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Why We Spend Time With the People Behind the Brands
Meetings That Go Beyond Sales Conversations
Before we recommend any cruise line, hotel, or travel partner to our clients, we spend considerable time getting to know the people behind the brand.
We inspect products ourselves whenever possible, study itineraries, meet company leadership, and build relationships with the Business Development Directors who represent these brands in the field.
For us, recommending a company is not simply about beautiful brochures or attractive pricing; it is about trust, consistency, and confidence that our clients will be well looked after when they travel.
Over the years, this process has brought us into close contact with representatives from companies such as PONANT, Viking, Riverside, Silversea, Tauck, Lindblad, and AmaWaterways.
What surprised us most was that these conversations rarely focused on sales. Instead, we found ourselves discussing destinations, guest experiences, future itineraries, operational challenges, and the changing expectations of travellers.
Through our Cruises & Concerts events, we were also able to give our clients direct access to many of the same people we work with behind the scenes. One of the strongest examples of how these relationships benefit both us and our clients came through our collaboration with PONANT.
Inside the Seminars at Sea With PONANT
After working together during our Concert&Cruises tour across the USA, we were invited to join one of their Seminars at Sea. These sailings are designed to bring travel advisors and company representatives together onboard so that ideas can be exchanged directly while experiencing the product itself in the Mediterranean sea.
During that voyage we were not sitting in conference rooms all day. We were sharing meals, walking through the ship, attending presentations, and speaking with people who know the brand better than anyone else.
That level of access changes the conversation.
You quickly discover that the people leading these companies know every detail of their ships, itineraries, and guest experience. Many have sailed the voyages dozens of times themselves. They know which cabins guests prefer. They know which ports consistently receive the best feedback. They know where things work well and where improvements still need to be made.
That was also reflected in something Dale Woods, Business Development Director at PONANT, wrote after our collaboration:
“I had the pleasure of working with Marisa DeSalvio and Robert Poortinga of DeSalvio Travel during their multi-city U.S. roadshow this past February, where they hosted a series of intimate, impeccably executed soirées in Hollywood and Sarasota, Florida, as well as Bellingham, Washington and Salt Lake City, Utah. Their professionalism, warmth, and thoughtful inclusion of my colleagues—creating a collaborative platform to educate and inspire their clients—truly set them apart.
Well-spoken, deeply client-focused, and aligned with the philosophy of immersive, high-experience travel, they bring a rare blend of artistry and expertise to luxury advising; I would welcome the opportunity to work with them again and look forward to further collaboration aboard our upcoming seminar at sea.”
For us, that relationship and the events was never about upgrades or special treatment, it was about trust between supplier and agent, and between agent and client.
What We Look For Before We Recommend a Brand
When we recommend a company to a client, we want to know the people behind it. We want to know how they behave when something goes wrong. We want to know whether they stand behind their product and if they care about the guest experience as much as their marketing materials suggest.
The same applies on land.
In Bergamo we spent six hours with Sara Cologni, the head guide of the city. During a cheese tasting she spent twenty minutes explaining how a single cheese was produced, why it mattered historically, and how it became part of local identity. Later that evening we watched another guide give a similar tasting in less than two minutes and even less explanation.
Experiences like that stay with us and make us understand even clearer what we expect from our partners.
What we do to give the highest service to our clients
Over the years we have met guides, destination managers, hotel managers, cruise executives, and company founders across the world. Some became trusted partners. Some did not.
That process never stops.
Before recommending a brand, we attend events, inspect ships and hotels, speak with leadership teams at trade shows, travel ourselves, and listen carefully to what other advisors are experiencing.
When clients travel with us, they are not stepping into a network of anonymous suppliers but are travelling with people we know, people we trust, and people we would happily travel with ourselves.
Why book PONANT with DeSalvio Travel?
As we are Virtuoso affiliated we can give a $100 shipboard credit. We have great connections with our representatives of Ponant who will do their utmost for us and for our clients.
This sometimes results in free room and cabin upgrades, extra care on board and a seamless handling by our agency.
Our connection goes far beyond agent-supplier, with our Concert&Cruises events, we were able to create something unique that bonded
Continue reading:
Concert and Cruises, our annual client events
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