Press
May 17, 2018 | Travel Market Report
With neon-lit lounges, high-energy land excursions and a youthful marketing vibe, U by Uniworld has set sail this inaugural season minus its initial concept of selling only to Millennials… Read More >>
May 14, 2018 | Sonoran News
If you think river cruising is just for “old” people, toss that idea overboard. The industry is breaking the old stereotypes and offering activities for vibrant, active travelers who want more than to settle into a lounge chair on deck. River cruising is hot and getting more popular with younger travelers… Read More >>
May 2, 2018 | The Virtuoso Life
With Royal Wedding fever at a high, we asked three Virtuoso advisors: Where would you send Prince Harry & Meghan Markle on their honeymoon? Read More >>
April 24, 2018 | Travel Age West
Traveling the globe with her own two children has provided Jessica Hart, owner of Los Angeles-based Travel By Hart, an independent affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso Agency, with an appreciation for the importance of sharing the world with kids. It has also given her a firsthand understanding of the special requirements necessary for family travel.. Read More >>
April 16, 2018 | Travel Weekly
Brownell Travel is the oldest travel agency in the United States. Its roots are in a July 1887 trip to Europe aboard the SS Devonia with ten travelers led by Walter A. Brownell. Today, 131 years later, Brownell has served more than 75,000 clients. Read More >>
March 26, 2018 | Brides
The honeymoon is a time-honored tradition. It’s a chance to set off on your first adventure as husband and wife—both literally and figuratively. Many times it’s all about the journey, but in this case the destination does matter. Read More >>
February 6, 2018 | Sonoran News
Cupid is practicing his aim and many of you are firmly in his sights. February is the time when men and women ask themselves the burning question, “How can I make this year very special for my Valentine?” We humans are all hardwired to care and provide for our loved ones. Read More >>
January 2018 | Coastal Living
The gurus of making dreams come true—luxury travel advisors from the Virtuoso network—share inside tips on how to capture that vacation magic in a bottle. Read More >>
January 17, 2018 | Sonoran News
Do you ever feel left out of the conversation when your colleagues and friends share their fabulous travel stories and you have nothing to contribute? Like happiness, positivity and a good friend, travel is something we want in our lives, so much so that we talk about it all the time, and some of us will even post our travel bucket-list destinations on Facebook. You know who you are. Travel is the “new” luxury and it’s time you start adding more to your life. Read More >>
January 2018 | Simply Buckhead
“I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list,” the writer Susan Sontag once said. While it’s wonderful to have a heightened sense of wanderlust, how do you narrow the vast planet down when planning your next trip? Do you want to take a slow train through Ireland, visit kangaroos in Australia or catch the northern lights in Scandinavia? Jessica Battista, a trip advisor with Brownell Travel in Buckhead, shared her picks for the hottest destinations of 2018 and why we want to go there, as well as this year’s top travel trends. Read More >>
December 10, 2017 | K5 News
Fellow travelers, it’s not too soon to start thinking about your 2018 itineraries. Steven Scholnick is. He’s planning a trip to Europe with his wife next summer to celebrate their 50th birthdays, with stops in Amsterdam and Dublin. “I expect a larger police presence at popular destinations,” says Scholnick, a software engineer from Pittsburgh. Read More >>
September 6, 2017 | Furthermore
Furthermore and Cole Haan have partnered to bring you the elements of extraordinary in fitness, travel, nutrition, and mindfulness. We tapped our team of experts and high-performers to learn how to eat well at every meal, truly experience a vacation, and level up your workouts. Read More >>
August 22, 2017 | Independent
Over 5,600 industry experts descended on Las Vegas for the annual Virtuoso Travel Week conference. Ianthe Butt reveals the trends that got tongues wagging. Read More >>
August 21, 2017 | Travel Weekly
When a client wants to take a vacation, one of the most natural questions an agent might address first is the where the client wants to go.But there are aspects of a trip that might be even more important, and Discover More, the travel-planning process developed by Brownell Travel in Birmingham, Ala., is designed to put the emphasis on more than just the “where” of travel. Read More >>
July 19, 2017 | Birmingham Magazine
Planning your honeymoon can be one of the most exciting things surrounding your wedding. It gives you a chance to relax after all the craziness of wedding planning and fully enjoy being newlyweds. Read More >>
July 16, 2017 | StyleBlueprint
Amanda Foshee loves exploring other cultures and lands through travel, and her work as a travel advisor at Brownell Travel allows her to share that same passion with her clients. Read More >>
May 18, 2017 | Birmingham Magazine
There are few things in Birmingham older than Brownell Travel.
Vulcan wasn’t sculpted until the 1904 World Fair. The historic Lyric Theatre wasn’t built until 1914, and across the street, the Alabama Theatre wouldn’t be built for another 13 years after. Even Sloss Furnaces, a company largely credited with pioneering the city’s development, only preceded Brownell by seven years. Read More >>
November 18, 2016 | USA Today
Sure it was fun, empowering, often money-saving in the early days, when online travel agencies like Expedia and Travelocity became a presence on the Web for price-shopping, and TripAdvisor, CruiseCritic and Hotels.com became fonts of reviews and opinions. Read More >>
Travel Agents Find Ways To Market Brexit
July 13, 2016 | Travel Market Report
Within days of Britain’s historic June 23 vote to exit the European Union, U.K. specialist Ellen LeCompte was emailing her travel partners in England to check into pricing and availability for a hastily arranged garden tour in early September. It’s an unusually short planning window. But LeCompte, an independent affiliate for Brownell Travel based in Richmond, VA, wanted to jump on the great values afforded by a plummeting British pound. Read More >>
Celebrating July 4 — in South America
June 15, 2016 | New York Times
Instead of a stateside getaway for the long July 4 weekend, why not get into a different kind of American spirit by heading to South America? Courtney Regan, a South America specialist at Brownell Travel, an agency in San Francisco, says that in July, the continent offers a variety of trips for every kind of traveler. Read More >>
Britain’s EU exit creates opportunity and uncertainty
June 14, 2016 | Travel Weekly
It’s too early to tell exactly how Britain’s vote to leave the European Union will affect the travel industry over the long term, but right now is a great time for Americans to visit the U.K. because of the plummeting British pound. Following the vote to leave the EU, the pound plunged to a 31-year low, falling about 10% in a span of a few hours. Read More >>
5 Droolworthy Summer Travel Destinations
April 13, 2016 | Style Blueprint
We just put away our spring break suitcases and we’re back to the daily grind, but that doesn’t mean we also have to pack up our travel dreams. Plus, a world-class vacation calls for world-class planning, which means you should start brainstorming your next great adventure now! Our local leaders in travel planning, Brownell Travel, share five stellar summer travel destinations, as well as their insider tips for getting the most out of each destination. Read More >>
A Lofty View
March 2016 | Virtuoso Advisor Insight
If you were to imagine a beautiful villa with sweeping sea views, just steps away from vibrant nightlife with top entertainment or a magnificent spa, you would only just begin to describe Royal Caribbean’s bi-level Oasis-class suites. Read More >>
An Odd Couple? Traditional Agent Finds Success Online
February 16, 2016 | Travel Market Report
Attracting new customers via the Internet is tough going for many travel agents. Converting online prospects into loyal revenue-generating clients is tougher still. Not so for travel consultant Jessica Ourisman of Ourisman Travel, an independent affiliate of Brownell Travel. Fully 90% of Ourisman Travel’s clients first come to the agency via the Internet. Read More >>
Anthem of the Seas review
December 2015 | Virtuoso Traveler
Claiming a host of first-at-sea features, Royal Caribbean’s Quantum Class ships are as innovative as their name implies. As the line prepares to launch its third Quantum Class vessel, Ovation of the Seas, in spring 2016, we asked a Virtuoso Travel advisor to share her insights on its sister ship, Anthem of the Seas. Read More >>
OK, you’re an expert. But are you a designer of life?
August 24, 2015 | Travel Weekly
It wasn’t like a scene out of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”; it was breakfast at Tiffany’s. At 8:15 a.m., Linda Allen of Harrison, Ark., was standing in front of a display case filled with glittering bijoux of every shade, cut and clarity, surrounded by people sipping champagne and nibbling on passed plates topped with caviar and gold leaf. Read More >>
Offbeat Ways to Make Travel Affordable
Five Great-Value Cruises from U.S. Ports This Spring
March 19, 2014 | Conde Nast Traveler
These April and May voyages set sail from U.S. ports—which means many of you can drive to the ship. Here are my top picks when it comes to that hard-to-find combo of good itinerary and good price. Even better than the unusual cruise values for this summer are a few cruise deals that have popped up this spring. Read More >>
Found: Your Great-Value Summer Vacation
March 17, 2014 | Conde Nast Traveler
Dear fellow parents: Now that we’ve made it through planning spring break, we can turn our attention to summer vacation. One option to consider—since it will offer particular value for your dollar this summer—is a family cruise. Read More >>
Guilt Trip? Ease the Pain of Separation
January 2014 | The Costco Connection
For the parent who travels for business, nothing feeds guilt like a long goodbye with a sobbing child wrapped around his or her leg. Traveling away from the comforts and relative predictability of home can be stressful enough, but factor in a child’s anxiety and life “up in the air” can seem downright painful. Read More >>
Margret Propper Named Godmother of UN-CRUISE Vessel
May 2013 | Seattle PI
Unveiling UN-CRUISE Adventures for its combined fleet of upscale yachts and expedition vessels, InnerSea Discoveries/American Safari Cruises inaugurated two boats in time for a full summer of adventures in Southeast Alaska. Read More >>
America’s oldest agency is one of its most progressive
The owners of Brownell Travel of Birmingham, Ala., the oldest leisure travel agency in the U.S., have done something remarkable: They have created a cutting-edge service methodology and a model corporate culture, either of which could be featured at a TED conference or as a case study for the Harvard Business Review. Yet Brownell still embraces its 125-year-old principles, traditions and history. Read More>>
Biz hub Panama hopes to lock into leisure market, too
September 15, 2011 | Travel Weekly
Panama, for all its charms, is perhaps best known to U.S. travelers as a place to pass through on their way to somewhere else, whether via its famed, century-old canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans or the much newer Tocumen Airport, now Central America’s busiest transit air hub. Read More >>
Brownell Travel
July 31, 2011 | Luxury Travel Advisor
Today’s face of Brownell Travel would be somewhat unfamiliar to its founder, Walter T. Brownell, who set up the company in 1887. The new headquarters, which opened this year, sits in one of the poshest retail districts of Birmingham, AL, rubbing elbows with Brooks Brothers and Saks Fifth Avenue. Read More >>
Finding cruise deals in a recovering economy
February 18, 2010 | CNN
The jaw-dropping cruise deals of 2009 have all but dried up. This year travelers will have to work harder to find a way to save on floating escapes. Read More >>
Charting a New Path, Brownell Shifts Focus in Changing Travel Industry
December 8, 2006 | Birmingham Business Journal
Brownell may be one of the oldest travel agencies around, but it is by no means stuck in the past. Founded in 1887, the company has changed with the times, and as the evolution of online travel planning has absorbed business from standard full-service agencies, Brownell is thriving as a specialty operation catering to leisure travelers with a taste for far-flung adventure and upscale amenities. Read More >>
Brownell Travel Consultants Tapped to Sell the Ultimate Vacation – A Trip to Space
December 2006
Troy Haas, CEO of Birmingham-based Brownell Travel, and Vicki Upchurch, a Brownell Travel Consultant, have been chosen amid a select group of travel consultants in the country authorized to sell the next hot travel destination – Outer Space. Read More >>
OLD, BUT NOT OLD-FASHIONED
The luxury of a niche agency
February 14, 2005 | Travel Weekly
Customers looking for standard cruises wont find what theyre looking for at Leslie Fambrinis travel agency. And she wouldnt have it any other way — because Fambrini focuses on one sector of the cruise industry and one sector only: luxury. Read More >>
Making custom a custom
September 30, 2002 | Travel Weekly
Going ashore has many meanings. To a number of agents, it means customized excursions that yield additional earnings for the agency while providing more trip satisfaction to cruise customers. The concept is not exactly new. Ask Meg McGriff North, executive vice president of Brownell Travel in Birmingham, Ala., who said any “true consultant” with experience and connections has long been offering special land arrangements to discerning travelers. Read More >>
Home Away From Home, the offices of Brownell Travel
My Turnstone Blog
It’s rare that I come across a commercial office space that feels just like home. Sure there are elements that bring in a “homey” type vibe like your favorite colors from home or a piece of furniture. A lot of times when someone wants to bring in the feeling of home they do so in a not so aesthetically pleasing way. An entire office space that feels like home(and is stylish too), however is a bit more rare. Here is an inside view of the Brownell Travel, my favorite home away from home office space. Read More >>
Motivational Travel, The most Rewarding Perk
Business Alabama
In ever-tightening economic times, CEOs must ask: Are corporate retreats worth the expense? Mary Pat Kaufmann, Vice President of Brownell Motivation travel agency in Birmingham, says, “Even as budgets are cut and expenditures decrease, many companies continue holding corporate retreats. “With a well-planned program, employees feel as though they’ve been treated to a luxurious, yet purposeful, vacation. A dull one might as well be another day at the office. Read More >>
Worldly Success, Brownell Independent Advisor Sam McClure
Travel Agent Central
For sheer audacity, it’s hard to beat Sam McClure’s niche: round-the-world travel for families. A year-long, 30-country trip, with small groups of friends and relatives occasionally join ing the core family for part of the trip, isn’t some thing you’ll find in any brochure. Read More >>