Offloaded - The Travel Industry Podcast

David "Dave-o" Kolner, Virtuoso's Executive Vice President, joins Offloaded to offer what AC describes as a health check for the luxury travel industry. 

"I want to be so much more than just the data guy", says Dave-o. 

And he is. He most certainly is. 

In this episode you'll learn about the trends that Virtuoso are currently seeing through the unparalleled sales data that the global luxury behemoth has u...

As the child of a father who was a founder of the US Tour Operators Association, it would come as no surprise for Matthew Upchurch to enter the travel industry and become one of it's iconic leaders. 

The founder of Virtuoso in the 1980's, as CEO Matthew has overseen the company become the leading global network of agencies specialising in luxury and experiential travel. Today Virtuoso comprises of more than 20,000 advisors...

80.5

That's the number of years experience of selling cruises on today's episode, as we invited the icons that are Robyn Sinfield and Megan Caterall into The Room Residence in Sydney, which is a brand new space recently opened by Room Res that Co-Founders James Mooring and Nic Bryant were on hand to explain the space to us.

With an eye towards helping both new and existing travel advisors sell cruise m...

Melanie Whyte is a single parent with two special needs children who also happens to be one of Australia's most successful and highly decorated home-based travel advisors. 

In this episode Mel joins Richard and AC to share her story of how helping with the travel arrangements for parents adopting children overseas and those of 'neurospicy' families (her words) became the bedrock of her fledgling business. 

&q...

Its 2025, and Richard and AC are back with a special episode to get you through those long Summer days.

AC was asked to host a highly esteemed and very international discussion panel at the recent Goldman Travel Group Conference, and we have exclusive access to the audio right here for you!

Following the panel, AC and Richard about the proliferation of travel industry events. All 5,627 of them.   

The panel featur...

In this episode we present part two of a live session from ATIA's 'Beyond Borders' summit held at the ICC in Sydney.

This session covers the second part of the discussion around ATIA's 'A30' announcements, where ATIA CEO Dean Long speaks to several more of the association's directors. This time he's joined by David Hosking, Peter Muller, Rohan Moss, Katrina Barry and David Smith.

In this special episode we present a live session from ATIA's 'Beyond Borders' summit held at the ICC in Sydney.

In the first release from Beyond Borders (BB), this session covers the first hour of  and specifically the key areas of focus that will lead the industry towards 2030.

The project is called A30, and you'll hear from ATIA CEO Dean Long, Chair Christian Hunter, Vice Chairs Skroo Turner and ...

Offloaded is back for Season Three!

To kick things off, Richard and AC are joined by possibly the most senior industry leader to appear on Offloaded thus far in the shape of James Kavanagh, Flight Centre Travel Group’s Global CEO of Leisure. 

We begin by covering leadership, change and the importance of having mentors and good people around you, before moving onto two of FCTG’s longer-term strategies of growth into luxury travel and ...

The final episode of Series 2 broke the mould before we change things up again for Series 3 that's coming in September. 

Erina Pindar, COO and Managing Partner of SmartFlyer, became our first international guest, our first live in-person podcast held at a luxury hotel, and the first guest who hijacked our Offloaded section with an Offload of her very own.

Erina joined SmartFlyer when there were just 6 trav...

Andrew Young is the General Manager Sales for TTC Tour Brands Oceania, and the only person we know that performs a demanding industry role while living and helping out as the only son on a working farm.

That topic is worthy of a podcast all by itself, but the reason for asking Andy to join us on this occasion was to talk about travel industry sales.

We were also joined by Karen Macmillan, Director Australia, New ...

"Get the country open".

These were the suggestions from the Fijiian Prime Minister, Attorney General and Chair of Tourism Fiji to Brent Hill , the new CEO who had taken up the role at a time when the island was closed for visitation.

AC and Richard quizzed Brent about this interesting life and career choice, before moving on to discussing Fiji's unique charms, character and challenges that make i...

A packed episode that includes AC howling at the moon. 

Parris Fotias, Regional Sales Director APAC for Dorchester Collection was our guest for this episode, interviewed by AC and stand-in presenter Sonia Jones. 

Our interviewers were very excited to get a hotelier onto the podcast in Richard’s absence, and immediately set about discussing some of the reasons why advisor relationships with properties can make so much difference for t...

Part TWO! Listen to part one first!
Michael Gazal and Tania Myles of TravelManagers Australia return for Part Two of a 2024 travel industry take on the famous book 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' by Stephen R. Covey.

Working daily with a network of 450+ travel advisors (or in their terminology Personal Travel Managers), Michael and Tania are brilliantly positioned to talk about the common qualities...

Michael Gazal and Tania Myles of TravelManagers Australia were our guests this week to discuss a 2024 travel industry take on the famous book 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' by Stephen R. Covey. 

Working daily with a network of 450+ travel advisors (or in their terminology Personal Travel Managers), Michael and Tania are brilliantly positioned to talk about the common qualities they're seeing in a...

With AC away, Richard was joined by Nicola Strudwick to interview Isabel Limn, Key Partnerships Manager for Intrepid. 

Issy (she insists you call her this because it’s ‘Issy to remember’ – her gag not ours) is the most recent arrival to the industry among Offloaded guests thus far, having begun her journey in 2016. 

This is an episode that’s a break from the norm, and one that aims to scratch the surface of the mindset of our forthco...

From Contiki tour guide to General Manager of the Luxury Travel Collection Member Portfolio, Nikki Glading has had quite the travel industry career. 

In a frank and introspective interview, Nikki talks about her leadership journey that has included healthy doses of vulnerability, honesty and self-awareness along the way. Now in what she calls her “dream job”, Nikki is perhaps uniquely qualified to bring high-performing luxury and bo...

Quentin Long is known to millions for his TV and radio work, during which he discusses travel and the industry that powers it. 

In this interview Richard Taylor and Ann-Catherine Jones speak to Quentin about how he became such a powerful voice in explaining complex travel matters to the public, and how he himself keeps informed. 

The screens and microphones are but a small part of Quentin’s working life. His major focus is Australian...

This week Richard and AC are joined by Nicola Veltman, CEO and Co-Founder of 1000 Mile Travel Group. 

Nicola’s thousand mile journey began with a single step, around her kitchen table with her partner Ben. Their vision was to create a global network of agents that had access to corporate tools and sales pipelines that allowed members to run their own race, working from anywhere and in control of their own business while being part o...

In our first episode for 2024, Richard and AC meet man of many titles Anthony Goldman. He's the Joint Managing Director of the Goldman Travel Corporation by day, but is also a director of Link Travel Group and Chair of the Global Advisory Board for Virtuoso. He also serves on other advisory boards, ensuring there is never a dull moment.

This episode is about family. The origins of the Goldman travel story pre-date Wo...