Let’s talk about fams. It’s a topic the industry dances around but rarely says plainly, and it’s an issue I feel strongly about – especially as fam trips seem (from some suppliers at least) to becoming ever more scarce.
A fam trip is not an entitlement. It is not a reward for experience, a perk of the job, or something you can reasonably expect simply because you’ve been in the business for a decade. It is a business tool and like any business tool, it only makes sense when you’ve built the business to justify it.
Running an independent travel business means wearing every hat simultaneously as strategist, marketer, salesperson, and service provider, and that reality shapes everything whether you are a solo advisor building from scratch or leading a growing team of independents and employees.
When I look at my business, I’m not just thinking about the next client trip. I’m thinking about revenue targets, marketing spend, brand positioning, content strategy, and whether the numbers actually work.
The scale looks different for everyone, but the discipline is the same. So if you’ve been wondering why the offer of a fam trip hasn’t come through recently, ask yourself honestly: have you considered your proposition to the organiser?
If you’ve been wondering why the offer of a fam trip hasn’t come through recently, ask yourself: have you considered your proposition to the organiser?
I don’t just mean considering who you are, but why that supplier should choose you and your business specifically, what you bring to the table, who your clients are, and what you will do with the experience once you return. What does the ROI look like for them?
That means being able to articulate your social reach, your active client pipeline, the sales conversations you are already having, and any PR or content you commit to delivering. If you cannot answer those questions before you apply, you’re not ready for the fam.
One question I ask advisors that almost always stops them in their tracks: do you know your cost of acquisition? That is, how much it actually cost you to win the client sitting in front of you.
Greenfield-Turk emphasises the importance for advisors to know the cost of their acquisition and sales before taking fam trips
And beyond that, your cost of sale, what you spent in time, tools, and resource to close that piece of business.
The numbers, when people finally do the maths, are often astounding. More often than not they haven’t been considered at all. If you don’t know those figures, you are not running a business. You are running on instinct, and instinct doesn’t scale.
Fam trips should come after you are generating revenue, not before. They should have a clear ROI goal covering sales, marketing, PR and content, even if that goal isn’t always achieved. Before I consider any travel for work purposes, I ask myself what the return looks like. I have a personal travel budget of £250 to £300 per night for work trips, and if I can’t make it work within that, I don’t travel.
We are in business. We are not in the business of collecting freebies
I don’t expect a complimentary stay when I request accommodation, and I don’t think advisors should be in the habit of expecting one either. We are in business. We are not in the business of collecting freebies.
There is also a conversation that needs to happen on the supplier side. Hotels and partners need to be more intentional about who they’re targeting for fam opportunities, not chasing follower counts on Instagram, but identifying advisors who are genuinely selling their product or have a demonstrable client base that fits.
Social media following is a deeply flawed proxy for sales performance, and the industry’s obsession with it does real damage to serious advisors who are quietly generating significant revenue without broadcasting every moment of it.
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Having advisors pay and stay, even at a token rate, creates genuine awareness, real conversation and solid brand loyalty. Suppliers don’t have to say yes to every request, but being smart enough to know when to say yes is also their responsibility.
A well-matched advisor who has invested even modestly in experiencing a property will almost always outperform one who was handed a complimentary stay without context or intention.
There’s a related issue that also doesn’t get talked about enough: industry rates that bear no relationship to what working advisors can actually afford.
I was recently quoted an industry rate of over £600 per night. That is not an industry rate. That is a full retail rate with a different label on it. If suppliers want advisors to know, love, and sell their properties, pricing needs to reflect a genuine understanding of how advisor businesses actually operate.
The advisors who build sustainable, profitable businesses are the ones who treat every element, sales, marketing, PR, content and financial planning, with the same seriousness they bring to client work.
Fam trips follow from that foundation. They don’t create it.
Duncan Greenfield-Turk is the founder of Global Travel Moments, a luxury agency which specialises in LGBTQ+ travel, honeymoons and bespoke adventures. Shortlisted for the TTG Luxury Travel Designer of the Year 2026, he operates as an independent affiliate of the Global Travel Collection and a member of the elite Virtuoso network.
