collette is redefining what guided travel can mean by focusing on authenticity, small group experiences, and genuine local connections.
Collette’s commitment to authenticity shines through their approach. Jaclyn emphasizes the importance of fostering genuine connections through meaningful interactions. Their Small Group Explorations program has seen over 70% year-over-year growth by venturing beyond typical tourist paths, offering unique experiences like cooking with a Jordanian host or engaging in open, supportive discussions on sensitive topics.
Guided touring is evolving, appealing to younger travelers and families seeking meaningful, convenient, and culturally immersive experiences. Under Jaclyn’s leadership, Collette integrates family values into both its corporate culture and travel offerings.
Experience travel reimagined with Collette. Enjoy small group adventures, authentic connections, and extraordinary destinations. Say goodbye to crowded tourist hotspots and hello to meaningful moments crafted by travelers, for travelers. Transform your next journey today!
👉 Listen to Family, Legacy & Leadership: Inside Collette’s Journey Now
🔥 Season 5 Title Sponsors: TravelAI, Stay22, Propellic, Flight Centre, Collette, Flywire, Traveltek and Protect Group
Season 5 Launched Jan 15th. New Episodes Every Weds! Check out our first 4 Seasons.
https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/
I dabbled in the tour guiding side during my college years. But after college it's a family rule that our Board of Advisors had established for our for my generation generation gen 3 to the Sullivan family we had to work outside the business for at least three years after we graduated University. So I did do that in a completely different space tech space publicly traded company. As soon as my three years was up, I came in and I started doing tour design and for the Eastern US product.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome back to Travel Trends. This is your host, dan Christian, and I'm thrilled to continue our deep dive into the world of guided touring. And today is a very special episode because I have the chance to speak with the CEO of Colette, jacqueline LaBelle Cote. Now, a bit of context for today's conversation is I got to know her husband, christian, over the past year. He's become a big fan of the Travel Trends podcast and him and the team kindly agreed to sponsor season five. So we're thrilled to have this partnership. But actually I really wanted to have, as part of season five, a deep dive into the world of guided travel and I plan to interview Christian. So I reached out to Christian to schedule time to interview and I just said to him is there any chance that Jacqueline might be able to join us? And he was like by all means interview Jacqueline. It was definitely the right decision, christian and all of our listeners, as you'll hear hear today because this is a extraordinary family-owned company and she took over the helm in the last few years. So I have the opportunity in our discussion today to get her backstory, in addition to the backstory on Colette how she came into the business and when and how she grew up in the business on the product side. Which I really find fascinating because that's such an important part of multi-day guided touring is the product side. Which I really find fascinating because that's such an important part of multi-day guided touring is the product development process. So we get into quite a bit of detail about her role and the focus on product and then we talk about all the latest developments at Collette. Because when I think about guided touring one of the categories that really appeals to me is small group and it's actually one of the biggest developments they've had in recent years and is having incredible growth, as the team had highlighted to me. I actually have quite a few colleagues that have gone over to work with Colette in the last few years and absolutely love it, and I now understand why, having the chance to get to know some of their executive team. But I think over the course of this season most of our listeners have had a chance to get to know a little bit more about Colette from all the ads that we've had running our series.
Speaker 2:But the one other personal connection I wanted to make is that my father-in-law just booked his first Colette trip. He booked it last week on his 75th birthday and he is so excited to be going to Japan this September with Colette. I'm now working on getting my mom booked next and I'm hoping to join her, and the reason that I wanted to share that is because not only am I an avid multi-day tour traveler, but my family is as well, and my extended family and I certainly strongly believe it's the best way to experience a destination, especially with these small group offerings that progressive tour operators like Colette have introduced. I not only love this category, but I also I'm very bullish on its potential, as I shared a few stats in our opening episode last week about the 20% growth forecasted for the next decade, given all the demographic changes and consumer interest in this style of travel. So there's many winds blowing in the direction of multi-day touring and companies like Colette are seeing incredible growth. So we get into quite a bit of detail about that today, so I'm really looking forward to bringing this conversation together. I just want to make sure that I do highlight that all of these episodes are available in clips and highlights on our social channels, so you can check them out at Travel Trends Podcast on Instagram, linkedin and YouTube, and I also wanted to mention, given how bullish I am on this space the sponsor for this series.
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Speaker 2:There's never been a better time to plan your getaway. From the smallest getaways to the biggest bucket list trips, your travel goals are just a call or a click away. Visit flightcenterca slash travel trends to explore the latest deals, learn about emerging travel trends and start planning your next trip. Explore the latest deals, learn about emerging travel trends and start planning your next trip. Hey travel advisors, are you ready to offer your clients truly amazing global travel experiences that they will never forget? Well then, you have to meet our friends at Colette, the most trusted name in guided travel since 1918. With tours across all seven continents and five distinct travel styles, from small groups to small ship cruising, colette really has a tour for every kind of traveler.
Speaker 2:Colette's in-destination designers are passionate travelers and regional experts. They curate experiences that go beyond the surface. Think dining in a local's home, connecting with local communities and truly immersing yourself in the destination's culture. That is what Colette is all about. No cookie cutter itineraries here, no endless hotel hopping. You'll spend an average of two to three nights in a centrally located accommodation. It is the way to travel in 2025 and beyond. So it is time to make sure your clients have the opportunity to experience Colette. Don't just book a trip. Dive deeper into the destination. Create memories with Colette Travel crafted by travelers for travelers. For more information and to discover how Colette can delight your clients, check out colettecom. That's Colette C-O-L-L-E-T-T-Ecom. And now back to the show. Now let's bring Jacqueline LaBelle Coat into the conversation. I am thrilled to have you here, jacqueline. Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 1:Thanks so much Dan Really excited to be here.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Now there's a number of reasons I'm keen to have you on. One of them is obviously you are a strong female leader in this space. I have a great respect for your company and the family-owned business that you guys have operated. So I'd love to start with that, because I think that is such an important part of the Collette story and having the opportunity to speak to you now to understand how this business came to be and how you've now taken over and leading the charge. So if you wouldn't mind, give us a bit of background on Collette and the family business.
Speaker 1:So it became a family business. Well, it always was. I guess Jack Collette founded it in 1918. My grandfather met him along the way he worked in the railroad and they crossed paths and he said look, if you're ever looking to sell, I'd be interested to buy it. And my grandfather heard that he was going to sell it to someone else and said we had a handshake and he goes. You know what? You're right, the guy's kind of a jerk. Anyway, I'd rather sell it to you.
Speaker 1:And so in 1962, my grandfather took it over, so he was the second CEO, so I'm the fourth CEO in 107 years and the first female. So yeah, it's a great story. So it started super small you know day trips, you know weekend getaways, things like that and then it just expanded. My, once my dad came in after college in the 70s, really just started expanding. Where we would sell to we were more local, Rhode Island at the time expanded that and then he took it international in the 80s and from there it's just that's where the story really just grew.
Speaker 2:Well, actually I should clarify it's a good point you mentioned just in terms of where you're located, because I drove past your office last year, just before we were collaborating together, and was astounded because I was in rhode island. I was like, oh my god, that's clint's head office. So tell everybody, uh, where you are and how you came to be, uh, based there yeah, so it, it really so.
Speaker 1:We've always been based in Rhode Island. We've had different offices when we were, because we were also a travel agency at one point. So we were, you know, small, like I said, small mortar coach. We had little offices in Massachusetts, but we were always New England based. But, yeah, that's where, that's where my grandfather started it and that's where we continue to support in the community that we are in today. But, yeah, we're right off the highway, on 95. And you get right at the Massachusetts border. So you do, we're very visible when you, when you go through, and there's Duncan right there, off the exit, of course, like you'd always have a New England.
Speaker 2:Of course, exactly, I saw a lot of those. Yeah, that's fantastic. Now your background. I want to get into how you rose to be the CEO. Clearly, obviously, there's the family connection, but you've definitely earned it and deserve that opportunity and I just want to understand your journey. So clearly, you were kind of born into the family business. But take us through, if you wouldn't mind, how you decided ultimately to make travel your life, because, as I was preparing for our conversation, looking at your background, you did your BA at Rhode Island. You got your MBA as well, like you've been in the business for a number of years. But, yeah, tell us how you decided that you were going to commit your life to tourism and ultimately leading the family business.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it's travel. So I have been around it all my life. I see it through my kids eyes as they're growing up to you. You just see I see sort of what I grew up as, what I saw as a child, with my dad traveling and really expanding the business. Our kids are seeing us do that. But so I always, I always knew I wanted to come into the business. Did I really understand what the business was when I was probably my kids age and what responsibility that really meant? No, to be fair, be honest, but I always did know I wanted to come into the business.
Speaker 1:But so during high school, during college, I would work there in the summers. Again, this is way like early computer days, right? So this is like filing and actual file filing cabinets. You know things like that. You didn't have the technology the same way we do today Doing things you know like that.
Speaker 1:But I also in college I would tour guide in the summers. So that was when we I would do Montreal, quebec tours, I would do our main Clambake, I would do our Penn Dutch tour. So these would be like four, four day, five, you know, four night, five day tours. So I got, I dabbled in the tour guiding side during my college years. But after college it's a family rule that our board of advisors had established, probably for our for my generation, generation Gen three to the Sullivan family we had to work outside the business for at least three years after we graduated university. So I did do that in a completely different space tech space publicly traded company. I did do that in a completely different space tech space publicly traded company. As soon as my three years was up, I came in and I started doing tour design and for the Eastern US product.
Speaker 2:Well, that's what I found really interesting as well, because I wasn't clear on what you were doing before, colette, but I assumed you know, with a family business and having worked in a family business as I was telling Jacqueline just before we started recording, working with the Tolman family and knowing the importance, the legacy and getting the opportunity to work outside the business first before coming into the business is so important. I saw that with Pernod Ricard, another company. I worked closely with the CEO. Very similarly, that came into the business. But I wanted to also understand your journey within the business, because one of the things that really stood out to me, jacqueline, about your background is that you did start on the product side, which I think is so important to understand the business. You were a product manager, then you were the director of product development. So tell us a little bit about that journey, because clearly you then understand the business fully by virtue of understanding how these tours and travel experiences are put together.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love the product side. It is fun, fun. It's a great side of the business to be a part of, and when I came in back in 2005, um, so I'll be 20 years in may it's coming soon.
Speaker 1:Um, but uh, when I came in, we were actually probably what exists now is five different teams in our company today was rolled into one product manager position. It it was the research, it was the design, it was dealing with the operation issues. I was contracting, I was setting up my trips to go out and vet all the potential suppliers that we would potentially use, what hotels we'd use in New York City for a New York City stay. So that was the fun part of it, and so, um, I I did that for probably about five years. I did Eastern U? S or a lot of the U? S actually at the beginning, and then I actually did Australia, new Zealand, and started South Pacific, which was great because I was out of new England in the summer, in the winters, which is summer in Australia, new Zealand. So it was wonderful to go for multiple weeks at a time to contract and buy.
Speaker 1:But that was our model back then. We would fly people typically out of Rhode Island and they would go all over Europe and they would go all over the world, which that's not our model anymore. We changed that in 2017. But back when I was doing that, that's what I did. So I started to learn the world. Obviously, australia, new Zealand and other parts as well as I went to sales meetings and so, yeah, it was a fun, that was a good entryway into the business, let's say.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure I can imagine it's a perfect way to get to know the business, and one of the things that's unique about Colette is that not only do you offer guided tours and coach tours, as we typically call them, but group tours. You have river cruises, you have safaris, and there's a real diversity to the product portfolio, and I think a lot of our listeners would have picked up on that, even hearing some of the ads I created for the safari series, this guided touring series, and they'll hear in the river cruise series as well. But I'd love for you to give a bit of an overview of the company. Obviously, we've talked a bit about your role, a bit about the family history, but I would love to hear from your perspective if you wouldn't mind providing our listeners a bit of an overview of Colette, and especially in terms of the product that you guys offer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, like I said, we were a motor coach and we were much smaller back in the day and we really expanded in the late 80s and in the 90s. That's where we really went international, starting in Europe but really just expanding from there. And so we have many different travel styles. We have our classic product we dabble in river cruise. We don't own river cruise, we don't own the ships, but we do have offering in the river cruise space. We know how popular it is, so we want to be relevant there. But, um, you know so. And then we have our small group explorations that actually we had established that in 2008 but really, post pandemic, we're seeing that just grow um, as a travel style, that that people are looking for smaller group, um, just more niche, secondary destinations, cities, things like that. So it's been great. But we have over 170 tours. Yeah, we span the globe. We have Antarctica, so we touch all seven continents, and so there's a breadth of product and a travel style for everyone.
Speaker 2:Well, it's interesting, the small group explorations.
Speaker 2:I know, speaking to some of your team members, just how that has taken off for you in the last two years, so I definitely want to get a bit more into the product, how the business is evolving.
Speaker 2:But before we do, there's a couple of things I want to also understand about the journey you've been on and specifically understanding how Colette differs to all the other guided touring brands that are out there, because, as any of our listeners know, it's certainly my background from G Adventures and working with Trafalgar and Insight and being very active in the space, advocating for the guided touring sector even to the big OTAs to try and convince them that there is a massive market here, it's growing, and these are certainly the things that you've known and seen.
Speaker 2:But I think we've both come up against the perception in this category that it is for the older generation that is aging out, and the reality is actually we're seeing a lot more young people embrace guided touring, and an interesting stat that I'd shared from ITB is that a group touring is outpacing independent travel and solo female travelers is a big factor, which is so I would love if you wouldn't mind giving us a bit of insight as to how Colette stacks up against the competition. I guess what I'm really trying to get into is like those things I love which is like they're. You know the USPs is why someone will choose Colette over another guided touring company. So what are some of those things that you're very conscientious of that have been very intentionally built into the brand to make you stand out in the marketplace, attract great talent and convince travelers to take not only their first trip with you but to keep coming back?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's a great question. I think and you like you said you were in the guided travel space it can be there's a perception that well, there's a perception, just with guided travel, that it's, it's fixed, there's no free time, and I think that perception has. We've we've, at Colette, really worked to change that perception over the last decade, for sure, but hyper-focused within the last seven to eight years, I would say, of what that looks like and how do we break those stereotypes. But it's very hard to do in the guided travel space, because you can kind of just put a stamp on something but there's no regulation and necessarily follow through per se, right. And so what makes Colette unique and different? And what we do to set ourselves apart? To set ourselves apart, and it's intentional. We, like I said before, we had everyone who lived in Rhode Island and we would fly them to their region of where they might design tours and negotiate the suppliers and all of that. We really are for travelers, by travelers.
Speaker 1:I mentioned in 2017 that we sort of broke that model, but we really we started hiring people in destination. So, example my designer for Italy, who designs all of my Italy programs, lives just outside of Rome. My contractor for Italy lives actually in Spain, but he grew up in Italy. He's Italian, so they're in the destination. And so we use third parties and DMCs in some like in the Egypt of the world, in some places, but it's very rare because we really want to make sure that we own the brand experience and the customer experience. A lot of tour companies do go through ground operators or third parties. You're going to get more cookie cutter when you do that, and so the reason we have our philosophy, the way we do, is one to continue to manage the brand experience and customer experience, like I mentioned, but also to be able to hear specifically from our travelers what's working, what's not working, and being be able to pivot and change the customer experience so that if we have more travelers coming and something really isn't working, why would I have hundreds, potentially thousands more travelers have that bad experience as well? So, but by having boots on ground and destination, we're able to react very quickly and also just know what are new trends that are coming, what are. You know what are what's, whether it's a hotel or a new supplier coming online. That's going to be a really great experience for the travelers being able to have boots on ground that are just in the know of information all the time is is one of the big pieces.
Speaker 1:I think that we we focus on and continue to invest in and support to create the the best experience that we can um. The best experience that we can um. We listen to our travelers all the time. We listen to our partners, but we listen to our travelers. That evolves our brand standards and how we design the guided travel experience.
Speaker 1:We know that people do not want to be sitting on a coach and they'd rather be off the coach. So, as much as possible, um, we've started to really focus on pacing. If you open brochures and see multiple one night stays, you know you should close it. You should close the brochure, close the website, because it's likely not going to be the best experience. When people are typically going round trip Rome, they're those tour companies I would call them typically more standard and they're putting you on the coach for longer hours than necessary, you know. So, trying to be unique and be different in the ways that we approach the full design to optimize the travelers. They're paying to go on these great vacations and I always say what they think they want when they're purchasing and then what they tell us post experience is a little bit different. So trying to bridge that early and then help train and advise why it's best not to be on coach or do round trip cities, you know, working that way.
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Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean. And one other thing I wanted to mention too is the one big difference that I should have mentioned is we're 100% focused on guided travel. That is what we do. We don't own hotels. Like I said, we dabble in river cruise, but we don't own the river cruise. We have a partner. So we are really making sure that we continue to trailblaze and pioneer the guided travel space.
Speaker 1:I think sorry, that was an important one that I missed on, but who our traveler is is typically it's average age of about 65, semi-retired, retired, but to your point, it's really it has shifted and, again, depending on the time of year, in our summer months, you're definitely going to see more multi-gen and we've really seen that in our data and looking at what are the ages of our travelers in different times of the year. So you do have you know, big, you know you were talking before you have fraternal twins and for high school graduations, you see a lot of times parents or grandparents who are taking their grandkids, whether it's high school graduation, college graduation, and doing these big once in a lifetime trips. So you do see a lot of that. And multi-gen, for sure, is expanding and it has been growing for quite a while.
Speaker 1:And there are the Africans, which we've been doing for three decades, and some of those destinations are the perfect multi-gen destinations because there is something for everyone. And that some of those destinations are the perfect multi-gen destinations because there is something for everyone. And who doesn't want to see an elephant? And I don't care if you're in your seventies or your eighties or if you're 14, like my boy, you know, it's all, you're just in awe, no matter what. So there is, there is something for everyone, but it does vary based on times of the year.
Speaker 2:In terms of the guided touring, brands that have been able to reinvent themselves, remain contemporary and answer what it is that travelers are seeking today are clearly the ones that are thriving. I know Colette is, and which is why it's great to have this conversation and also the partnership, because I think when I looked at how your product was evolving and talking to Ron and a couple of members of your team and I've sat through training sessions because I was overseeing the rollout of Global Journeys in North America and their Toronto office, and so I've seen the team be trained on Colette and there's many things that stood out to me that have been quite impressive about the brand. And the specific thing that I wanted to get into a bit more is this concept of guided touring being reimagined, where you get a chance to eat in locals homes, you can do cooking classes, you don't just travel by coach, you actually get on trains or you ride on tuk-tuks, and I think this is the part for me that I always loved about adventure travel like brands, like intrepid and g adventures, and so it's exciting for me when I see a brand like colette that is not only going small group but also better connecting with, which clearly is one of the things that you know that travelers are seeking. They love being able to travel amongst a group, even though they have apprehensions about it who's going to be in the group. But once they actually get on the trip and they start realizing that wait a second. These are people I'm surrounded by my tribe, or I'm surrounded by this type of people that have an interest in foreign travel and so, by and large, they're like-minded individuals.
Speaker 2:So you're going to, you know you connect with the people you're traveling with, but then you want to connect with locals. So that's the part I want to get into and it's part of the reason, jacqueline, I wanted to mention about your background, understanding product development and how critical that is to the successful delivery of guided tours. So tell us a little bit about what that actually means to you. When I you know when that actually means to you when I you know, when we say the words, that we're focused on integrating local culture and making it a authentic guided touring experience. Tell us a little bit how you've gone on that journey and what some of the experiences are on a guided tour with Colette that really bring that to life?
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, and that to me, that's a great one because there are, like I said earlier, anyone can kind of stamp on local experience. Of course, if you're traveling to France, we can all call everything a local experience. That's again where the boots on ground become really important, because anyone can do a home hosted, but you're going to go through sometimes more of the cookie cutter experience or a staged experience. What we really are breaking barriers on is, again, this is where the boots on ground are so critical is making sure that we are moving, we're away from those staged, you know, larger companies that can take multiple groups at a time and have that cultural experience, but it's a staged cultural experience and I think that's really that has been, you know for sure. It does, I think, stem from my coming into product and seeing how we design tours but then listening to the travelers and seeing what their expectations are and really marrying the two to make sure that we're. We're putting tours, you know, together and create tours that people want to experience again and again, but in different destinations, um, so we have impact moments that we have um integrated definitely on on all of the or most of the small group explorations, um, but we have our tour through Egypt and Jordan. So we're going to visit Al Ezra's kitchen and we're going to have a cooking class. Um, we're going to have a cooking class. We're going to experience a local Jordanian family and we're going to do a cooking class with them. And the best part of those is it is only Colette. It is typically they're not working with other tour companies. They may be in some cases, but typically not. It's just Colette when we're there. But the best part when you do those is you're one getting a cultural experience because you're learning how to cook something you know in their culture, but then you're meeting the family and able to talk and ask very honest questions and have very honest conversations.
Speaker 1:One of the things that we do on our small group explorations and it's intentional is we have what are called crucial conversations so we can talk about things that might be seen as potentially political or you know where. As Americans, we might have certain perceptions, but we can. It's a comfort. We do it in a comfortable space where there's no judgment, but we really will ask some of the hard questions that either as Americans or Canadians or um past wars and their perceptions on it or their points of view from being you know, being local, um, so those are the things that you can't really bring to life in an itinerary with the words, but those are the experiences that travelers are writing about when they tell us in the survey and those are the experiences that they're definitely going home and telling their friends about. That really made it different.
Speaker 1:And again it's just you don't, people don't want staged anymore, and that's the challenge again with the guided travel space is you definitely have the five-star we know who that is but then a lot of them are really standard. There's a lot of more money coming out of your pocket when you're on tour, a lot of days that might have no paid inclusions and you can see that quickly by sea view If you're not seeing visit and it's not getting into deep like. There are so many ways to make a traveler or consumer think that you're going to get all this value, but you're not getting it to the way maybe you intend to. And that's where we want to just be upfront and honest with our travelers and making sure they know exactly what they're getting when they travel with Collect.
Speaker 2:Well, and that's the difference between a legacy brand that is modernized but also relies heavily on repeat business, and the only way they're able to do that is by delivering on the experience, because you're absolutely right, and that's where sometimes you get bad actors, and I think there's less and less in our space, but there certainly has been over time where people have had a negative experience with a guided touring because the price seemed reasonable, and then they're paying for all of these optionals and they're staying outside of town, not in the city, and so but some of those are factors of that's why it was the price. It was so helping customers understand the value for money and what they're actually getting. The other thing I wanted to talk to you about too, jacqueline, is sustainability, given just how important that has become for travelers.
Speaker 2:Post pandemic, people have become certainly more conscientious, but also it seems to be more and more that travelers are making decisions with sustainability in mind. They're looking at companies that align with their values or they're just aware of their impact, and so I was keen to know beyond Certainly small groups is a big step in that direction. Taking local transport and even some of the local experiences we were just talking about where you're actually putting money into a destination, unlike some of the big ocean cruise lines that are not contributing to the local economy. So already there's a an advantage of traveling guided. But, yeah, tell us some of the things, initiatives that you have, and how Colette is approaching sustainability.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean there's so many different ways you can approach sustainability, especially in travel, right to your point. But that is like when we're choosing accommodations, definitely across all travel styles. So whether it's larger group or smaller group, when we can, we want to. You know I don't necessarily want to be in the big box hotel chains that we're used to and have comfort to here and you know where we come from, and so when we can support a family owned um hotel or that one is going to be one family owned but it's gonna. So you know you're supporting the local economy but you're also um contributing to um the community that they live in. Um and the other piece on sustainability, I mean there's a lot here that we can unpack. But the other one is on small groups and some of the others as well. The secondary cities. I mean obviously we're supporting the Rome's and the Florence's and the Paris's and the big cities. All the tour companies are going in there. But to go to some of those secondary cities like we have the Puglia tour now in Italy that wasn't really on the map a couple years ago but going into some of those smaller villages, we're helping again to support other local communities through tourism, but in other ways. Obviously, we eliminated all use of single-use plastic on tour as best we could. I mean just it has impact on the places that we're traveling to.
Speaker 1:One of the things we're also doing is we have a compost program at headquarters. So we're headquartered here out of Rhode Island in the US, but we also have our offices in Mississauga and Vancouver and Sydney, australia. But we have partnered with Epic Renewal, which is a local composting company. It's based in Pawtucket, which is where we're actually headquartered in central falls, which is a nearby community. The partnership is facilitated through social enterprise, greenhouse, seg for anyone who might be familiar with them, and they are an amazing, absolutely amazing. They have an absolutely amazing network of over a thousand enterprises and work with over 200 businesses.
Speaker 1:So being trying to educate and being more mindful, even in our local community um with our employees and trying to have them understand and helping them understand the impact that we, that we have on our you know, on our environment, um is just, it's critical Um, and we actually are. We put solar panels, um on our wellness center. I think that happened in the fall of 2024. So that happened just not too long ago. So, you know, in those ways you know we're being sustainable, not only globally on tour you know examples but also at headquarters and other. You know all of our remote offices as well, with the impact that we as an employer and employees can make.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 2:I know certainly from being on the inside.
Speaker 2:There's advocates internally, so obviously you've got your customers giving you feedback, your product team and then employees inside the organization that are saying here are some of the things that we can do to be more sustainable and also even just approaching our trip experience. And that's one of the things I was actually also keen to get your feedback on, just in terms of how much customer feedback impacts the tour offerings and if you you know you coming up in that space and seeing how it's evolved in the last few years. I mean especially some of the things we've talked about, not just sustainability, but the small group touring and, as you mentioned, going into river cruise even though not having your own ships, but the small group touring and, as you mentioned, going into river cruise even though not having your own ships. But yeah, I guess what I'm keen to know is how you do factor in customer feedback to shape your overall approach, but specifically your new tour offerings, or how you make adjustments to the product. How do you guys do that? And I guess, how important is that to Colette?
Speaker 1:Oh, it's extremely important to us. That's been sort of that's where I come from. My background is understanding and listening to the traveler, but there's also we have our partners as well and listening to what our partners needs are. And so there's always there's the traveler, and so we have our surveys. Like I said, we're listening to what they're telling us every single day. My product design team is in those surveys for their regions every single day to see what's working, what's not working, what do we need to be changing.
Speaker 1:You know that's who's paying at the end of the day and they're the ones who are evolving into what their expectations are. And if we're assuming that we know internally what the travelers want, then I'm being I'm going to say we're being lazy and we're being ignorant. So it really is about making sure that those that are paying for the experience and can and will provide you the feedback. We have a high survey return rate because it is not inexpensive to travel and if people loved it, they want you to know that they loved it. If they loved their tour manager typically they usually do, and you have high kudos on the tour managers. They want you to know that, and if they didn't like something they also very clearly want to make sure that we are aware of what they didn't like. And then we just look for patterns. Did everyone not like it? Was this a one-off? Did something happen that would have impacted a departure date? So we don't just you know, we don't act on every single bit of feedback, but we do look for patterns. We do look for big issues, hot issues that we would need to address, some in the next product season and some, like I said, immediately, especially coming out of the pandemic.
Speaker 1:It was huge because, if you remember, there was a lot of. We didn't have the same service levels in hospitality and I remember we were running our New Orleans spotlight tour and the first departure that we had we got feedback from pretty much all the travelers that you know the services weren't there at the hotels, whether it was for the breakfast, for the you know room cleaning, whatever. And we made the decision to move hotels until our partner hotel could get their service levels back to where they needed to be for our travelers. And so eventually we did move back and we recognized it was a challenging year for many at the time. But that's the impact that we can have because, just because 30 people had a terrible experience. I'm not going to let another 200, 300, 400 people out knowing that we didn't have the service levels. So that's the gift of feedback, that's the gift of information.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think one of the things that also has stood out to me is I got to know Brett Walker and Ron Lonsdale, who run the Canadian office and team in Mississauga, of course, and I'm based in Toronto, so I've had a chance to get together with them a number of times over the last year and really get to know the brand that much better. And one of the things in my previous role was this concept of the 10-year wallet, where you were looking across the data of all your customers, because it's one thing in terms of what they tell you and it's another thing to look at what they do and the types of trips that they book, and so my big focus was this concept of lifetime customer value. I'm sure you have something very similar at Collette, where you're conscientious of making sure that over the course of 10 years, we were trying to make sure they traveled within the travel corporation group of brands, so they take an African safari one year, a river cruise, the next a guided tour, but part of that was looking at the data and just trying to understand their travel patterns. So it's interesting when you mentioned that, and that's one of the things I was keen to ask you about is that? How do you at Collette follow the data? How are you leveraging technology today to make sure that you are customizing the offerings and making sure that you are promoting the right product to the right people at the right time so that they see that, oh, this is the year to go to Japan.
Speaker 2:My father-in-law, who's going to be taking a Collette soon. He is as soon as we started working together and I told him all about Collette because he's traveled with Insight before and Rick Steves and with Trafalgar and Globus. Anyway, he's super excited to take his first Colette trip and he was doing all his research on the website and he's like torn right now between going to Japan and Africa and I'm still waiting for his final decision. But for him, he thrives on getting emails with reminders about trips and that's exactly how he used to always book an Insight vacations trip before and I always found it really exciting when he would tell me that he got an email about a destination and I was like, yeah, actually we engineered that that way, right, it's like you're you're trying to make sure you get the right message in front of travelers to inspire them to travel. So how do you approach that at Colette, what sort of data are you using and if, is there any insights that have surprised you about your travelers?
Speaker 1:Insights. That surprised me. I'll think on that one. That's a good question. Yeah, no, I mean coming from and there is. We have a lot of data. We've really built up our data warehouse over the last oh gosh, well over five years.
Speaker 1:But, having you know a data team that we're also dealing with legacy systems, there's a lot of technology in the works right now for self-service systems to your just the whole pre-customer journey on tour, post-tour, To your point, there's. There's so many, especially in our space, because when, when they're choosing the travel, it's so much earlier than when the actual travel takes place. So there's such a big anticipation phase that can really be, we can be engaging, we can be like get everyone, get people excited about where they're going, where they chose to go movie recommendations, book recommendations, just little bits of things. So there are, to that point, there's so much opportunity. But, yeah, there's a lot that we have in the works right now with technology and investment with technology to continue to improve based on the just even the partner expectations, but definitely the traveler expectations. So there's a lot of that that's going on right now, um, so, there's a lot of that that's going on right now, um, as far as well, the one thing I'll say of what you asked about the traveler um trends, anything that's surprised me. What actually? I don't know if it did, it didn't really surprise me.
Speaker 1:But post the pre pandemic, the tours that were really popular were the same tours that came back post-pandemic. Our traveler demographic didn't psychographically change. For the most part, japan was a top tour. It still continues to be a top tour. Iceland was a top tour. It still continues to be. Ireland, italy, so all the places that people wanted to go. The only difference I would say that is that people are traveling longer Um, and they continue to do that, definitely out of Australia. They used to have a lot of back to back Um, so people are spending more time when they're, when they're deciding to go Um, but yeah, I don't know if they're, if the travelers are, they're just set on tour. They want to go. I mean, if they were a Europe traveler and Africa just never seemed in their spectrum or comfort level, to go to the pandemic for them didn't psychographically change them to be like I want to go to Africa now they still want to go to Europe those lines?
Speaker 2:I'm keen to know. So one of the trends, for sure, as you just highlighted, was that after the pandemic, people rushed to get back to the destinations that they couldn't get to because, all of a sudden, once travel was taken away from you, as soon as you had the opportunity to travel again, you were going to do that trip to Japan or that trip to Italy, and, of course, one of the things that we did see was that there was some challenges with over tourism and, in some cases, climate change, the weather like, so, italy was overheated and overcrowded, and then people started looking at other destinations. One of the things that I would uh be keen to to know from uh colette's perspective is that after we had that revenge travel and this is where I never liked that term, I'm sure you don't care for it either it's just someone coined it and everyone started using it yeah and uh, but as and then everyone's talking about, oh, revenge travel's, it's like well, the reality is that travelers, now when you've had something taken away from you, you're no longer going to take it for granted, and one of the things that I've certainly seen, and again keen to get your take on this, is that people are traveling more frequently and not putting them off. So even if they're going to the same destinations, they're actually traveling with more intensity. They're traveling longer, as you mentioned. That's certainly a trend that we've seen, but are you seeing that there is? It's reducing the time in between trips, because we always used to look at this like it was more like 18 months. Sometimes.
Speaker 2:You know, people wouldn't necessarily take a guided tour every year, but they might take one every two years, and so we would start to market to them about 18 months after their first trip, not thinking that we lost them. We actually it's just a longer lead cycle for a return trip. So I actually just generally curious if you've seen anything along those lines as, as travels continue to surge, have you seen that your travelers are traveling more frequently, that they're booking again, like within six months or within a year, or that they're picking new destinations in addition to like that, as you're launching these new programs? Cause I certainly know that the small group programs has just taken off I think ron was telling me it was up 70 year over year and I was keen to know if that is existing customers choosing that or is that new customers coming into colette?
Speaker 1:it's a for for the small group. It's a bit of both. It's definitely new, um, you know we're we're good at acquiring and so so there are definitely new travelers and, I would say, some of the classic travelers that have tried the small group explorations and enjoyed the small group explorations.
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Speaker 2:Now back to the show. Jacqueline, I'm so enjoying this conversation. I want it to continue. I know I need to be mindful over all of time, so hopefully we can make this part one of two and have you back in season six as well, because I'm sure our audience is going to want to continue on this path of guided touring, and so one of the things I wanted to ask you as part of our discussion is where Colette is headed in the future with guided touring. I know we've talked a lot about the category, a bit about the history, but where do you see this category five years from now? What is your vision, I guess, for 2030, in terms of new destinations, how the product will evolve? What does the future of guided touring look like to you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I think that the small group explorations will continue to grow and become a bigger piece of the portfolio it's doing really well. Travelers are clearly stating and telling us that they enjoy it. It scores higher excellence and the way that we can design that those programs are, we don't take our classic and just make it smaller group. We actually curate the entire tour experience differently from all of the selections of everything we do, so that that in and of itself makes for a different experience when you go small group. So I think that that will continue to evolve.
Speaker 1:There haven't been a lot of players in the small group space in B2B. I think we were somewhat of a late adopter to not collect. I think we were actually early in the space. I don't think that the B2B side was ready but where the reason that we launched explorations in the small group was because there were so many direct-to-consumer companies that did it and you know that they did it in big number, in really large volume. And so for Colette, we felt that we were missing a brand and an opportunity to support the advisors and the B2B community with that small group. So I think now that it's um, it's sort of taken off. I think that's where we'll continue to see um the evolution of the guided travel space.
Speaker 2:Well, it's clear to me that Colette will continue to lead the way, not only in terms of being a great brand with a really all-star team I know many of her colleagues and certainly with yourself leading this business. That was one of the things I actually wanted to say, cause I want to give you the last word to let people know where to find out more information about Colette. Obviously, we've mentioned GoColettecom, but in terms of connecting with you and the team and the one other thing I just want to say, jacqueline, not only am I thrilled to have this opportunity to meet you, because this is our first time I've got to know your husband, christian, over the last year. I was raised by a single mom, so I was just like I wanted to make sure that we had female leadership on the guided touring series, because otherwise we do have three male leaders, and so I appreciate you making yourself available for this conversation.
Speaker 2:Obviously, it's great to get the view from your perspective, and the one thing I just wanted to highlight to our listeners as well is that you know, jacqueline has a young family. She's got twins, she's got a 12 year old. So I think one of the things that stood out to me. Not only do you work for a family-owned company, but you are running a business with a young family and I know how challenging I have a good sense of how challenging that can be. But I just wanted to recognize that because obviously I want to see more leaders certainly female leaders have that opportunity and so to be there for both for your family and for the business and, you know, to develop your professionally, which clearly you're doing so. So, yeah, it's a real honor to meet you. I thank you for making the time and our partnership, but I want to make sure that people can connect with you or the team, so where else would you point them to, jacqueline?
Speaker 1:First, thank you very much. It's. It's never easy, but it is possible. So for anyone out there that thinks it is, and it really is, um and yeah, so thank you again for having me. It's been great. I'm sorry that you've gotten to know my husband more over the last 12 months.
Speaker 2:I really enjoy his company. He's a football player, and now I actually know that you're a dog lover too, so I regard you even that much higher because you're. We both got dogs in the background of our recording today.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, Penny's snoring a little bit in the background. She's a cutie, but yeah, no, again, appreciate it. Gocolettecom we also go into your travel advisors and have in contact with your BDM, your business development manager, to help support you in any way that they can. We have one of the largest sales force in all of North America, have one of the largest sales force in all of North America, and so they're there to support the advisor community and help train, understand who Colette is, how we're evolving in the space. So yeah, great things, great things in the past, great things coming ahead, so really looking forward to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure. And one thing I'm looking forward to as well not only my family traveling Colette, but I'm going to have the opportunity shortly as well. We've tried to just try to make it work over in Europe, but we're going to do that sometime this summer. So I'm looking forward to having the Colette experience myself and understanding the Colette difference. So, yeah, but I just yeah, real pleasure, real honor to meet you, jacqueline, and thank you so much for all the support and, yeah, look forward to keeping in touch with you and your husband.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much for joining us on our latest episode of Travel Trends. I hope you're enjoying our deep dive into the world of guided touring. I certainly thoroughly enjoyed the conversation that you just heard with Jacqueline LaBelle Cote, the CEO of Colette. Thanks again to Jacqueline, christian, paul, julie and Ron, who have been terrific to work with over at Colette. And, as I mentioned, my father-in-law is traveling shortly with Colette and hopefully my mother is going to be shortly as well, and I look certainly forward to having the opportunity to experience Colette. So thanks again to the team for our partnership.
Speaker 2:And on our next episode we're actually going to hand over to London, england, to speak to the managing director of Explore Worldwide, michael Edwards. Now, michael and I had the privilege to work together at GE Adventures a number of years ago. He went on to Intrepid and then to Lead Explore, which is the third largest adventure travel brand, and I was really keen to bring adventure into the mix with this guided touring series, just given the significant growth of this overall category, and the reality is that adventure touring is, of course, part of guided multi-day tours. So I'm really looking forward to bringing you the conversation with Michael next week. They have an extraordinary team They've just launched in North America, and so make sure that you are subscribed on the streaming platform of your choice to be notified when new episodes go live. So do that on Spotify or Apple, and then also don't forget that we do send out a monthly newsletter, which you can register for at TravelTrendsPodcastcom, where we summarize all the latest, latest episodes, as we'll do with the guided touring series, and give highlights of our upcoming travel plans and the events we're going to be attending for the next month, so you can hopefully meet us while we're out on the road.
Speaker 2:And we do have a few big events coming up. We're going to be at the aviation festival in miami at the beginning of may, and then the adventure travel and trade association conference at the end of may in den, and then, starting in June, we're going to be at the Focusrite Europe Conference in Barcelona, june 10th to 12th, so hopefully many of you can join us there. There is a link to a 100 euro discount on the homepage of our website. If you still need to grab a ticket, that's the best way to do it. And thanks again to our series sponsor, tour Optimaima. If you want to learn more details, check out touroptimacom or just send an email to ben at touroptimacom to arrange a demo of their white label app, which is absolutely fit for purpose for multi-day tour brands. So be sure to check them out. And until next week, safe travels.
