The best marketing advice I give sounds too simple to be strategy: do stuff that nobody's doing. Don't do stuff that everybody else is doing. Every crowded category, generic luxury travel, generic group trips, is a bidding war for attention. An empty category is a coronation.
“Do stuff that nobody's doing. Don't do stuff that everybody else is doing.”
First-mover is the whole pitch
I once coached an advisor toward building the first luxury adventure travel brand for Black men and their circles. Notice what happens the moment the niche is named: the PR pitch writes itself, travel media exists to cover firsts. The content writes itself. The audience recognizes itself instantly. "First" is a headline; "another" is a footnote.
Claire's own numbers
The framework, step by step
- 1
Specific niches unlock specific economics, a stunning
but only a niche brand can sell the villa trip with a straight face.
- 2
Going upmarket is an operations decision
lower-priced trips mean more transactions, more conversations, more hours for the same revenue. Fewer, richer engagements is how you buy your calendar
- 3
Host the first departures yourself
The niche is a promise, and the founder is the only one who can calibrate it before handing it to a team.
Claire's own framework from this essay, in the order she teaches it.
Source: Claire B. Soares, from her own travel business and live trainings.
The niche math nobody mentions
- Specific niches create specific economics, a stunning five-bedroom villa beats five hotel rooms on both intimacy and margin, but only a niche brand can sell the villa trip with a straight face.
- Going upmarket is an operations decision: lower-priced trips mean more transactions, more conversations, more hours for the same revenue. Fewer, richer engagements is how you buy your calendar back.
- Host the first departures yourself. The niche is a promise, and the founder is the only one who can calibrate it before handing it to a team.
Somewhere in your expertise is an intersection nobody has claimed. Name it before someone else does, because in niches, the deed goes to whoever plants the flag first.
Common Questions
How should a travel advisor choose a niche?
Look for the intersection nobody has claimed. Being first is itself the pitch, because travel media covers firsts and the audience recognizes itself instantly.
Why is a narrow travel niche more profitable?
Specific niches unlock specific economics, such as villa buyouts that beat individual hotel rooms on both intimacy and margin, which only a focused brand can sell convincingly.
Should you go upmarket or sell more trips?
Lower-priced trips mean more transactions, more conversations, and more hours for the same revenue. Fewer, richer engagements is an operations decision as much as a pricing one.
Written By
Claire B. Soares
Claire B. Soares is the founder of Travel AI University, a 6x Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialist, and a Certified AI Consultant with a B.S. in Computer Science. A top 10% enterprise sales executive, she sold $3.4B+ in enterprise software to Google, Microsoft, IBM, Boeing, the federal government, and the DoD, then built $16M+ in luxury travel sales.
About Claire
