TravelTube Interview: Tammy LeVant (Elite Travel Group) — 

Host: Mark Murphy, TravelTube.com Guest: Tammy LeVant, CEO, Elite Travel Group (EliteTravelGroup.net) Topic: Bed banks, profit margins, and Task Lab travel agent training

Intro / Housekeeping

• Mark opens with the usual TravelTube CTA: sign up for the e-newsletter, follow all social/podcast channels.
• Guest intro: Tammy LeVant, who recently relocated to Crete, Greece.

Quick State of the Industry

• Domestic hotel demand is strong ("gangbusters"), pricing some travelers out.
• Stock market strength is offsetting some economic anxiety.
• Brief mention of the Iran conflict's effect on oil/fuel prices — Tammy notes she lives near a naval base and watches military planes overhead.

About Elite Travel Group

• 35 years in business.
• Started as a full-service agency; pioneered destination weddings around 1998 (worked with IsleDash, Brides.com; did 300+ weddings/year).
• Rebranded post-COVID into a luxury-only agency ("I will not sell a Carnival Cruise").

Why Tammy Moved to Crete

• During COVID she launched a donut business that employed 81 people; ICE raids removed her workforce overnight, shutting it down.
• Ran the numbers on U.S. retirement feasibility vs. relocating — decided to leave.
• Took a vacation to Crete after attending ITB Berlin and never went back; sold/gave away her belongings.
• Cost of living comparison: ~$2,000–$4,000/month to live comfortably in Crete vs. $10,000+/month in the U.S.
• Business (Elite Travel, Task, "Pups") is being handed off to her daughter; she's stepping back from day-to-day work.

Task Lab — Travel Agent Training Program

• History: Started "Task" (Travel Agent Success Kit) 12 years ago after noticing advisors didn't engage at industry conferences.
• Evolution: In-person/live sessions → FAM trips → now "Task Lab," a weekly virtual live program (launched roughly a year before this recording).
• Pricing: $498 one-time fee for lifetime access to that year's content; $298/year optional renewal for continued access to new material.
• Differentiator: Tammy positions herself as blunt/unfiltered, focused on teaching advisors to build independent businesses rather than relying on host agencies.

Core Business Philosophy: Bed Banks vs. Host Agencies

• Host agencies: Advisors typically net ~8% commission after fees/cuts; commissions can take up to a year (or more) to be paid; risk of losing commission on cancellations.
• True bed banks: Located mainly outside the U.S. (India, Dubai, Middle East); operate on thin margins (2–3%) due to volume, no financing/interest costs (self-funded), and no upfront payment required from the advisor.
• Advisor collects the customer's payment immediately and keeps it (versus waiting on commission), and can build in their own cancellation fee policy.
• Contrasts with online travel agencies (Expedia, Booking.com) and mainstream "bed banks" (e.g., RateHawk, TBO) which she says still charge closer to retail rates.

Profit Margin Examples

1. Jamaica hotel package: ~$22,000 booking, ~38% profit margin (~$6,000+).
2. Rocabella, Santorini (3-night stay):
   • Expedia/Booking.com/direct website price: $3,850
   • Her bed bank cost: $2,750
   • Profit: ~$1,100 (about 28–29% margin)
   • Notes that if the bed bank's rate later drops, she still charges the original price and pockets the difference.

• General guidance: agencies doing $150K–$200K in volume can realistically triple their revenue using her method; a $100K agency could net ~$30K in profit.
• Her own agency: went from $8–9M pre-COVID to a smaller volume now generating ~$600K profit — meaning less volume, same/better take-home.

Group Travel & Bed Banks

• Most standard bed banks won't offer true group rates (cap around 5 rooms).
• Tammy's bed bank partners do offer group pricing, which she incorporates into "Task FAMs" (recent example: 10-person Greece FAM; upcoming Turkey trip).

Business Operations

• Uses QuickBooks instead of a CRM — cites having 198,000 clients and instant lookup of full purchase history (references a top client who has spent close to $2M with her).
• Argues detailed purchase history is essential for negotiating with vendors (e.g., Sandals, Dreams) for perks/marketing dollars.

Lead Generation Strategy

• Primary tactic: partnering with charity events — donating/selling trip packages as live-auction or "buy it now" bid-sheet items.
• Example: a $3,000 Greece package offered to all 30 bidders at a single event = $90,000 in bookings and 30 new (affluent) client leads in one evening.

Common Objections From Advisors

• "It's too much work" (checking multiple bed bank sources per booking).
• Tammy's response: advisors are choosing an easy 8% over a modestly harder 30%+ margin due to inertia/laziness.
• Anecdote: a prospective agency buyer who declined pre-COVID later joined Task Lab and told Tammy she'd lost 5 years of additional profit by waiting.

Personal Aside: Neurodivergence

• Mark shares his adult ADHD diagnosis; brief personal anecdotes from both about pattern recognition/hyperawareness (traffic lights, phone calls).
• Tammy mentions her son's self-identified profile spanning giftedness, ADHD, and autism.

Closing

• Program name/URL repeated: Task Lab via TravelAgentSuccessKit.com
• Tammy: pricing dropped from $5,000 (in-person classes) to $500 (Task Lab) — frames it as low-risk investment.
• Mark closes with standard TravelTube sign-off (newsletter, social/podcast follows).