Son of a travel agent
I'm the son of an agent, also known as a nepo baby. My name is Oren Weissman, I'm nineteen years of age, and I attend the University of Colorado Boulder in my spare time. But this summer, I’m all about travel. And you, readers, are the not so lucky recipients of learning this world through the eyes of the one and only intern at Beyond Traveled.
I spent the first few days on the job observing how the business works, learning about DMCs, the GDS, and what the heck an IATA is. But I didn’t fully understand the job until I went to my first sales event.
While there is nothing worse than being the most under-qualified person at a meeting, when you're the son of one of the top travel agents in the country, people give you the benefit of the doubt. Who would've thought the conversations we would be having would be about 80s cigarette machines and the flower moon that hung over LA a week ago. But it was perfect. When they spoke about travel, I listened, when they talked about anything else, I spoke.
No one told me that these events were people just being themselves and talking about life and what they love to do, it reminded me of college orientation groups. The martinis were flowing, the group was vibing, and since it's the travel business, we were sitting at a marble table in a hotel in Beverly Hills with calamari and crab cakes at disposal. I learned about different pockets of the industry, about the sales portion, how hotels have to re-position after their first couple of months, how you are getting sold to and have to be selling simultaneously. It's a never ending loop of building connections and pouncing on opportunity. It's all constantly shifting, the industry never slows down.
When you think of the travel business, you might think of booking.com, waiting on the tarmac at airports, websites, and commercialization, but it really revolves around people. Good and passionate people. It's an industry that's booming with life, open to new people, and a mecca for social situations. Seriously, if you have any social anxiety, just force yourself to go to a travel event and you will either shit your pants or a new man will emerge.
As we ended our first meeting and went up to the rooftop bar, I learned what it's like to be sold to, and I also learned what my mother is like in her element. All these years I have known how hard she works, and I know how amazing she is, but I hadn't seen her up close like this. It was like watching Jordan hit a turnaround jump shot in ‘94 with a defender on his back. Poetry. She had so many connections, and some of them weren’t even work based. She was just herself. She talked and talked and talked, laughed and listened, and it took her 30 minutes to leave after she said she would. That is when I came to the conclusion that this job is just her place, it's what she does. Watching her, It didn't feel like she was working, even though I know she felt like it, but that is what makes her so great. She makes it look effortless, even though the constant working and talking says otherwise. And after all the catching up with old friends, she still had the time to slip her business card to a few people around the room. Reel 'em in mom, reel ‘em in.
She was giving her cards to hoteliers, people who represent different hotels across the world. We went from Taipei, to Bangkok, to Bali, and it was easy, all you had to do was listen. I learned what my preferences are in a hotel, and how my mom makes her decisions on where to send her clients. Each piece of information had importance, each piece of information could be applied to a client. The cycle returned, we were being sold to, and then we would sell to them, everybody gets to eat. But the constant stayed the same, everyone was human, everyone cared about their work, they cared about us. I felt uplifted and genuinely happy to be there, even if my social anxiety said otherwise.
As I move forward, my goal is to show up. Because for me, that's the best part about this industry, most of it is just showing up. Showing up to events, showing up for your clients, showing up to meetings and phone calls. It’s work, but it's work that centers around you being there, and I believe I can do that. I can’t wait to tell you guys about Japan. Until then, nepo baby is signing off and heading back to the intern desk.