The Biz Huddle Redefines Success for 7-Figure Travel Advisors

The typical travel industry event follows a well-worn script: product meetings, cocktails, a keynote by someone with a C-suite title, and a closing dinner with more logos than insight. But Courtnie Nichols wasn’t interested in more of the same.

So she built something different.

The inaugural The Biz Huddle, held in Austin this July, gathered 30 top-performing advisors and agency owners from across the U.S. to reimagine what it means to run a profitable travel business in 2025. The room represented over $34.5 million in annual travel sales and nearly $7 million in managed commission revenue. Seventy percent of attendees lead teams, and 80 percent reported over $1 million in yearly sales.

Nichols, founder of TravelBash and TRVLB, also made a significant financial investment to launch the event on her own terms and to put emphasis on value-focused insights while nixing traditional sales pitches and booths from sponsors.

“I wanted to protect the integrity of the event, so if a sponsor didn’t align with our mission, I declined,” Nichols said.

The Concept

Nichols originally conceived The Biz Huddle out of frustration.

“I kept hearing the same gripes at industry shows – burnout, inconsistent income, confusion around pricing – and yet the event formats never changed,” she observed.

So she hit the books and dug into the data, finding industry reports showing that only 15% of advisors earn more than $200,000 annually. Many, even after six to ten years in the business, hover around $60,000.

“You can make more at Starbucks and get benefits,” Nichols said. “We talk about luxury, but most advisors aren’t being compensated like it.”

So she created The Biz Huddle to change that.

Attendees participated in immersive, 90-minute sessions over three days with vetted coaches, consultants, and business strategists, most of whom came from outside the travel industry and had scaled their own companies into seven-figure enterprises. 

Topics ranged from automation and pricing models to marketing, delegation, retainer structures, and passive income to paint a newer, fuller picture of what a higher-performing business structure looks like.

Hard truths surfaced as advisors were encouraged to own their numbers, ask better questions, and recognize how personal habits show up in professional results.

Nichols challenged attendees. “You can’t heal what’s hidden,” she said. “If you want your business to grow, you have to be willing to look at what’s not working.”

“Great businesses aren’t built on autopilot,” said attendee Melisa Keiser of Carmel Travel Company. “They’re built on intention.”

And the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. 

“So grateful to have attended this event,” said Emily Miller of Larksong Travel. “It changed the way I think about my business.”

“This is exactly what I’ve been searching for to move my business forward,” added Patricia Zesut of Exemplary Travel Advisors. “There’s nothing else like it in our space.”

Sponsorship, With a Twist

Classic Vacations, JMak, Remotely, Travel Leaders, TripSuite, Wanderlux Collection, and Wanderluxe Destinations were The Biz Huddle’s seven sponsors in attendance, with TravelBiz Boss being the eighth. 

But they weren’t just vendors in booths. They joined as full participants and sat through every workshop to interact with attendees, as well as during breakfasts, lunches, and dinners throughout the three-day event.

For instance, Remotely did a Sponsored Popsicle Break, Wanderlux Collection did welcome experience lounge, TripSuite provided a mini-presentation on net rates, Wanderluxe Destinations did a quick spill, and Tiffany Gilardi of Classic Vacation joined Nichols to do a rapid-fire Q&A. 

Nashville on the Horizon

The second iteration of The Biz Huddle is already in motion and is currently planned for July 21-24, 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee. Over the course of this coming year though, one notable follow up is that Nichols plans to build out additional peer-to-peer “Huddle Up” time to track real business growth from this year’s cohort.

“I want to hear case studies next year so we can build on what we’ve created,” she said. “The only thing I really ask of everyone is to pay it forward.”

Advisors looking for more information can head to The Biz Huddle website.

Jacques Ledbetter is a Luxury Travel Advisor contributor and founder of The Luxe Ledger newsletter. Join the conversation when this story posts there tomorrow on LinkedIn.

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