The Travel Centres Conference returned to Naas this year with a packed programme that blended practical advice, motivational energy and forward-looking technology. From the early sessions through to the awards, speakers delivered clear messages that agents and agency owners could take straight back to their desks.
Russell Hablo of Hablo opened the morning with a sharp focus on human learning. He reminded the room that the average person has just 24 minutes a week available to upskill. Long emails, he warned, are routinely dismissed as “TL;DR” — too long, didn’t read. Even more striking was his reference to the forgetting curve: 50 per cent of people have forgotten their training within a day, and 90 per cent within a week. The implication was clear — training must be short, memorable and repeated if it is to stick.
Motivational speaker Kevin Kelly followed with a high-energy session that mixed practical sales wisdom with personal stories. Drawing on his book Do, which includes a chapter titled “Return on Intuition” and features asthma-care work linked to Galway’s Patrick McKeown and Agnes McCourt of Newry, Kelly argued that successful businesses rarely rely on brand-new ideas. Instead, roughly 12 per cent of success comes from originality while 88 per cent comes from executing a normal idea in a fresh or better way.
He noted that many clients change travel agents simply because of speed of response. His core message was direct: sell people back their product — focus on what they already value rather than pushing something new. To illustrate engagement, he led the room through a quick demonstration of “seat gymnastics,” showing how physical interaction keeps conversations alive. One person with genuine enthusiasm, he said, can shift the energy of an entire sales team. And the simple act of showing up in someone’s life, he concluded, remains one of the most powerful tools available.
Later sessions turned to product and technology. Amanda Middler updated the audience on Silversea Cruises, while Laura Plunkett examined how applied AI is already being put to work in travel businesses. Her advice was to avoid off-the-shelf solutions and instead build tailored tools such as custom itinerary planners. She highlighted the persistent “trust gap” and the need for explainability so that both staff and clients understand and trust the technology’s recommendations.
Val Murphy of American Drifters and Compass Floats shared updates from the specialist end of the market, and Jo Rzymowska posed a provocative question that lingered through the day: will your travel agency outlive you? Jennifer Callister of Royal Caribbean closed the product segment by announcing a new ship launching next year.
A lively panel featuring Jo Rzymowska, Kevin Kelly, Laura Plunkett and Sandra Corkin pulled many of these threads together, before Adam Weatherly of ISME reminded everyone that small businesses remain the engine of the economy.
The conference closed on a celebratory note with the annual awards. Tom Britton of Marble Travel in Kilkenny was named Travel Agency of the Year, Dave Smith of TUI took Agent of the Year, and Brendan Barry of Discover Travel was recognised as Supplier of the Year.
Across the day, the messages were consistent: keep communication short and human, execute familiar ideas with energy and speed, treat technology as a tool that must earn trust, and never underestimate the impact of showing up. For the agents and agency owners in Naas, those takeaways offered a clear roadmap for the year ahead.
Jo Rzymowska speaking at Travel Centres conference 2026
