There’s a lot more to Puerto Rico than San Juan—and there’s a lot more to being a successful travel advisor than just sales skills. So when my Facebook friends Nina Sherman and Hema Khan suggested that I spend a week with them and 20 travel advisors on a CCRA fam trip on the Island of Enchantment, I was in.
And what a trip it was. The first of two back-to-back fams that Discover Puerto Rico will be hosting for CCRA Travel Commerce Network took a rollicking busload of almost two dozen travel advisors from San Juan to the west coast, then north, and finally into the rainforest. We slept at three hotels and toured many more. We said “salud” with Rum Old Fashioneds at the Don Q factory and toured its beautiful outdoor function spaces and indoor historic mansion; we fed the goats, tasted herbs pulled fresh from the ground and sampled the farm-to-table bounty at Frutos del Guacabo; we saw the beautiful El Yunque Rain Forest and, of course, we bonded and traded war stories and got a little tipsy and laughed til they told us to please quiet down.
Along the way, I learned quite a bit about CCRA and Puerto Rico, one of its top destinations. In the first three months of this year, CCRA has brought 52,000 US travelers here, to enjoy the island’s Latin American tastes and five-star service, chief commercial officer Peter Pincus said at an amazing dinner hosted for us by The Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Rainforest, Beach & Golf Resort. “We’re in the service business, and what distinguishes Puerto Rico is the service,” he noted.
A “unique family of travel brands” that’s neither a host nor an agency, CCRA offers travel advisors technology, marketing, education and perhaps most of all, a chance to socialize with their peers at local chapter meetings around the country. In its 50th anniversary year, it’s home to quite a few advisors who’ve been members for more years than they’d care to count, attracted early on by the TRUE Accreditation, which allows travel advisors to be their own agency on record, earning 100% commission.
But, like Khan and Sherman, many stay for the camaraderie of those local chapter meetings and the networking opportunities. (Everyone is welcome to join their PowerSolutions Events on July 24 in Jersey City and August 27 in Washington DC; for more information go to https://www.ccra.com/powersolutions/.)
The fam group was soon off to see the parts of the island you don’t see from a cruise ship. We started in Ponce, the City of Lions, named for Ponce de Leon, home to pirates and explorers, amazing architecture and the Paseo Amor, where lovers meet (and where we had probably the best guide I’ve ever seen). We stopped in Mayaguez, a vibrant destination just 20 minutes from the surf capital of Rincon and the sunset beaches of the West Coast. We had lunch at the Frutos del Guacabo farm, a sustainable farming coop of 50 farmers that grows microgreens for 200 local hotels. Groups can rent the space for lunch and tours ($50 plus tax per person), as we did, sip the most amazing Mango Gazpacho, milk the goats and make your own goat cheese, and walk the farm, tasting as you go.
(Amazing Mango Gazpacho Recipe: Blend 2 cups mango in a blender. Add 2 cups orange juice. Finely dice 1 cucumber, 1 red pepper, ½ red onion, 1 tooth garlic, 3-4 tablespoons lime juice, 3 tablespoons cilantro, jalapeno if desired, and mix into mango. Follow with a Don Q Old Fashioned!)
The travel advisors on the bus were a nice mix of large and small, established and new, top sellers of Puerto Rico and hopefuls. Khan joined OSSN in 2006 and came along when that was acquired by CCRA, got her TRUE accreditation and started her own agency in 2007, and now has six ICs and is director of a 100-member chapter in Southern NJ. “So many agents were so helpful to me over the years, and I wanted to repay the favor by helping others,” she says. She has mentored about 10 travel advisors over the years, participated in industry conferences, and offered advice on numerous Facebook groups. At CCRA, she is supposed to host a meeting at least once per quarter—but so far this year she’s had one a month, and often attends meetings in Philadelphia as well.
Susan Marteeny of Sky Cruise and Travel in New Smyrna Beach, FL, came upon OSSN and CCRA at the 2015 Tampa Home Based Travel Agent Forum, and became a chapter director in 2017. Nowadays, in addition to running her own agency, she also works a few hours a week as a virtual assistant for three other travel agencies—a side gig she started during Covid and never gave up. “I fell in love with Puerto Rico in 1988 and have visited many times,” she says. “I often recommend clients consider cruises departing from San Juan, as the Southern Caribbean itineraries are amazing, and the cruise fares are comparable even when factoring in airfare. Puerto Rico is my go-to vacation spot for US clients without passports; it’s a beautiful country with beaches, rainforests, mountains, and bio-bays. The activities are endless, the people are warm and inviting, the history and culture are intriguing and the food is a delicious fusion of Spanish, African and Caribbean influences. Puerto Rico always leaves me wanting more.”
“I love CCRA, and I love Puerto Rico,” says Markgetta Jackson Langford, director of CCRA’s Atlanta chapter, owner of Langford Travel, LLC, and co-owner of Global Travelers and Company. “And I think, as a director and agency owner, I have a responsibility to attend events and validate what they are trying to do. Puerto Rico is one of those islands that travelers who prefer (or think they prefer) an all-inclusive brand tend to sleep on. Because there are no all-inclusive resorts, travelers think having an enjoyable time here will be too expensive—but I think it is quite the opposite. Puerto Rico is so affordable. The island’s beauty and the people’s welcoming comfort far surpass any price point you would hope to gain from an all-inclusive destination.”
Langford’s journey into the travel industry began in 2008 when her military husband started an agency but soon deployed (again) overseas. Dissatisfied with the initial model, she sought a more robust certification process, and felt CCRA “offered the validation our agency needed to move forward.” Her agency sold more than $1.3 million with their top supplier in the first quarter of 2024. “You learn the secret sauce that makes you successful,” she says, noting her expertise in group travel.
The group also included the newest CCRA chapter director, Navy veteran Paul Harderson, who fell in love with the Caribbean when sailing there in 2016. He launched Seadog Travels in November 2020, went full-time in January 2024, and decided while on this trip to launch a new CCRA chapter in Tucson, AZ. Opening his agency as the world closed for COVID-19 gave him the time to think through his business plan, he says, and come up with a compelling theme: a travel company for people who love the ocean. The company currently offers hosted group tours, boat charters, all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean, cruises, and travel agency services, and soon will add destination weddings. Eventually, he plans to build group trips that include scientists and oceanographers, and he will begin studying for a Master’s degree in oceanography this autumn. But from the beginning, his research brought him to CCRA and the TRUE certification, and he’s happy to be spreading the word. “The most important thing for a small business is to build a network and a community,” he says.
Guiding the group was Discover Puerto Rico leisure sales manager Johanna Gonzalez. The goal of a good fam trip is not to waste time, she says, and to focus on the hidden gems that many travel advisors don’t know. “We want to target places outside of San Juan, and also bring attention to the ABC/CCRA hotel program by using properties that are included in that,” she says. Discover Puerto Rico hosted 12 fam trips in the past fiscal year, 9 of them for US advisors, and is remodeling its online Puerto Rico Specialist program to make it more interactive. More than 30,000 travel advisors have taken the course, and future fam attendees will be chosen from those who complete it. Visitors to Puerto Rico are down about 5% from last year as more destinations have opened, “but we’ve been very busy,” she says. “Being a US territory makes it very safe and you don’t need a passport, and that attracts business.”
Some notable stops on our trip:
*The Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Rainforest, Beach & Golf Resort, at the edge of the rainforest, is being completely renovated beginning June 15, when 185 rooms will be taken out of service until October. We got a sneak peek at the beautiful new décor; a new outdoor eating space will be added; the two pools will be completely renovated; the adult relaxation pool will be enclosed; and a new Explorer’s Club will have scientists who put together programs for children, adults, and groups. The casino will get new machines and tables and a cabaret lounge. The property is hosting weekly fam trips and getting “a lot more group site inspections,” many for larger groups than in the past, says area site manager Efrain Rivera, whose territory also includes the Wyndham Palma.
*The Hotel Rumbao, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel by Marriott, just opened in March right across the street from the ships in the port of Old San Juan. The former Sheraton San Juan is reborn in vibrant colors, sporting 245 guest rooms and 48 suites (likely the most in all of Puerto Rico), as well as 9,000 square feet of meeting space.
*The Sheraton Puerto Rico Resort & Casino sports newly renovated guest rooms, a new bar that opened in December and a new restaurant that opened in May. The main pool restaurant will be renovated in August, and the main restaurant will be redone at the end of the year.
*In short, the 80-acre Hilton Ponce Golf & Casino Resort has whatever you need.
In the end, say CCRA AVP Holly-Carrig Matthews, while “the goal of this fam was for the advisors to return home with a clear understanding of how to sell Puerto Rico and promote it as an attractive destination, the advisors were also building lasting relationships among one another.”
And, says Pincus, “We are going to be coming back to Puerto Rico for sure.”
Cheryl’s 40-year career in journalism is bookended by roles in the travel industry, including Executive Editor of Business Travel News in the 1990s, and recently, Editor in Chief of Travel Market Report and admin of Cheryl Rosen’s Group for Travel Professionals, a news and support group on Facebook. As an independent contractor since retiring from the 9-to-5 to travel more, she has written regular articles about the life and business of travel agents for Luxury Travel Advisor, Travel Agent, and Insider Travel Report. She also writes and edits for professional publications in the financial services, business, and technology sectors.