Global Travel Collection (GTC) has officially stepped into its next chapter.
What was initially created to be an umbrella brand for Internova Travel Group’s luxury host agencies Protravel International, Tzell Travel Group and eventually Altour, has officially unified into a $2.4-billion luxury host agency of 1,500 travel advisors with grand ambitions to leverage its scale and collective expertise for the benefit of GTC advisors, partners and clients alike.
"Our nearest competitors are probably a third of our size,” said Angie Licea, president of Global Travel Collection. “And so how do we start leveraging that and really taking that place of being the best of the best?”
In addition to capitalizing on scale, GTC promises to be a one-stop shop for clients and suppliers looking for the best luxury advisors: Nearly half (44%) of GTC advisors sold more than $1 million in sales last year, including nearly 900 ultra-luxury journeys valued at $100,000 or more. The agency is confident that its Atlas AI platform and business programs will continue to support advisor service and growth.
Here, Licea tells us about the road to unification, how leveraging GTC’s scale is already working, how she plans to preserve the expanded agency’s community feel and how she’ll know if the unification was a success.
Tell me about how this got started?
It began in 2020 with J.D. [O’Hara, chief executive officer for Internova Travel Group] saying, “Okay, we have all of these businesses that function similarly, but we run them separately.” Protravel was always seen as this culture that was very professional and focused on high-end luxury leisure travel. The fact is Tzell had the same mix of clientele, but its culture was a little bit calmer and looser; it had more fun. And they focused a lot on corporate advisors.
But outside of the cultures, when you looked at the businesses on the inside, they were almost all the same. They had some different processes, but the overall concept — how they function and their structures — were almost the same.
So Global Travel Collection was created as parent company to these brands in 2020, but everyone was still operating in their silos. What came next?
We started with bringing together the internal infrastructure. It became working on the staffing and the processes. Where do we have similarities? Where do we have best practices? How do we apply the best practices across all? We consolidated the teams. So instead of having three accounting teams, we had one.
And we brought the leadership teams together to function as one leadership team, because each of them had their own president and their own structure.
Altour, which we purchased in 2017, really operated as its own until 2024. By the time Altour came in, we had already consolidated all the processes, people and everything. And so, it did offer an opportunity for us to look at all of Altour’s processes and people to say, what best practices could we apply that would benefit everybody?
When did you feel that GTC took off?
Some people were still resonating with the Tzell culture or Pro culture, but we did have a fair number of advisors who said, no, I just want to be GTC. That's really when we thought, you know, this could all come together as one and not function under different brands.
But it took a lot of time, and we had to give the proper amount of care to pay respect to the brands that we grew from. Had we tried to do what we just did over the last nine months two or three years ago, we would have failed. It was really waiting until everybody was ready and when advisors were saying, “This is silly — this Pro-Tzell thing. Why don't we just come together as one?”
And how did supplier partners factor into the decision to unify?
Even though we had come together under the GTC umbrella, all of the IATAs were under the legacy brands. And so, we still had partners looking at us as if we were these individual separate agencies. For example, this actually happened at ILTM in 2023, J.D. was talking to a partner, and they said, “Tzell New York is not doing as well, but Pro New York is doing really well.”
The partners were looking at us as if we were competitors; they were looking at us in these little parts. So, when they said, “You're a $500 million agency or $600 million agency,” we’d explain that we were a $2.4 billion agency.
How the partners viewed us is what really pushed us to say this must happen. If we're going to bring the best to our advisors and to their customers, we have to be seen as a $2.4 billion company.
How the partners viewed us is what really pushed us to say this must happen. If we're going to bring the best to our advisors and to their customers, we have to be seen as a $2.4 billion company.
It sounds like it was the right business decision, but how do you maintain the community and legacy of the former brands?
Now what we have to do is never forget where we came from — “the home brands.” We never want to lose that because those brands are what made us what we are.
Consolidation has been going on for years in this industry. So, we have to remember all those incredible leaders who helped build our industry. We never want to forget that. I equate it to United Airlines and Continental Airlines, where you have the United colors and brand, but you have the Continental globe [in the logo]. That's what we have to do.
How is this unification and brand positioning helping the travel advisor?
I can definitely say that partners recognize us for what and who we are. In some cases, there might be equal deals, but nobody ever has a better deal than us. Nobody has better deals than we do.
I think the other part of it is maybe less tangible than a commission. This week, when we were talking to advisors about how being part of a $2.4 billion company has helped them, every single person had an example of how when the partner found out that they had a difficult situation and that it was a GTC booking, all of a sudden that problem went away.
It's making sure that if there was only one room left, and it's us and a couple of other agencies asking for it, GTC gets it first because of the sheer volume that we produce for these companies.
As much as the commission is negotiated and the deals are important, what our advisors get in order to do what they need to do for their customers is as important to us.
It's making sure that if there was only one room left, and it's us and a couple of other agencies asking for it, GTC gets it first because of the sheer volume that we produce for these companies.
And how do partners benefit from this?
One thing you will always find with us at GTC is we want the partner to win. We don't want to be an agency who sticks it to the partners. They help us help our advisors service their customers. We want to be recognized, but we don't want to be arrogant and ask for more than we should. We will always find a fair path so that the advisor, the partner and GTC can all win.
Do you have an example of something that you think really depicts this?
A year ago, at ILTM, we were meeting with a partner who also has luxury homes. And their hotels were selling well, but the homes were not moving. So, we put together a strategic plan on education for advisors. We identified advisors that were selling like properties. The partner did their part by taking some advisors out to those homes so that they could see them. And guess what? Their sales increased. We want our partners to be successful because if they're successful, we're successful — and so is the advisor.
What should an advisor looking for a host think about when considering GTC versus a smaller agency?
Everybody has to pick a culture and a size that is aligned to the goals that they want to achieve, their personalities and their lifestyle. We won't always be the choice, but we truly believe we're built for the best. The reality is that what we do really well is we help advisors grow. So that $1 million advisor becomes three. Three becomes five, five becomes 10.
The reality is that what we do really well is we help advisors grow. So that $1 million advisor becomes three. Three becomes five, five becomes 10.
Who don’t you serve?
We're not going to play in the space where people want to do this as a side gig, or just for their friends and family. That's not what GTC is built on. What we're built on are people who see what they do as a business, and it's their livelihood and life.
How will you keep the community vibe of a smaller agency?
We put a lot of effort into that because community for travel advisors is super important, no matter the size. In a smaller environment, it's easier, but what we've done is restructured ourselves into segments. We have a corporate segment, an entertainment segment and a leisure segment, which breaks those 1,500 advisors down into a regular size agency.
Entertainment is on the smaller side, but it is the fastest-growing segment for the host space. When you split the actual sales, leisure is about 55%, and then corporate is closer to 40%. We have a vice president in each of those segments, and they're responsible for their community and making sure that the education is suited for the people selling that type of segment.
We're putting tools in place to help enable that — customizing the training and the communication that's specific to those individual segments. And then we're bringing that together under a singular platform that allows us to designate an advisor when they go into our environment for the segment that they're in.
How accessible is senior leadership?
If an advisor sends me an email, nobody responds for me, I respond. Because it's important that our advisors understand, I know them and see them. A lot of effort has to go into it.
From a senior leadership perspective, we are paying attention and having conversations with the advisors.
Will GTC get bigger and bring on more advisors?
If GTC was half this size and doing the same sales, I'd be happy. Will we ever be an agency that has 15,000 advisors? I seriously doubt it. It's about the quality of what is coming in our door. That's what we're looking for.
How are you going to judge how successful this unification is in a year from now?
From an advisor perspective, there will be a sense of pride in saying Global Travel Collection. That they're proud to be part of our top performers, that they're proud to put our logo on their signature line — those types of things.
And when the partners and the press are looking for insights, support and information, they come to us first because they know the breadth of what we bring to the table.
What’s your outlook for luxury travel in 2026 and beyond?
From a luxury advisor perspective and the consumer demanding luxury, I don't see it stopping. We continue to see growth — to see cruise lines coming out with luxury cruise ships, hotels being built at destinations and airlines focused on the upper class. People are willing to spend money. And I think there'll be more second-career people with very robust portfolios who come into this industry and sell luxury.
Do you see the high cost of luxury travel holding?
Advisors ask me frequently, “Why are the partners [charging] this?” They're doing it because they can. Until the consumer says, I'm not going to pay $1,200 for Coachella, I'm not going to pay $1,800 to go see Taylor Swift, I'm not going to pay $5 for a half gallon of milk — until a consumer says they're not going to do it anymore — it will continue. The consumer will drive it.
But if you're a GTC advisor, you're going to provide clients with the best service for the price, right?
I would stack my paycheck on a GTC advisor up against any other agency's advisor, without a doubt.
