FAM Trips: Too good to be true?

You have probably heard of FAM trips. You probably even started your whole Personal Travel Planning career on the info that there was this pot of gold known as the Familiarization or FAM trip. The mythical "all expenses paid" trip that travel suppliers send you on in order to entice you into selling their product when you get back home. Good news and bad news, they're real, but there's a catch.

These days there are still many fam trips out there. However, they are almost never all expenses paid. Matter of fact, I've never been on one that is, but legend has it that the very best-of-the-best agents earn enough clout with one supplier that they're gifted a trip. In reality, FAM trips are just heavily discounted tours/accommodations in far-off lands, that almost never include your airfare. They come to us often as emails indistinguishable from promotional spam.

Click below for a typical fam brochure.

FAMapp-1.pdf

Download PDF • 2.25MB

Sometimes you can bring a "plus one" or even your family, but it's FAM to FAM. So, you'll have to check it out. You also have to have your own accreditation number (at a cost) which we can help with. See the below tik tok for an explanation.

When is a FAM appropriate?

FAMs are a great way to really understand an area. You'll have access to business managers and guides the whole time, who will be happy to answer your questions. So, from an educational perspective, a Fam could be good way to rapid fire deep dive into a destination. You'll get the full VIP treatment while on it, as they're intending to impress you.

But it begs the question, if you really want to go to Ireland or something, why not just go on your own terms? Unless your niche is so tight that you're going to be selling the same location and suppliers again and again, which isn't typical of any custom travel planner (especially at our agency) or the price is so good it can't be passed up, then I'm not sure costly FAMs are even relevant to our agents. But don't take my word for it. Sometimes my fiercely skeptical and independent spirit keeps me out of nice things.

How does one get FAM offers?

There are dedicated FAM sites all over the internet - like this one. Also, you'll regularly get offers just by registering for various travel supplier portals. RIP your inbox. Most we've set to spam. Host Agency Reviews, a great site for travel planning info also has a FAM calendar. Some suppliers offer you preferred rates simply by being a travel agent. Others make you qualify by selling a certain amount first. See below.

If you're interested in going on a FAM and need help with sponsorship or accreditation, reach out to Jess, and we'll help.