By The Unsettled Team
UNSETTLED
PRESS RELEASE
Unsettled and Design Hotels™ Introduce the Virtual Retreat:
A month-long program for the travel trade community.
August 26th, 2020 – Connection has always been the beating heart of hospitality, with professionals coming together to create new ideas, concepts, and bonds that push the industry forward. In this moment of historic change, the most progressive travel companies are asking a fundamental question: “how can we continue developing new ways to embrace, engage, and expand our wider communities and innovate, if we can’t gather in person?”
Today, Unsettled is excited to announce the launch of a partnership with Design Hotels™, the world’s foremost network of independent hoteliers, and a global lifestyle brand representing more than 330 properties around the world.
Working in close collaboration, the two organizations have created a bespoke Virtual Retreat designed to stoke thoughtful conversation exploring the future of hospitality while uniting two distinct groups in the travel community – select Design Hotels™ Hoteliers and Travel Advisors – for a month-long journey of connection, discovery, and growth.
More than a timely evolution of the in-person tradeshow, it’s intended as a radical disruption of the traditional sales and marketing framework in which these professionals have previously come together.
From August 26th to September 24th, 35 travel advisors and an international selection of Design Hotels™ properties will join Unsettled’s virtual platform for an immersive program of personal development. Each session in the Virtual Retreat brings the community closer together; where strangers entered at the end of August, they’ll depart as lifelong connections when the virtual doors close in September.
The Virtual Retreat takes participants on a journey into the mind set of the Promadic Traveller – a new breed of explorer that emphasizes environmental consciousness, with flexible sensibilities that are purpose and mission-driven. These traits coexist in harmony with Unsettled’s approach to travel, community, and lifestyle design.
Through collaborative personal development exercises and the intimacy they create between participants, Unsettled and Design Hotels™ set the stage for an intentional environment of industry-focused discovery. Each themed week consists of an Original Experience, hotel panel discussions, individual coursework, one-on-one sessions, and access to Unsettled’s 24/7 Community Platform for communication and networking.
Between sessions spanning five to six hours a week, Tuesday to Thursday, 20 participating Featured Hotels such as Nobis Hospitality Group, Firmdale Hotels, Sir Hotels, Proper and Stamba will engage with their Travel Advisor counterparts through live virtual panels, weekly networking sessions, and the newly developed Community Directory. By month’s end, agents will have garnered broad knowledge of the distinct highlights and elements that make each Design Hotels™ property a premier local destination.
“Learning is becoming a key element of travelling”, says Markus Schreyer, Senior Vice President Americas and Business Innovation at Design Hotels™. “On this retreat we are able to explore the future of travel with top advisors from key global feeder markets, but without the obstacles of current travel restrictions.”
“We are all on an unexpected journey these days, yet we believe that feeling a little bit “unsettled” is a positive impulse for growth, innovation, and discovery in our lives- no matter where you are from and what journey you are on”, says Leilani Franklin-Apted, Vice President of Experience at Unsettled.
Unsettled brings unique insight to this partnership as a hospitality organization with extensive experience providing personal and professional development across 100+ in-person retreats on five continents, and one that has also led more than 1000 participants on virtual journeys of growth, connection, and discovery through online products including the Lifestyle Incubator and the Global Passport.
The Virtual Retreat by Unsettled and Design Hotels™ gathers a community of visionary Hoteliers and Travel Advisors for discussion of the most pressing questions in the industry. The aim is to foster an environment that approaches these problems with a traveler’s mindset of openness, vulnerability, and acceptance of uncertainty. Through this lens, the two companies hope the group can lend insight into what comes next in travel, how to address newfound challenges, and develop actionable solutions, while coming together to create meaningful connections around the world.
CONTACT:
For more information, please contact Unsettled at press@beunsettled.co
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