Destination Wedding & Honeymoon Specialists Association

05/03/2023

Here’s to all the Travel Advisors out there! Thanks for all you do!

12/18/2022

Happy Hanukkah! May the joy of the season surround you and yours!

11/07/2022

"Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success." Dale Carnegie

I love this quote!

11/02/2022

For more details https://rpb.li/qYisce.

11/02/2022

For more details https://rpb.li/qYisce

10/24/2022

Are you ready for engagement season? Engagement "season" runs from Thanksgiving and Valentines Day. As a romance travel advisor now is the time to start reaching out to all the newly engaged couples.

DWHSA has so many tools that can help you prepare for engagement season and marketing to potential clients. www.joindwhsa.com

(And if you're a member of a large host agency or consortia, we have a special rate for you! email [email protected]).

10/17/2022

Are you a member of a large host agency or consortia? Do you own a franchise with Cruise Planners or Cruise One/Dream Vacations? You could be eligible for a special membership rate!
Contact [email protected] for more info!

10/17/2022

Share your experience! Was it worth it?

10/12/2022

Want to learn more about South Asian destination weddings (so you can feel confident working with these clients and their guests)? Join Lisa Dec. 5-8, 2022 at Hilton Tulum Riviera Maya All-Inclusive Resort for our South Asian DWs Workshop! We have about 7 spots left!

Here's the link to the workshop page that includes the registration form: https://bit.ly/2022SouthAsianDWsWorkshop

10/11/2022

Membership benefit #6 DWHSA formed six different Special Interest Groups (SIGs) that meet monthly or bimonthly via Zoom to network with each other and discuss issues based on our types of businesses. There is NO charge for these SIGs, but you must register for the groups you'd like to participate in - just click the links below! (For the High Volume SIG, you'll need to show your sales productivity.)

10/10/2022

2023 marks DWHSA's 10th Anniversary so join us for the celebration in Puerto Vallarta! The Romance Travel University is for travel advisors new to romance travel or seasoned veterans, And the best part? All the training content and presentations are by our members - peer to peer learning is immeasurably helpful.

Register to save your spot! https://tinyurl.com/yc3mv238

10/10/2022

Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian members, family, friends and colleagues! May your blessings be many today and in the coming year!

10/03/2022

In May 2023, we'll celebrate a decade of DWHSA!
Formed in 2013, we're the world's largest network of Romance TRAVEL ADVISORS who promote, plan, and manage all types of romance travel - more than 10,000 destination weddings and more than 32,000 honeymoons every year.

Join us in Puerto Vallarta next spring for DWHSA's 10th birthday! Check out the website for more information. Early registration ends October 15th
https://www.theromancetraveluniversity.com/

09/15/2022

So excited to be back in New York talking about romance travel!

Planning a honeymoon or destination wedding? ITS2022 Industry Sponsor DWHSA knows everything you need to know. Come meet them at ITS2022!

08/30/2022

Next Year, We'll Gather in ... Puerto Vallarta!

Very excited to announce that we'll meet for DWHSA's 10th anniversary conference in ... PUERTO VALLARTA!

The dates will be May 1-5, 2023 (arrivals Monday, May 1; three conference days Tuesday-Thursday, May 2-4; and departures Friday, May 5).

We'll have many more details to share in coming days (including the host resort, the rates, and the schedule), but we wanted to get you the destination and the dates ASAP!

Images: VisitPuertoVallarta.com; Pixabay. anniversary

08/23/2022

DWHSA in the D.R.

Liz Scull (our general manager in Canada) is leading a group of more than 30 advisors through the Dominican Republic this week on our latest romance fam!

They'll inspect more than a dozen properties along the way, take a full-day romance travel class with Liz (who ran Ensemble's DestinationVows program before she joined us), and even enjoy the final day on their own at Dreams Dominicus Friday to rest up before flying home!

If you're one of our members on the fam, please post videos and photos here - share with us what you're seeing! Thanks to Liz for organizing this trip, as well as RIU and AMR Collection for working with us!

Image: RIU Palace Bavaro (this is the view from Liz's "office").

08/22/2022

Last Thursday, we were notified by the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) that DWHSA was one of three travel groups selected to present comments this morning to the DOT committee that's working on those proposed regulations we told you about last week - new rules that would require U.S.-based agents to be responsible equally with the airlines for giving consumers refunds on canceled/severely delayed air tickets. This new rule would apply primarily to ARC-appointed agencies but could spill over to affect other agents as well (e.g., if you booked air for clients through your host agency's air program or a cruise line's air/sea program or if you book charter air or consolidator tickets).

Ridiculous, right? I can assure you after sitting through today's hearing that it's no joke. U.S. regulators are seriously considering this new rule.

ASTA, a business travel group, and DWHSA spoke today (we had 3 minutes apiece), and we have the right to file much more detailed written comments by Nov. 22. To its credit, ASTA did its usual amazing job pounding home the fact that we agents can't "front" refunds for billion-dollar airlines this way. I'll paste DWHSA's comments below.

We had to drop everything the past few days to prepare for that hearing today, but we'll get the newsletter out to you in the morning. We have an Iberostar webinar set for Thursday (Aug. 26 - 4 pm EDT).

Re these new regulations, we'll keep you posted - at some time this fall, ASTA will ask all U.S. agents to send letters, make calls, or do something to demonstrate our opposition, and when that happens we will need your help!

********

DWHSA's 3-minute comments:

Good morning! Our group, DWHSA, represents more than 800 U.S. small business owners who sell romance travel - destination weddings, honeymoons, vow renewals, anniversary trips, proposal trips, elopements, babymoons, familymoons ... any type of trip with love involved.

And, almost all of those trips require domestic or international airline tickets.

We're very concerned that the Department is upending decades of policy regarding who's responsible and liable for the remitting of refunds when things go wrong. As recently as the spring of 2020 - when the COVID-19 pandemic started - the Department stated clearly that CARRIERS have a longstanding obligation to provide prompt refunds to ticketed passengers when they cancel or significantly change flights. And, it said ticket agents are not required to make those refunds ourselves if we do not possess the passengers' funds.

Respectfully, we ask the Department to keep those rules in place in the new regulations by specifically exempting ticket agents who don't possess passenger funds from being on the hook in any way for refunds.

The vast majority of airline tickets sold in the United States by leisure travel advisors aren't processed through our bank accounts. Instead, they're processed through the merchant accounts of the Airlines Reporting Corporation, the settlement house that the airlines control. We never touch the money, and our agency names don't generally appear on consumers' financial statements. So, it's extremely unreasonable to force us to return money we never got in the first place. (This will only cause more confusion!)

To reduce confusion on this issue, we'll gladly do our part teaching consumers how future air refunds will work. If you require carriers to set up new refund forms, web pages, and contact phone numbers, we'll share that with all future clients. It's in everyone's best interests to have informed, empowered air travel consumers who feel confident about flying.

Again, we're asking the Department to include language in the new regulations specifically exempting ticket agents who never accept or possess passengers' funds from providing refunds. Thanks for your time.

08/17/2022

Want to learn more about South Asian destination weddings (so you can feel confident working with these clients and their guests)? Join Lisa Dec. 5-8, 2022 at Hilton Tulum Riviera Maya All-Inclusive Resort for our South Asian DWs Workshop!

This trip will include 1.5 days of comprehensive training on the key aspects of serving the needs of South Asian couples planning DWs - everything from important cultural facts and the different types of ceremonies and rituals to the cuisine, music, decor, and garments involved.
Here's the key reason to consider this workshop. You'll return home recognized as a "Certified South Asian Destination Wedding Specialist" by the South Asian Wedding Institute! Brenda Fernandez, the institute's founder, will personally conduct this training for DWHSA. She's the only wedding planner in America certified by the Kreaptive SA Wedding Institute in Mumbai to organize South Asian weddings and to certify new professionals in this niche. (She's also one of only 54 Master Bridal Consultants designated by the Association of Bridal Consultants, and she regularly trains resort wedding coordinators across Mexico and the Caribbean in this niche).

The training fee is USD$449 - that includes Brenda's sessions with you, all class materials (e.g., vocabulary list, vendors list), and the certification. Room rates at the Hilton are $99 pp/dbl or $149 single and includes tax! Air and transfers are not included. https://bit.ly/2022SouthAsianDWsWorkshop

You can also email me at [email protected] for more details!

07/01/2022

Best wishes to our Canadian members who're observing Canada Day today (Friday, July 1)!

Image: Alexey Hulsov/Pixabay

05/05/2022

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

04/22/2022

Take care of Mother Earth so we can continue to travel and exerience our wonderful world!

03/08/2022

Celebrate International Women's Day ! The theme for this year is "Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow"
The United Nations celebrated International Women’s Day for the first time in 1975.

03/02/2022

Registration is now open for this indepth romance travel training!
💗Only $129 per person
💗Includes 6 hours of training
💗Access to the recordings for 6 months
💗15 handouts

💗Individual follow up call for goal setting and strategizing for your success
💗Private Facebook group for all participants

Registration link
https://dwhsamembers.com/onlinebootcamp2022-Romance-Travel-Boot-Camps/

02/22/2022

It has always been one of the values of DWHSA membership that our members see each other as a part of the community, not our competition. We are all in this together!

02/02/2022

National Weddings Month is an excellent time to celebrate romance and the excitement of weddings.

Share a picture from your wedding.
Begin planning your wedding.
Visit wedding venues for your big day.
Call florists, DJs, bands, banquet halls, caterers, and dress shops.
Design your announcement and invitations.
Send Save-the-Date cards.

So, let romance win in February and celebrate all things wedding-related.

02/02/2022

9 years ago today John Hawks and I launched DWHSA. On a wing and a prayers, ok, lots of prayers, we hoped we could build an association that provided value, education, fellowship, and fun to romance travel advisors.
I think we've done ok considering the last 2 years have been a nightmare for many of us, and then throw in Zika, seaweed, terrorism in the lst 9 years. Thank you for your continued loyalty, for your support, your willingness to learn and share with your DWHSA community, and your friendship.
THANK YOU! as all of this wouldn't be possible without you.
And happy anniversary to John Hawks who is THE best work husband a girl could ask for!