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Travel Weekly
a day ago
- Business
- Travel Weekly
KHM Travel Group names advisor to lead its diversity efforts
KHM Travel Group has named travel advisor Marcus Williams its new DE&I specialist. The role was designed to strengthen the Brunswick, Ohio-based host agency's diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, according to KHM, No. 42 on Travel Weekly's Power List. Marcus Williams Photo Credit: KHM Travel Group Williams will lead KHM's existing DE&I Committee and will plan and host its quarterly meetings. He will also work with suppliers and other industry partners with DEI initiatives. He will also be tasked with contributing to KHM's DE&I Resource Library and make DE&I Minute presentations during monthly staff meetings in addition to finding new ways to engage diverse groups of travel advisors. • Focus on LGBTQ+ Travel: A chill in the air for Pride Additionally, Williams will head KHM's Bipoc Agent Resource Group. The group provides a place for advisors who are people of color to network and communicate with one another. Williams is the founder of the agency Impressive Travels in Houston. He was named KHM's 2024 DE&I in Action Agent of the Year and a Diamond Pinnacle Agent. "We started our DE&I journey back in 2017, and thanks to the dedication and perspectives of travel advisors like Marcus, we have seen industrywide progress, specifically in consumer advertising and marketing resources offered," KHM president and CEO Rick Zimmerman said in a statement. "We know there is still a lot of work to be done and are confident that Marcus is the perfect person to collaborate with our team to continue making a positive change for greater diversity, equity and inclusion in travel."
Travel Weekly
18-06-2025
- Travel Weekly
Laurence Pinckney's message
Arnie Weissmann Not many acceptance speeches begin with a thank you to a cardiologist, but when Laurence Pinckney was being inducted into KHM Travel's Hall of Fame this past March, that's where he began. His voice breaking with emotion, he recounted how, the previous week, his doctor had told him he needed a catheter put into his heart. Her initial scheduling would have required that he miss his induction ceremony, but when she realized how important it was for him to attend, she rearranged a few things to make sure he could have the intervention completed soon enough to be able to fly to Orlando for the festivities. This was not the first time, incidentally, that she had moved a procedure up for him; earlier, she gave him priority so that he could attend the Carnival Mardi Gras inaugural sailing (though she first had to get through her incredulity that he was willing to put off an important health concern for ..."A cruise?") In his speech, Pinckney drew an indirect parallel between how his doctor understood the value of the evening to him and how travel advisors understand that every trip is significant to every client. "What we do is important," he said. "And it's going to be more and more important for us to be in front of people's dreams and hopes to be able to travel safely anywhere in the world. Whether you have $100,000 in sales or a million dollars in sales, the client you help will never, ever forget you." Advisors play an important role not only in helping clients better understand the world, he said, but in promoting understanding between people. "We have so much division in the world right now, with people telling us who we should like," Pinckney said. "But when [clients] interact with that family in Africa or that family in Germany ... that's why we do this." And importantly, he focused on the need for travel advisors to support one another. He recounted a time when he took a group on a transatlantic sailing and one of the group, a friend of his, died en route. Fortunately, another KHM advisor was onboard, "and she stood with me, took care of me while I tried to manage losing a friend and moving the group forward," Pinckney said. Looking out at the assembled KHM advisors, he closed by saying, "When you walk into this room and when you walk out of this room, you will meet someone that you will come to love." This honor was not the first for Pinckney. He had been recognized as Agent of the Year for Carnival Cruise Line and thrice was agent of the year for Norwegian Cruise Line. And a prerequisite for being inducted into the host agency's Hall of Fame is that the candidate "show willingness to invest their time, their talent and resources" to "provide guidance that benefits KHM Travel Group and the travel agent community as a whole." Indeed, when KHM CEO Rick Zimmerman introduced Pinckney, he feted him as "an amazing man" and noted how much he had given back to the organization, serving as a regional director, as a member on the host agency's advisory board and on the diversity, equity and inclusion committee. "Beyond his achievements in selling travel, Laurence has made an impact in the industry through his dedication to moving the travel agent community forward through his leadership and passion for helping others," Zimmerman said. Travel Weekly writes often about the exceptional lengths that advisors go to help clients as well as how far suppliers go to help advisors. But what struck me most about Pinckney's message was his focus on what advisors do for advisors. And while he could have dwelled on the contributions he's made for others, he focused instead on how even a veteran advisor like him sometimes needs a shoulder to lean on. I've seen what he was talking about in action -- leisure travel advisors helping leisure advisors -- at conferences, on fams, over social media. In other industries, and even among corporate travel agencies, this type of peer-to-peer support among competitors is not common. I've seen industries where salespeople eye peers as one might view competing participants in an endless game of musical chairs, never wanting to give an advantage to someone who might get a seat while they're being shut out. Perhaps part of why travel advisors are so collegial is that the need for travel advising is so great that there's simply enough business for everyone. And the evolution away from strip mall agencies that competed locally for business has also helped lower competitive heat. But I think that's only part of it. I think leisure travel sales attract people who are naturally service-oriented and relate easily to others, even erstwhile competitors. Laurence Pinckney's message was delivered to KHM advisors. Happily, we're in an industry where it has the universal ring of truth.
