Show Notes:
In this episode of "Talk Local to Me," host Heather Alto interviews Chris from CF World Travel about current travel trends and tips for holiday and future vacations. Chris discusses his agency’s recent merger, which has expanded their resources and staff, and shares insights on popular destinations like European Christmas markets, the Caribbean, and river cruises. The episode highlights the benefits of early planning, the growing interest in cruising, and how the agency’s new capabilities can better serve clients. Listeners are encouraged to contact Chris for personalized travel planning and to book early for the best options.
Transcript:
Speaker 00:00:51 This is talk local to me from the Central Virginia Business Coalition. Streaming live each week on media squatch plus and available on demand in the app or wherever you get your podcasts. Local stories. Local business. Local impact.
Heather Alto 00:01:15 Welcome to Talk Local to Me.
Heather Alto 00:01:18 I'm Heather Alto with the Central Virginia Business Coalition, and I am here today with a special interview on location. I am not in the Media Squatch studios today. I am here with Chris with CF World Travel. How are you today?
Chris 00:01:31 I'm doing good.
Heather Alto 00:01:33 It's so great to see. All right, so I'm back here again. We've talked with Chris before. You guys probably remember a couple of months ago. We've chatted with him about just travel overall and you know, best times to travel and things like that. So we're back here again because it's the holidays and I'm sure people are traveling all over the place for the holidays. Yeah. Do you get a lot of travel requests for the holidays?
Chris 00:01:54 I am no, no.
Heather Alto 00:01:56 So I always wonder, like most people try to stay home, I think are closer to home, but maybe they're thinking about gifting travel or they're looking more towards the summer right now because it's cold and you don't want to be cold anymore, so you want to go travel somewhere nice is a that's kind of what I'm thinking.
Heather Alto 00:02:15 so what's been going on since the last time that we talked?
Speaker 6 00:02:20 Well, one thing that went on is that, the agency that I went to desire to merge with an older agency was kind of like, everybody wants to rise, okay? And not even her staff knew what was going on until, like, the last minute. Wow. So she said that, and she's real big in the industry, but, to turn her own agency. Agency like, five years ago. But I'm young since 2006, somewhere around there. When she was, I would travel Thing. I was wondering how well you did the travel sign. So, yeah, I knew her a long time, and she started her own agency, and, she was playing with the other girls for that and the older 20 years, and they would put her along in their mouth. And when she would be able to take us, it would take ten years to get where they are now. So they decided to merge, and I knew I'm their.
Speaker 6 00:03:39 Assistant vice president of business development.
Chris 00:03:44 Okay, so.
Heather Alto 00:03:46 Merging the company. Does that give you more opportunities to give your clients?
Speaker 6 00:03:54 yeah. And give them more trouble than we had this, which, networks, obviously. Yeah. But when I did, I would say when I were with, tribal leaders networks.
Chris 00:04:08 Okay.
Speaker 6 00:04:09 Sounds significant. Yeah, but, yeah, I think we had to do all the training stuff.
Heather Alto 00:04:16 Oh, so you to do new training? Well, and I know that, like, you know, tools are a big part of being a travel agent, having all the tools at your disposal. So having more tools to work with probably makes it a little bit easier.
Speaker 6 00:04:28 Yeah. And they have more of us happening with our staff. They combined they conducted about 90 staff out of, Minnesota.
Chris 00:04:38 Okay.
Speaker 6 00:04:39 Yeah.
Chris 00:04:40 Okay.
Heather Alto 00:04:41 Well, that's a big that's a big move since the last time we talked.
Speaker 6 00:04:45 I mean, I, I, you know, I had to learn how they do this stuff, but I probably don't quit from chance.
Speaker 6 00:04:52 I got 100%, so.
Heather Alto 00:04:54 Oh, well that's good.
Speaker 6 00:04:55 Yeah.
Heather Alto 00:04:55 So if you if you want, if you want an agent who is scoring 100%, you need to call Chris because he knows his stuff. Because it's not not 97, not 98. It's 100%.
Chris 00:05:05 That's awesome.
Speaker 6 00:05:05 Yeah.
Chris 00:05:06 Yeah.
Heather Alto 00:05:06 So I was talking right at the beginning. We were talking about travel. What is the what kind of travel is like the best to book right now.
Speaker 6 00:05:17 Anything. Everything. I think more like giving thanks.
Chris 00:05:21 Yep.
Speaker 6 00:05:23 We recruited, and it's too late for me to do this right now, but a lot of the European Christmas village, like in Hamburg and Germany, Germany and all over that area. It's real hot right now. People buy, buy stuff and just experience a real Christmas, right?
Chris 00:05:43 Yeah.
Heather Alto 00:05:43 So even booking for Christmas for next year.
Speaker 6 00:05:47 Yeah. It's good to do it now for next year.
Heather Alto 00:05:49 Yeah that makes a lot of sense. I would not have even thought of that.
Heather Alto 00:05:54 you know, like I said, I'm just thinking about getting out of this cold, and. And the Caribbean sounds fabulous to me, but.
Speaker 6 00:06:01 Caribbean and Australian Indians going right now.
Chris 00:06:05 Right. Okay.
Speaker 6 00:06:05 Yeah.
Heather Alto 00:06:06 I'm just.
Chris 00:06:07 Yeah.
Speaker 6 00:06:07 They know why I'm like.
Chris 00:06:10 Right?
Heather Alto 00:06:10 Yeah. Australia. How much? How long have a flight is that?
Chris 00:06:13 I think it's.
Speaker 6 00:06:14 Like the island.
Heather Alto 00:06:15 Yeah, I think that's what I was thinking. 13 or 14 hours I've been to. I've been to London and that I think was 12, 12 or 13 hours. I went to London in high school. That's the only time I've ever been out of the country.
Chris 00:06:28 I think I've been.
Speaker 6 00:06:29 I think it's six now.
Chris 00:06:31 Okay.
Speaker 6 00:06:32 Girlfriend. DC right over.
Heather Alto 00:06:34 Oh, okay. So it's only.
Chris 00:06:35 Six. Yeah.
Heather Alto 00:06:36 Okay, I might try it again because I didn't like the 12.
Chris 00:06:39 Well, I mean.
Speaker 6 00:06:41 I would, I would, I might be 12 hours to get there, I think.
Speaker 6 00:06:47 Okay, I could be wrong. I have to look again.
Heather Alto 00:06:49 Well, I think, European travel, I've seen a lot of people talking about, like, you're being travels.
Chris 00:06:56 Yeah.
Heather Alto 00:06:56 But, what are some of the trends that you're seeing are popular right now?
Speaker 6 00:07:01 We were cruising.
Chris 00:07:02 River cruising, in fact.
Speaker 6 00:07:03 Is it it's interesting that Celebrity Cruises over the next 2 or 3 years is diving into it. if I can also get like ten chips.
Chris 00:07:17 Okay.
Speaker 6 00:07:18 Which is huge. So if you just put that market, then I'm going to be doing the Double Courageous and using the little smaller, more upscale river cruises.
Heather Alto 00:07:32 For somebody that's wanting to maybe do a big cruise, though, would you suggest doing a smaller river cruise first and like seeing how you like that, or is it kind of different?
Speaker 6 00:07:41 It's different.
Chris 00:07:42 Okay.
Speaker 6 00:07:42 It's more like, you know, if you want to get your feet wet, you know, depending on what you do.
Chris 00:07:49 Yeah.
Speaker 6 00:07:50 I just do like a small, small thing.
Speaker 6 00:07:53 Four degrees.
Chris 00:07:54 Okay.
Heather Alto 00:07:54 I'm trying to figure out whether I'll get seasick. I feel like I might.
Speaker 6 00:07:58 It's positive love. I just I haven't.
Chris 00:08:00 But. Yeah.
Heather Alto 00:08:02 I really do want to do a cruise. I see a lot of, people that really enjoy them. Actually enjoy them more so than going, you know, on vacation to like a destination because.
Chris 00:08:16 Yeah.
Speaker 6 00:08:16 Yeah. Could you get a little more pleasure?
Chris 00:08:18 Yeah.
Speaker 6 00:08:19 But, you know, I'm no longer cruises. You know the time when you go.
Heather Alto 00:08:23 Yeah. And a lot of times with the cruises, they're all inclusive, right? So that also means when you're paying, you're just paying. You're paying for everything all at once versus having.
Chris 00:08:33 To.
Speaker 6 00:08:33 Think you shouldn't have to purchase, you know, drink and package before you leave on a scale of restaurants on the ship. Okay, not to do that too.
Chris 00:08:44 Okay.
Speaker 6 00:08:45 But yeah, yeah, the basic meals and water instead of free.
Heather Alto 00:08:51 What are, So when you say river cruises, where are some of the destinations for river cruises?
Chris 00:08:57 Right.
Speaker 6 00:08:59 I mean, Rhine and Russia.
Chris 00:09:02 Okay.
Speaker 6 00:09:03 I don't, I don't know. Anybody want to go there right now?
Chris 00:09:07 Go to Russia right now.
Heather Alto 00:09:09 are there river cruises here in Lake North America?
Chris 00:09:11 Yeah.
Speaker 6 00:09:13 it's like a old steam roller at the Mississippi. Yeah. Company called American Cruise Lines. They do a lot of Mississippi River cruises.
Chris 00:09:27 Okay.
Heather Alto 00:09:28 That sounds like.
Chris 00:09:28 Fun. Yeah.
Speaker 6 00:09:30 I haven't done like that.
Chris 00:09:31 I like that, too.
Heather Alto 00:09:33 Well, I think that would be really cool. I, you know, I'm glad that you brought it up, because I don't really think much. You know, when you think about vacations and cruising. I don't think river cruise, but but you're right. I've seen a lot of information about them. And I can I can only guess that they're potentially a little bit less expensive than your major cruises or not. Tell me if I'm wrong. I might be.
Chris 00:09:59 Wrong.
Speaker 6 00:10:00 Yeah, it's a little bit more.
Heather Alto 00:10:01 Okay. There a little bit more.
Speaker 6 00:10:02 Actually, they have smaller ships and, you know, more, more.
Heather Alto 00:10:07 See, I was thinking it'd be more, less expensive in a smaller ship and in a littler little area, but. Yeah.
Chris 00:10:13 Okay.
Speaker 6 00:10:13 Yeah, you would think so.
Chris 00:10:15 Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 6 00:10:16 Well. But, you know, to get over that, most of them over in Europe and, you know, the Baltics and all over there. But yeah.
Heather Alto 00:10:23 Do river cruises have, like state rooms? Like, can.
Chris 00:10:27 You.
Heather Alto 00:10:27 Sleep over.
Chris 00:10:28 In there? Yeah. Yeah yeah, yeah.
Heather Alto 00:10:29 Okay. So it's more than just a one day.
Speaker 6 00:10:31 Yeah. Yeah. It's like seven, 14 day river cruises if you want.
Chris 00:10:36 Okay.
Speaker 6 00:10:37 Then they. You know.
Heather Alto 00:10:40 That sounds really fun. Now, if somebody wanted to book a trip with you, they wanted to do a river cruise or they wanted to go to, you know, over to Europe or even on a bigger cruise. How do they get in touch with you to get that?
Speaker 6 00:10:55 Yeah.
Speaker 6 00:10:55 World travel.com.
Chris 00:10:57 Okay.
Speaker 6 00:10:58 it can email me or text me there.
Heather Alto 00:11:01 Okay. So CF World travel.com. And what is your email?
Speaker 6 00:11:08 Trips. Trips at sea world travel.com.
Chris 00:11:13 Okay.
Heather Alto 00:11:14 Perfect. Well, thank you for joining me today, talking to us about how our listeners can, you know, go ahead and book into 2020.
Chris 00:11:24 601.
Speaker 6 00:11:25 More day. Yeah, it's a good time for us to get going on spring break in March and April. And you did coming out.
Heather Alto 00:11:34 I'm glad you mentioned that. Yep. If you're going if you're looking for a trip for spring break, you definitely want to start planning that.
Chris 00:11:41 Now.
Speaker 6 00:11:41 With college students in a way, right now, obviously, but they live in my building. I was like, I said, get them when they come back.
Heather Alto 00:11:50 Yeah, well, you're right, because a lot of people don't think about it. And I think prices increase the closer you get or things are sold out.
Speaker 6 00:11:57 Well, spring break always expensive anyway because of, you know, what's going on.
Chris 00:12:03 And yeah.
Speaker 6 00:12:04 She's cracking down more and so.
Chris 00:12:06 Okay.
Speaker 6 00:12:07 I suppose they don't always track their prices anyway.
Chris 00:12:10 Yeah.
Heather Alto 00:12:11 So during that.
Chris 00:12:11 Week.
Speaker 6 00:12:12 Yeah. It's not cheap.
Heather Alto 00:12:14 Well if you're looking to travel, whether it's for spring break or summer or even going into the holidays for next year, make sure that you contact Chris. Again, that is CF World Travel Comm. Correct. And trips at CF World Travel. Com.
Chris 00:12:32 Correct.
Heather Alto 00:12:33 thank you so much for joining me. I hope you have a happy holidays.
Chris 00:12:36 Oh yeah.
Heather Alto 00:12:37 And I will see you next year.
Key Words:
Talk Local to Me, Central Virginia Business Coalition, Chris CF World Travel, Heather Alto, travel trends, holiday season travel, travel bookings, travel agency merger, travel resources, popular travel destinations, European Christmas markets, Caribbean vacations, river cruises, Assistant Vice President Business Development, client opportunities, travel planning, warm weather travel, flight times, cruising trends, river cruising, Celebrity Cruises, cruise experience, seasickness, all-inclusive cruises, Rhine River, Mississippi River, American Cruise Lines, cruise costs, staterooms, cruise lengths, spring break trips, travel agents, travel insights, holiday market visits, warm getaways, cruise adventures, cfworldtravel.com, trips@cfworldtravel.com.
Time Stamps:
Welcome and Guest Introduction (00:01:15) Heather Alto welcomes listeners and introduces Chris from CF World Travel.
Holiday Travel Trends (00:01:33) Discussion about holiday travel requests and gifting travel during the colder months.
Agency Merger and Expansion (00:02:20) Chris explains the recent merger of his agency, new staff, and expanded resources.
Impact of Merger on Services (00:03:44) How the merger benefits clients with more opportunities, networks, and staff.
Travel Agent Training and Tools (00:04:16) Chris discusses new training and the importance of tools for travel agents.
Booking Holiday and Summer Travel (00:05:06) Advice on the best types of travel to book now, including European Christmas markets.
Popular Destinations: Caribbean and Australia (00:05:54) Discussion of trending destinations like the Caribbean and Australia for escaping the cold.
Flight Times and European Travel (00:06:10) Conversation about flight durations to Australia and Europe, and personal travel experiences.
Current Travel Trends: River Cruises (00:07:01) Chris highlights the popularity of river cruises and Celebrity Cruises’ expansion.
River vs. Ocean Cruises (00:07:32) Comparison between river cruises and larger ocean cruises, and advice for first-timers.
Cruise Experience and All-Inclusive Packages (00:08:16) Benefits of cruises, including all-inclusive options and onboard amenities.
River Cruise Destinations (00:08:51) Overview of popular river cruise locations in Europe and North America.
River Cruise Pricing and Features (00:09:33) Discussion on the cost and features of river cruises compared to ocean cruises.
River Cruise Accommodations (00:10:23) Explanation of staterooms and multi-day options on river cruises.
How to Book with CF World Travel (00:10:40) Instructions for contacting Chris and booking trips through CF World Travel.
Spring Break and Advance Planning (00:11:24) Advice on planning for spring break and the importance of booking early.
Spring Break Pricing and Demand (00:11:50) Discussion on high prices and demand for spring break travel.
Closing Remarks and Contact Info (00:12:14) Final reminders to contact Chris for travel needs and holiday well-wishes.
Closing Advertisement (00:12:48) End-of-episode advertisement.
Talk Local to Me, Central Virginia Business Coalition, Chris CF World Travel, Heather Alto, travel trends, holiday season travel, travel bookings, travel agency merger, travel resources, popular travel destinations, European Christmas markets, Caribbean vacations, river cruises, Assistant Vice President Business Development, client opportunities, travel planning, warm weather travel, flight times, cruising trends, river cruising, Celebrity Cruises, cruise experience, seasickness, all-inclusive cruises, Rhine River, Mississippi River, American Cruise Lines, cruise costs, staterooms, cruise lengths, spring break trips, travel agents, travel insights, holiday market visits, warm getaways, cruise adventures, cfworldtravel.com, trips@cfworldtravel.com.