Can remote work really work for travel professionals?

Ryan Kramer believes that it can. After a life-changing group trip brought him into the tourism business, a detour through other sectors taught him how to do work-from-home right. He’s now the leading culture strategist at GroupCollect, and he joins this episode of the podcast to share how you can work from home without losing your mind or your money.

Ryan discusses the habits and disciplines that give his life balance as a remote worker. He shares tips for hiring great remote team members and pulls back the curtain on the process his team employees to keep the remote culture healthy and thriving. Plus, we have news about growth at American Cruise Lines, ; a Road Tip about traveling in the rain; and a Hot Minute about the ways governments are failing the tourism industry.

Ryan had lots of great insights about how teams can work from anywhere and get great things done. Here’s what he had to say about how he learned to build a great remote culture:

“We set up guardrails around when the virtual office opened and the virtual office closed. If you wanted to stay late or get there early, you were welcome to do that.

“It’s a cameras-on culture. If we’re going to be virtual, great, but let’s talk. Let’s look each other in the eye. The companies that failed I think lost site of the fact that it is possible to build that camaraderie. They discounted that that could happen and said ‘this could only happen in the office,’ and they gave up.”

Plus, he had great perspectives on:

Email Ryan Kramer at [email protected].

Follow Ryan and GroupCollect on LinkedIn.

Sign up for our OnSite familiarization tour list at https://grouptravelleader.com/fams/.

1:33 — Travel News: American Cruise Lines adding six new ships

2:43 — Road Tip: Preparing your travelers for rainy days

8:03 — Meet us on the road this season!

11:57 — The band trip that kicked off a tourism career

15:10 — How Ryan Kramer learned to love remote work

21:15 — Why companies fail with work-from-home culture

24:58 — Work from home without losing your mind

27:30 — Tips for hiring remote team members

30:26 — Are remote employees ripping you off?

32:42 — Building a strong remote culture

34:53 — Keys to holding great in-person team meetings

47:25 — Hot Minute: Is the federal government failing the tourism industry?

See the full interview with Ryan on our YouTube channel.

Gather and Go with Brian Jewell is a tourism industry podcast that helps group travel leaders plan, promote and lead better trips. There are also tips and insights for destination marketers and others who support the tourism trade. Each episode reaches thousands of professional tour operators, travel agents and the volunteer group leaders they serve. The audience also includes destination museum leaders, church travel leaders and other tourism enthusiasts around the world. Each show includes an interview with a smart travel pro or an insightful person from outside tourism who’s expertise can help make travel businesses better. You’ll also hear travel news, road tips and more. New episodes are released about twice monthly.

You can find Gather and Go wherever your listen to podcasts or subscribe by email.