Pat B. Josten

Pat B. Josten has been a Virtuoso travel consultant for 20 years, based in Southern Orange County, California. Pat is an accredited CTA, CTC and CTIE, and her love of travel extends to her love of helping others to travel. Pat believes travel is the greatest teacher in the world, and she will always be a student.

Articles by Pat B. Josten

• Virtuoso Travel Week reminds us why travel agents are special

  Monday, August 24, 2015

  If you attended Virtuoso Travel Week 2015 from Aug. 8-13 in Las Vegas, you are "extraordinarily" special in the luxury travel business. You are now armed and ready with exciting, current advice for any request a luxury traveler might ask of you.

• You’re not perfect, and neither am I

  Thursday, March 26, 2015

  Have you ever thought about the number of arrangements you, as a highly respected travel consultant, must manage to weave together seamlessly in order to create the perfect trip experience? I have, and I am thoroughly impressed. In the midst of booking a private air charter for four, or a three-month world cruise for two, or a month-long river cruise/private tour combo for a family of 20, or a 10-day private hot air ballooning over castles in France for 12, or a two-week exotic deep sea dive on Lizard Island for eight, you will find the travel consultant.

• Sharing is caring in the travel industry

  Thursday, January 29, 2015

  So, how's your new year so far? Fantastic, I hope. I have already found it to be exciting and filled with promise. One thing I've managed to hang onto from the holiday season is how important it is to share and care. I love how everyone warms up to being nicer, more sharing, more caring during the "holidaze." I've also noted how important that attitude is to our travel business.

• Time to scare your clients with some Halloween travel ideas

  Friday, October 24, 2014

  Yep, it's that time of year again: hallowed Halloween. Some of you may say "So what? I can't wait to get to Thanksgiving." But it's not quite time for pumpkin pie yet. It seems my young, fun-loving clients are ringing me up to see what I know about Halloween fun. After all, I am their travel expert.

• You can’t Google this: Why travel agents beat booking on the Web

  Friday, October 17, 2014

  We savvy travel agents know so much more than Mr. Google knows. Let's begin with five things we know for sure, so as not to get too full of ourselves:

• It’s all about you: The value of ongoing education

  Thursday, September 11, 2014

  In my 20-plus years of booking travel, I have learned many valuable lessons. Of late, to my great surprise, I have learned a rather obvious one: It's all about me! Consequently, I offer this advice to you: It's all about you, my fellow, highly valued travel consultants.