WHY IT RATES: In addition to experiencing Princess Cruises, travel advisors participated in wedding venue site checks, lunch and activities at the Breathless Cabo San Lucas and the Marriott Puerto Vallarta.-Patrick Clarke, TravelPulse Senior Writer

American Marketing Group, the parent company of TRAVELSAVERS and NEST recently organized a Romance Travel Experience partnering with Princess Cruises for a 7-day sailing on the Majestic Princess from Los Angeles to the Mexican Riviera. Fifteen advisors, who are members of the group's Distinctive Destination Weddings (DDW) program, gained the skills to showcase Majestic Princess to their clients. In addition to the cruise, advisors were treated to wedding venue site checks, lunch, and activities at the Breathless Cabo San Lucas and the Marriott Puerto Vallarta.

"These in-demand destination wedding educational trips are the ideal way for our advisors to experience the locale and get useful hands-on experience to help them sell more," said Nicole Mazza, Chief Marketing Officer. "We have created a winning format for our affiliates, which delivers results for our preferred partners as well."

Instant Results on Social Media

As an enhancement to the experience, advisors received digital marketing selling skills concentrating on useful tips on social media covering writing, posting, photographs and more. Postings from the trip have already resulted in a few cruise bookings for the advisors.

Successful Format and Pace

A balance of activities, round-table discussions, site inspections, and free time produced the optimal learning environment. Advisors commented on the pace of this trip, which gave them time to learn and experience every aspect of the product, as their clients would, from mock weddings, banquets, receptions, as well as interviews with the on-site wedding coordinators. "The entire trip gave me the ability to actually bring home the knowledge and not just reflect on a blur of information," said Angie Webb, from Sunflower Travel Corp in Wichita, KS. "Any advisor with the ability to participate should take full advantage of a FAM of this nature."

"The education paired with the experiences onboard enables me to sell destination weddings and honeymoons on Princess and I'm confident visiting the resorts will also help me increase my sales of the properties. This experience allowed me to see the potential for each client,"' said Jensine Morabito from Travel Escapes Vacations Ltd in Revelstoke, CAD. "The pace was perfect as it allowed time for everything to sink in and I never felt overwhelmed by too much information."

The FAM doesn't end when the advisors return home as they are asked to produce a promotional plan on their future sales strategy to make the most of this educational trip. "We want to ensure that this valuable romance travel experience translates into sales," said Mazza. "Our Business Analysts will work one-on-one with these advisors to assist them in marketing the trip to their clients and building future business."

For more information, please visit travelsavers.com (retail agencies)  or jointhenest.com (home-based agencies).