Sponsor Spotlight: Love of travel and love for Michelle's Place
- by Gillian Larson
Jill Hiers, CTA, ACC is the owner and also a travel consultant for Custom Travel Professionals, LLC which is based out of Mississippi, but she is an avid patron of Reality Rally and Michelle’s Place.
Jill and Custom Travel Professionals have been supporting Reality Rally since year three of its inception as Jill strongly believes in Michelle’s Place and the service they are providing to the community which is to be an accessible resource and place of compassion with understanding for women who are diagnosed with breast cancer. She is grateful to be able to give back and support Michelle's Place.
Jill is one of our very valued sponsors and a "Godsend" for me as she arranges all the Reality Star air travel. Sound easy, not at all, I know I did it for the first few years before Jill came into our lives literally as a "Godsend".
In addition Jill took care of the airport transport issues when they arose during the event weekend due to flight issues, another Godsend. Her husband Chuck is also a most valuable part of our Celebrity Realtions Team, literally the "Right Hand Man" to Lily our Celebrity Relations Director during the event weekend.
Jill started Custom Travel Professionals in 2011. She was working in the real estate industry and booking some travel arrangements, mainly Disney trips, on the side for friends and family when she decided she needed to choose one path over another. She prayed about it and her travel business started growing exponentially, so she knew that God wanted her to go that route and focus on it full-time. She pursued it and grew her travel business so that now she manages 21 agents who are located all over the U.S. Jill is proud of the business and the fact that she grew from the ground floor up and thoroughly enjoys the team that she works with.
Jill humbly attributes her success to her “team” – her husband and children are extremely supportive along with her staff of travel consultants including her Agency Office Manager to whom Jill refers to as a ‘Godsend.’
She has been married now for 17 years to a wonderful man and they have two children together – a daughter age 13 and a son age 10. Her daughter keeps her active as she is on two competitive cheer squads and performing at an elite competition in the near future.
Where do her and her husband plan to get away to this year to? St. Lucia, which is one of her favorite places to travel to!
When she has time to spare after running a full-time enterprise and spending time with her family, her hobbies are traveling, of course, and her husband is working on his scuba certification in preparation for their next big trip!
Custom Travel has won several national awards and has gained recognition for sales and client satisfaction. It has won the following awards: ‘Outstanding New Member’ by Vacation.com, ‘Earmarked' Agency with Disney Parks and Resorts at the Gold Level ,’ the ‘Sales Excellence Award’ with The Mark Travel Company, and the ‘Diamond 2 Award’ from Karisma Resorts and Hotels.
Her business, Custom Travel Professionals, focuses primarily on planning destination weddings and unique honeymoons.
Where does Jill recommend going on your next vacation? She highly recommends Mexico. She believes it’s received an unwarranted amount of negative press and says that she has never felt unsafe there and for the reasonable prices, quality of beaches, and warm, welcoming hospitality from the local people – it provides great value for the experience offered!
Looking for a superb honeymoon locale or a place for a girlfriend getaway? Jill recommends Unico 20 87 Hotel located on the Riviera Maya which is an Adults Only, All-Inclusive resort which just opened in 2017. It has all of the latest upgrades including an app that one can download to order food on and have it delivered to the cabana or lounge chair of choice while guests sit poolside and sip on a salty margarita or glass of chilled sangria. It also offers VIP pampering such as exclusive spa treatments, golf, and rotating chefs who bring the finest of regional cuisines to guest’s dinner table each night.
The native species have been preserved as the resort is surrounded by local mangroves that have been saved to enhance the beauty of landscaping while showcasing the flavor of the region. Regional art work is also displayed along with the finest of tequila. The weather is perfection, year round, so it is always a good time to visit. Prices at the resort are extremely reasonable and guests feel overwhelmingly pampered as they relax and let the stress of the volatile cryptocurrency market fade far into the sunset.
Destination weddings are a favorite of Jill’s to book as they are less expensive than traditional weddings and are much more memorable for the bride and groom! She can’t recommend one place over another for weddings as it depends on each couple and their preferences – similar to trying on a wedding dress – each one has a personality that matches the bride who owns it.
Jill acknowledges that there are many websites and ways for people to book travel themselves, but the price differential to use a professional agent is negligible and with an experienced agent, clients receive the VIP treatment they deserve along with first-hand knowledge of the best resorts, the peace of mind that if something goes awry they have an advocate they can contact directly for assistance, along with someone who is watching out for their best interests and ensuring that the staff at each resort are aware of the guest’s preferences. It’s important to have a seasoned professional booking the travel arrangements as the pictures on a website don’t always tell the entire story about the cleanliness of the resort, the quality of the construction, and whether or not feral strays roam the beach. TripAdvisor isn’t always the best way to judge a resort either as postings don’t always portray the resort in an accurate light. A professional agent can steer clients towards a resort that will meet and exceed their expectations and provide the value they deserve. It is expensive to travel nowadays so using a professional saves time, increases satisfaction, and provides a safety net when things don’t go as planned.
Ready to book your family’s next vacation or your daughter’s destination wedding? Consider calling Custom Travel Professionals as it gives back to the community at large and will ensure that the people you love most are in good hands as they head out on their next adventure!
Jill Hiers, CTA, ACC
Owner and Travel Professional
Custom Travel Professionals
888-220-0915 x700
Phone interview and blog written by our Reality Rally Sponsor Blogger : Denee Burns. Thank you Denee
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