A supplier roadshow is a small, in-person event where hotels, DMCs, and representation firms come to your city to meet local travel advisors. There is usually no cost to attend. You get far more time than a trade show appointment allows. And you build the supplier relationships you lean on when a client’s trip gets complicated.
The invitation lands in your inbox on a busy Tuesday. A supplier lunch, a handful of hotel partners, a restaurant twenty minutes from your house. You have two proposals due, so you let it sit. Or you click yes and quietly skip it when the day comes.
That choice costs more than you think. On the other side of that RSVP, someone spent months building the guest list. They signed a food and beverage minimum. Then they flew partners in from Monaco, Greece, and Saint Lucia to sit across the table from you.
Advisors who treat roadshows as business development walk away with more than a nice meal. They leave with a general manager’s direct email and a director of sales who remembers their name. Those are the people who take care of their clients later.
What Is a Supplier Roadshow?
Yina Munoz has spent 18 years in the travel industry, most of it in hotel sales and marketing. Five years ago she founded AllAbout Representation. The firm gives boutique and independently owned hotels a real seat at the table with US travel advisors. Her definition of a roadshow is simple. It takes the destination or the property directly to the advisor.
That is the core difference from the other ways you meet suppliers.
| Format | Where it happens | Time with each supplier | Cost to you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trade show | One large venue with hundreds or thousands of attendees | Short, back-to-back appointments | Registration, travel, and hotel |
| FAM trip | The destination itself | Several days, for invited advisors | Your travel time, plus time away from your business |
| Roadshow | A restaurant or venue in your own city | An hour or more over a meal or activity | Usually nothing beyond your time |
FAMs still matter. But no supplier can host every advisor on a FAM, so a roadshow brings part of the destination experience to you instead.
Trade shows have their place too, but the pace is relentless. Virtuoso Travel Week was long known for roughly 400 four-minute appointments packed into four days. A roadshow trades that speed for depth, so you can ask the second question and the third.
Roadshows also range in size. Some are a long table at a restaurant with 10 or 15 advisors. Hotel affiliations such as Relais & Châteaux run larger versions, and some affiliation roadshows bring 25 to 35 hotels into one room. Either way, you meet the people behind the scenes. That means the general manager, the director of sales, and sometimes the DMC travel designer who will build your client’s itinerary.
How to Get Invited to Supplier Roadshows
Our co-founder Jen Jacob built a multi-million-dollar host agency before she learned roadshows existed. So if this feels late to you, you are in good company.
If you keep seeing other advisors post photos from supplier dinners, the invitations are not stuck in your spam folder. Representation firms want access to host agency advisor lists, but Munoz said that access is often limited. That’s why the advisor who introduces herself stands out. Munoz called that advisor a unicorn, because it happens so rarely.
Don’t wait for your host agency to make the introduction. Make it yourself.
- Build a shortlist of 10 suppliers. Include representation firms, hotels, DMCs, and any partner you already love booking.
- Send each one an introduction email. Tell them where you are based and which host agency you work with, and ask to be added to their database. Sign up for their newsletter while you’re there. ALLabout’s monthly newsletter lists upcoming roadshows, sales calls, and events.
- Keep your location and host agency current everywhere. That includes your Virtuoso.com profile if you have one and your Instagram bio. It also covers your email signature and your name badge at industry events.
- Copy the rep when you book a represented property. Reps often never learn a booking came through. In Munoz’s words, they don’t know what they don’t know.
Why Your City Decides Your Invitations
Suppliers plan roadshows around where advisors live. When a city fills up with advisors in a supplier’s database, that city lands on the route. Charleston and Nashville both became regular roadshow stops in the last few years.
Munoz saw the opposite problem at Virtuoso Travel Week. Advisors wore badges showing their host agency’s city instead of their own. A supplier planning a trip to your market can’t invite you if your profile says you live somewhere else. Update it before your next event.
What a Roadshow Costs the Supplier (and Why Your RSVP Matters)
From your side, a roadshow looks like a reservation and a good meal. From the supplier’s side, it is a year-long project with a budget attached. Munoz’s team was already planning its 2027 roadshows in the fall of 2026.
Before anyone sits down, the host chooses the markets, the agencies, the advisors, and the partners who should attend. Then come venue contracts, food and beverage minimums, invitations, RSVP tracking, dietary needs, seating, presentations, and audiovisual. Partners need flights, hotels, and ground transportation. Many reps also call advisors personally to reconfirm RSVPs that were already confirmed.
Each hotel partner has to get the trip approved, too. A hotelier presents a budget to management before committing. Months later, management asks what that roadshow returned.
An RSVP is a promise someone already paid for.
What a No-Show Costs
Venue minimums don’t shrink when advisors stay home. If a supplier books for 15 and six people show up, the supplier still pays for 15. Meanwhile, the partners who flew in from Spain or Italy gave up days, sometimes weeks, away from running their own business.
Life still happens, and Munoz understands that as a mom. A sick kid at school pickup is not a character flaw. What she asks for is communication. If you have to cancel, email the rep or your host as soon as you know, then offer one of these:
- A virtual meeting with the partners you missed
- A quick coffee the next morning, if the partners are still in town
How to Prepare for a Supplier Roadshow
Preparation takes about five minutes. You don’t need to study every hotel in the room, because learning about them is why you came. Instead, look at the guest list and pick two or three people you want to talk to. Then think of one client who fits. Maybe she took a similar trip, or she already told you where she wants to go next year.
Pick the format that fits your day, too. Munoz’s team runs breakfast meetings for the advisor who has an hour between school drop-off and pickup. They host sit-down lunches with a formal presentation for advisors who want the deep dive. For advisors who connect better outside a meeting room, they plan pickleball, bowling, or mini golf.
Questions to Ask at a Roadshow
“What’s new at the hotel?” is a fine opener. The value sits in the follow-up questions:
- Who is the right client for this property?
- What itinerary would you pair it with?
- What mistake can I avoid when I book it?
- Who is my contact on property when a request gets complicated?
These conversations turn into ideas you can sell. You may already work with five DMCs in Greece. One conversation can still hand you a route you didn’t know, or an event at the destination that becomes a whole new pitch.
You also don’t need a client in hand to justify the conversation. That gap is the reason to have it. Ask the partner to teach you enough to market their product, so you can match the right client to it later.
Roadshow Etiquette and Follow-Up
A roadshow table is small, so your behavior shows. Two rules cover most of it.
- Put your phone away. If you can’t be present for the meal, don’t RSVP. Emergencies happen, and the industry understands that. But running your business at the table during a presentation helps no one, including you.
- Share the conversation. You are there to be seen by the suppliers, not to outshine the advisor next to you. Engage, ask your questions, and leave room for everyone else to ask theirs.
Follow Up While the Conversation Is Fresh
Munoz’s warning is simple: don’t let the relationship disappear into a stack of business cards. The follow-up does not need to be long. If you met someone and thought of a client, tell them. If you learned something useful, send a short thank-you that says so.
The payoff often comes months later. A client asks for Greece or Mexico, and you remember the director of sales from that lunch. You send a two-line email saying you met, you loved the property, and you have the perfect client. According to Munoz, there is no better feeling for a hotelier than receiving that email.
Keep Supplier Relationships Moving Between Events
Roadshows happen a few times a year in most markets. The supplier questions come up every week, and you shouldn’t have to answer them alone.
Niche is TIQUE’s private membership community for travel advisors who run their work as a real business. Pro and Premium members post questions in the community and get answers from other serious advisors. Every tier includes live monthly guest expert trainings and a resource library built around templates you can put to work right away.
If you like roadshows because big events drain you, Niche works the same way. It is a smaller room, off Facebook, full of people who are there on purpose.
Send Your First Supplier Introduction This Week
Your shortlist of 10 suppliers does nothing until the emails go out. The Supplier Communication Templates give you nine ready-to-send supplier emails, including an introduction email and a feedback email for after you meet. They are $67 and come with an implementation guide.
Pick the first name on your list and send the introduction before Friday.
Get the Supplier Communication Templates and send your first introduction
Frequently Asked Questions
Are supplier roadshows worth it for travel advisors?
Yes, for most advisors. A roadshow comes to your city, usually costs nothing to attend, and gives you an hour or more with hotel and DMC partners instead of a few minutes at a trade show. That time builds the relationships you rely on when a client’s request gets complicated.
How do I get invited to supplier roadshows?
Introduce yourself directly instead of waiting for your host agency. Make a shortlist of 10 suppliers or representation firms, email each one with your city and host agency, and ask to be added to their database. Keep your location current on your Virtuoso.com profile, social bios, email signature, and event badges, because suppliers plan roadshows around where advisors live.
How should I prepare for a supplier roadshow?
Spend five minutes on the guest list and pick two or three people you want to meet. Think of one client whose trip fits their product. Then bring better questions than “what’s new,” such as who the right client is, what itinerary pairs well, and who your contact on property will be.
What should I do first after meeting a supplier at a roadshow?
Send a short follow-up while the conversation is fresh. Thank them, and if you thought of a client while you were talking, say so. Copy the rep on any booking you make with that property afterward.
Is there a template for introducing myself to a hotel or DMC?
TIQUE’s Supplier Communication Templates include an introduction email, along with eight other supplier emails for NET rate requests, VIP client requests, commission requests, and more.
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