Live From ILTM: Fora's Mission to Modernize the Travel Advisor Model

Fora Travel is proving that the travel advisor industry can evolve beyond traditional gatekeeping while maintaining professional excellence. In this ILTM (International Luxury Travel Market) episode—recorded live in Cannes—Henley Vazquez, co-founder of Fora Travel, joins Afar co-founder Joe Diaz to share how she's transforming a legacy industry by saying "yes" to a new generation of travel entrepreneurs who don't fit the traditional full-time advisor mold. Henley discusses her journey from running a traditional agency to launching Fora in 2021, frustrated by having to turn away talented people who couldn't commit to full-time travel planning due to other careers or family obligations. The conversation covers Fora's innovative technology like "bookable quotes" that update in real-time, price monitoring AI that alerts clients to rate changes, and how the platform turns advisors into "wingpeople" rather than middlemen. Henley also explores the challenge of maintaining community intimacy while scaling to thousands of advisors and why transparency and human connection remain essential even as AI transforms the industry. What You'll Learn Fora operates as a host agency with a $299 annual membership fee, splitting commissions with advisors while handling all back-office operations The platform's "bookable quote" feature allows clients to book travel in real-time while keeping advisors in the loop for expert guidance Fora employs 180 staff members, with half being engineers focused on modernizing legacy travel technology Price monitoring AI tracks all bookings and alerts advisors and clients when rates change by more than 5 percent or $50 Key Moments [2:01] Henley explains how COVID pushed her to rethink the industry: "I was tired of saying no to people" who had travel expertise but couldn't work traditional advisor hours [5:59] Joe reveals he's actually a Fora advisor himself, surprising Henley and demonstrating the platform's accessibility to non-traditional users [8:41] Discussion of scaling community through chapters, with local leaders organizing everything from partner events to hiking meetups across 92 countries [12:37] Henley's vision for advisors as "wingpeople not middlemen"—using technology to handle administrative tasks while humans provide expertise when it matters most Resources Visit the Fora Travel website to learn about becoming an advisor Explore Fora's annual conference that grew from 40 to 800-plus attendees Learn about ILTM Cannes where this conversation was recorded Stay Connected Sign up⁠ for our travel industry newsletter, Afar Advisor. Sign up for our podcast newsletter, ⁠⁠Behind the Mic⁠⁠, where we share upcoming news and behind-the-scenes details of each episode. Explore our other podcasts, ⁠Unpacked,⁠ where we dig into the trickiest topics in travel, and ⁠⁠Travel Tales⁠⁠, which celebrates first-person narratives about the way travel changes us. This ILTM special series was recorded live in Cannes, France. View From Afar is a production of Afar Media and part of the Airwave Media podcast network. The podcast is produced by Aislyn Greene and Nikki Galteland with assistance from Jenn Flowers, Julia Cosgrove, and Joe Diaz. View From Afar is part of⁠ ⁠⁠Airwave Media⁠⁠⁠'s podcast network. Please contact ⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices