“I’m not sure either of us would have had the time to get this going without a pandemic,” said Korrine Johnson, when asked why she and fellow travel advisor Theresa Chu-Bermudez decided to launch The TIN Lounge podcast in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis.
Johnson — the Orlando, Fla.-based co-owner of Journeys Travel Company and consulting firm Travel Biz Boss — explains that she and Chu-Bermudez are both busy, full-time agents who already have other side projects.
“But this just seemed like a great time to make it easy on other travel pros to get what they need,” Johnson said.
With a pilot episode that debuted May 29, The TIN Lounge helps travel professionals stay informed on the latest and most relevant travel industry news in a streamlined format. (TIN is an acronym for travel industry news.) Full episodes are about 45 minutes to an hour, and offer an in-depth discussion on industry headlines. Shorter “Minibar” episodes highlight a relevant topic for up to 20 minutes. Last but not least, “Excess Baggage” segments are what Johnson would call “skimmable” if audience members were reading instead of listening: They feature self-explanatory headlines, which may only need another sentence or two of further elaboration.
“It’s an efficient delivery system, so people walk away feeling up to date,” Johnson said.
Korrine Johnson, the travel advisor co-owner of Journeys Travel Company and consulting firm Travel Biz Boss
Credit: 2020 Ashlee Hamon Photography
Chu-Bermudez, the owner of Get Out! Custom Travels in Tampa, Fla., feels the podcast has served as a silver lining in recent months.
“After hearing from so many travel professionals about how much they appreciated our honesty and our conversations on relevant topics — such as self-care and communication — on top of sharing the headlines with them, we are confident that we made the right decision to launch when we did,” she said.
After hearing from so many travel professionals about how much they appreciated our honesty and our conversations on relevant topics — such as self-care and communication — on top of sharing the headlines with them, we are confident we made the right decision to launch when we did.
Much of a podcast’s success can also depend on the chemistry a host has with his or her guests or, in the case of multiple hosts, with one another.
Fortunately, for The TIN Lounge, Chu-Bermudez and Johnson are a perfect match.
The two first met at the 2018 Travel Agent Forum in Las Vegas. Afterward, since both advisors are members of host agency Travel Planners International, they continued to meet up at various industry events.
“Being new to the industry, I learned so much from Korrine in terms of how to run a travel business efficiently, and we’ve kept in touch ever since,” said Chu-Bermudez, who became an advisor about four years ago.
Johnson, who has 13 years of experience as a travel advisor, says she knew Chu-Bermudez was a “powerhouse” the minute she met her.
“We often laugh at how easy it is to work together,” Johnson said.
Theresa Chu-Bermudez, the travel advisor owner of Get Out! Custom Travels
Credit: 2020 Ashlee Hamon Photography
Initial conversations about collaboration began in late April, when Johnson had reached out to Chu-Bermudez about her inbox overflowing with emails on the state of the world due to COVID-19. The light bulb went off: What if there was a way to provide the news to fellow travel professionals in a digestible podcast format?
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“We kept saving those emails in our inbox with the idea that we would eventually get to them, but being busy, multitasking travel advisors, we never did,” Chu-Bermudez said. “By tuning into a podcast, travel professionals would still be able to get things done while staying informed. All they had to do was listen.”
Of course, that’s no small feat for the two-person team behind The TIN Lounge. Each episode requires extensive reading of industry news in preparation for recording a podcast episode.
We wanted to present the news in a way that was honest but also showed other travel professionals that they weren’t going through this alone.
“I’ve definitely ramped up my reading of industry news,” Chu-Bermudez said. “Now I am even more motivated to stay up to date.”
Johnson adds that the co-hosts don’t discuss any headlines ahead of time in order to keep their tone conversational and not too scripted.
“We each just choose the headlines that speak to us, and then we come together,” she said. “There is no specific criteria.”
After all, authenticity is what both Chu-Bermudez and Johnson value most in the podcasts that they personally love.
“We wanted our personalities to shine so that we could connect with our listeners on a genuine level,” Chu-Bermudez said. “We wanted to present the news in a way that was honest, but also showed other travel professionals that they weren’t going through this alone.”
The Details
Get Out Custom Travels
www.getoutcustomtravels.com
Journeys Travel Company
www.journeystrvl.com
Travel Bizz Boss
www.travelbizboss.com
The Tin Lounge
linktr.ee/thetinlounge
www.instagram.com/thetinlounge
