This season, Trade Secrets is hosting the Trade Secrets Tech Summit. Every Monday, co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada will feature a different travel technology company that works with travel advisors. A representative from the featured company will begin with a 5-minute elevator pitch to tell advisors about their product, followed by a 15-minute Q-and-A with the hosts. This week’s featured company is FyndTravel, represented by founder and owner Lisa Watson. Trade Secrets is using Host A...
Jul 07, 2025•24 min•Season 6Ep. 16
This season, Trade Secrets is hosting the Trade Secrets Tech Summit. Every Monday, co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada will feature a different travel technology company that works with travel advisors. A representative from the featured company will begin with a 5-minute elevator pitch to tell advisors about their product, followed by a 15-minute Q-and-A with the hosts. This week’s featured company is Travel42, represented by senior customer support and relationship coordinator Larissa W...
Jun 30, 2025•25 min•Season 6Ep. 15
The Trade Secrets Tech Summit (season six of the podcast) is taking a quick summer break. In the meantime, co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada are sharing some of their favorite past episodes. Join them this week for a look back at last season’s episode about finding and maintaining a good work-life balance. Enjoy! This episode was sponsored by Globus family of brands . -- Balancing work responsibilities with the needs of personal life has become exponentially more difficult for travel ad...
Jun 23, 2025•58 min
The Trade Secrets Tech Summit (Season 6 of the podcast) is taking a brief summer break, but we're partially interrupting that pause to bring you a special episode highlighting some of the latest tech news in the travel industry: Tern’s acquisition of Lucia. Co-host Jamie Biesiada sits down with Tern’s David Shull and Lucia’s Grace Van Hollebeke to discuss what led to the acquisition, what travel advisors can expect moving forward, and more. Then, stick around for one of Jamie’s favorite episodes...
Jun 16, 2025•55 min
The Trade Secrets Tech Summit (season six of the podcast) is taking a quick summer break. In the meantime, co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada are sharing some of their favorite past episodes. Join them this week for an update on the Tech Summit — which will return toward the end of June — then a look back at last season’s episode all about destination management companies (DMCs). Enjoy! This episode was sponsored by Globus family of brands . – What’s the difference between a tour operato...
Jun 09, 2025•42 min
This season, Trade Secrets is hosting the Trade Secrets Tech Summit. Every Monday, co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada will feature a different travel technology company that works with travel advisors. A representative from the featured company will begin with a 5-minute elevator pitch to tell advisors about their product, followed by a 15-minute Q-and-A with the hosts. This week’s featured company is Travel Pro Theory, represented by founder Kate Thomas. Trade Secrets is using Host Agen...
Jun 02, 2025•26 min•Season 6Ep. 14
This season, Trade Secrets is hosting the Trade Secrets Tech Summit. Every Monday, co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada will feature a different travel technology company that works with travel advisors. A representative from the featured company will begin with a five-minute elevator pitch to tell advisors about their product, followed by a 15-minute Q-and-A with the hosts. This week’s featured company is Tique, represented by COO and co-founder, Jennifer Jacob. Trade Secrets is using Hos...
May 26, 2025•25 min•Season 6Ep. 13
This season, Trade Secrets is hosting the Trade Secrets Tech Summit. Every Monday, co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada will feature a different travel technology company that works with travel advisors. A representative from the featured company will begin with a 5-minute elevator pitch to tell advisors about their product, followed by a 15-minute Q-and-A with the hosts. This week’s featured company is TripSuite, represented by cofounder and CEO Jacey Jones. Trade Secrets is using Host Ag...
May 19, 2025•24 min•Season 6Ep. 12
This season, Trade Secrets is hosting the Trade Secrets Tech Summit. Every Monday, co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada will feature a different travel technology company that works with travel advisors. A representative from the featured company will begin with a 5-minute elevator pitch to tell advisors about their product, followed by a 15-minute Q-and-A with the hosts. This week’s featured company is Safari Portal, represented by founder and CEO Rachel West. Trade Secrets is using Host ...
May 12, 2025•27 min•Season 6Ep. 11
This season, Trade Secrets is hosting the Trade Secrets Tech Summit. Every Monday, co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada will feature a different travel technology company that works with travel advisors. A representative from the featured company will begin with a 5-minute elevator pitch to tell advisors about their product, followed by a 15-minute Q-and-A with the hosts. This week’s featured company is AtlasGuru, represented by CEO Kim Bennett. Trade Secrets is using Host Agency Reviews’ ...
May 05, 2025•25 min•Season 6Ep. 10
This season, Trade Secrets is hosting the Trade Secrets Tech Summit. Every Monday, co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada will feature a different travel technology company that works with travel advisors. A representative from the featured company will begin with a 5-minute elevator pitch to tell advisors about their product, followed by a 15-minute Q-and-A with the hosts. This week’s featured company is Travefy, represented by senior education manager Stephanie Gries. Trade Secrets is usin...
Apr 28, 2025•26 min•Season 6Ep. 9
This season, Trade Secrets is hosting the Trade Secrets Tech Summit. Every Monday, co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada will feature a different travel technology company that works with travel advisors. A representative from the featured company will begin with a 5-minute elevator pitch to tell advisors about their product, followed by a 15-minute Q-and-A with the hosts. This week’s featured company is Lucia, represented by founder and CEO Grace Van Hollebeke. Trade Secrets is using Host ...
Apr 21, 2025•24 min•Season 6Ep. 8
This season, Trade Secrets is hosting the Trade Secrets Tech Summit. Every Monday, co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada will feature a different travel technology company that works with travel advisors. A representative from the featured company will begin with a 5-minute elevator pitch to tell advisors about their product, followed by a 15-minute Q-and-A with the hosts. This week’s featured company is WeTravel, represented by CEO Ted Clements. Trade Secrets is using Host Agency Reviews’ ...
Apr 14, 2025•25 min•Season 6Ep. 7
This season, Trade Secrets is hosting the Trade Secrets Tech Summit. Every Monday, co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada will feature a different travel technology company that works with travel advisors. A representative from the featured company will begin with a 5-minute elevator pitch to tell advisors about their product, followed by a 15-minute Q-and-A with the hosts. This week’s featured company is Axus, represented by Gregory Wilshire. Axus, Travel Weekly and TravelAge West have the ...
Apr 07, 2025•25 min•Season 6Ep. 6
This season, Trade Secrets is hosting the Trade Secrets Tech Summit. Every Monday, co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada will feature a different travel technology company that works with travel advisors. A representative from the featured company will begin with a 5-minute elevator pitch to tell advisors about their product, followed by a 15-minute Q-and-A with the hosts. This week’s featured company is Sabre, represented by senior vice president of product management and distribution expe...
Mar 31, 2025•25 min•Season 6Ep. 5
This season, Trade Secrets is hosting the Trade Secrets Tech Summit. Every Monday, co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada will feature a different travel technology company that works with travel advisors. A representative from the featured company will begin with a 5-minute elevator pitch to tell advisors about their product, followed by a 15-minute Q-and-A with the hosts. This week’s featured company is VAX VacationAccess, owned by Trisept Solutions and represented by Josef Shomperlen. Tra...
Mar 24, 2025•24 min•Season 6Ep. 4
This season, Trade Secrets is hosting the Trade Secrets Tech Summit. Every Monday, co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada will feature a different travel technology company that works with travel advisors. A representative from the featured company will begin with a 5-minute elevator pitch to tell advisors about their product, followed by a 15-minute Q-and-A with the hosts. This week’s featured company is Sion, represented by founder and CEO Irving Betesh. Trade Secrets is using Host Agency ...
Mar 17, 2025•24 min•Season 6Ep. 3
This season, Trade Secrets is hosting the Trade Secrets Tech Summit. Every Monday, co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada will feature a different travel technology company that works with travel advisors. A representative from the featured company will begin with a five-minute elevator pitch to tell advisors about their product, followed by a 15-minute Q-and-A with the hosts. This week’s featured company is the Hive, represented by founder and CEO Whitney Shindelar. Trade Secrets is using H...
Mar 10, 2025•25 min•Season 6Ep. 2
This season, Trade Secrets is hosting the Trade Secrets Tech Summit. Every Monday, co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada will feature a different travel technology company that works with travel advisors. A representative from the featured company will begin with a 5-minute elevator pitch to tell advisors about their product, followed by a 15-minute Q-and-A with the hosts. This week’s featured company is Tern, represented by co-founder and CEO David Shull. Trade Secrets is using Host Agency...
Mar 03, 2025•25 min•Season 6Ep. 1
Trade Secrets is back for its sixth season, but with a twist: Welcome to the Trade Secrets Tech Summit. Every week — you read that right, Trade Secrets is going weekly in season six — co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada will invite a travel agency technology provider on the show. They’ll discuss their tech and how it can help travel advisors’ businesses. Trade Secrets is using Host Agency Reviews’ list of travel agency software as a jumping-off point for the companies to feature, but list...
Feb 17, 2025•3 min
In this special bonus episode, Trade Secrets is all about content — and why travel advisors should get theirs off social media and into an email newsletter. Kayla Douglas, director of content for SmartFlyer in New York, delves into the world of Substack with co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada. And, stay tuned after the episode for some exciting announcements about season six of Trade Secrets. This episode was released in conjunction with a Humans in the Hot Seat episode (part of TravelAg...
Feb 10, 2025•40 min
Trade Secrets is on a winter break. We're sharing some of our favorite episodes until we return. Travel advisors, how do you handle it when a client has unrealistic expectations? What if they ask to stay at a property you wouldn’t recommend (especially if they serve truly lackluster midnight hotdogs)? What do you do when their budget is unrealistic for the trip they want? Or, what if they have a really bad experience while they’re in-destination? Get advice on all that and more in this week’s ep...
Jan 27, 2025•43 min
Trade Secrets is on a winter break. We're sharing some of our favorite episodes until we return. This week, we're featuring one of our most popular episodes from season five. New travel advisors, look no further than this episode of Trade Secrets for advice on everything from setting up your business, to finding clients, to prioritizing fam trip destinations. Co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada are joined by KHM Travel Group’s Bill Coyle, vice president of agent engagement, to tackle list...
Jan 13, 2025•45 min
Trade Secrets is on a holiday break. We're sharing some of our favorite episodes until we return. This week, we're featuring our first episode of season five. Hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada welcome Nexion Travel Group president Jackie Friedman on the show to talk about the value of travel advisors. They discuss the modern history of the profession and the evolution from “agent” to “advisor,” then answer listener questions about standing out from the crowd, how advisors can sell their ow...
Dec 30, 2024•44 min
Trade Secrets is on a holiday break. We're sharing some of our favorite episodes until we return. This week, co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada welcome Royal Caribbean’s Vicki Freed, senior vice president of sales and trade support and service, and Jamie Margolis, owner of the Dream Vacations franchise Moms at Sea. During the episode, Freed and Margolis talk about the importance of forming — and maintaining — a good agent-supplier relationship, the “unicorn” cabins onboard Royal Caribbea...
Dec 16, 2024•49 min
In the season finale of Trade Secrets, co-hosts Jamie Biesiada and Emma Weissmann share their top 25 travel predictions for 2025, covering everything from trends in the travel agency and tech landscape to destinations and travel styles they have their eyes on for the coming year. They also share some exciting news – Trade Secrets recently took home an award for Best Travel/Leisure Podcast in the annual Eddie and Ozzie Awards! The sixth season of Trade Secrets will debut in early 2025. Further re...
Dec 02, 2024•42 min•Season 5Ep. 12
From ASTA’s fight against American Airlines’ distribution strategy to the Taylor Swift effect on the travel industry, 2024 was bursting with headlines that affected travel advisors. This week on Trade Secrets, co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada talk about the major travel trends and events that shaped the agency landscape. Further resources Mentioned on the show: Trade Secrets episode featuring Andrea Grisdale and a discussion on Italy Trade Secrets episode featuring David Kolner and a d...
Nov 18, 2024•47 min•Season 5Ep. 11
Balancing work responsibilities with the needs of personal life has become exponentially more difficult for travel advisors as workloads have increased. But it’s also critically important to find time for friends, family and hobbies outside of work, and to develop systems at work that improve efficiency and allow you to step away. What kind of boundaries should you set, and how can you enforce them? What can you automate to take more things off your plate? Hear all about this and more on this ep...
Nov 04, 2024•56 min•Season 5Ep. 10
What’s the difference between a tour operator and a destination management company (DMC)? How can advisors find DMCs to work with, and what are the top do’s and don’ts of working with them? What if a contact at a DMC ghosts a travel advisor? Hear the answers to these questions and more in this week’s episode of Trade Secrets, where co-hosts Emma Weissmann and Jamie Biesiada chat about all things DMCs with Andrea Grisdale, CEO and founder of I.C. Bellagio in Italy. This episode is sponsored by Am...
Oct 21, 2024•37 min•Season 5Ep. 9
This week, Trade Secrets takes on the world. Jennifer Doncsecz of VIP Vacations returns to the podcast to discuss her specialty: destination weddings and honeymoons. She talks about everything from getting started selling destination weddings and honeymoons, to turning those travelers into clients for life. Then, she answers a number of listener questions about destinations, ranging from the benefits of visiting a spot before selling it, qualifying for fam trips and where to send clients headed ...
Oct 07, 2024•59 min•Season 5Ep. 8
