Melissa Krueger: The CEO of Classic Vacations on Career Growth, Company Culture and Classic’s Tech-Forward Next Chapter

About this episode

Melissa Krueger discusses her career in the travel industry and the evolution of Classic Vacations.

Melissa Krueger, CEO of Classic Vacations , has dedicated 30+ years to the travel industry. Serendipitously, her very first job in travel was with a French hotel group, where she regularly worked with travel advisors. Krueger quickly recognized that personal connections were far more important than product, and she brought that line of thinking to future roles in wholesale travel before moving to Classic Vacations.   In this episode of Humans of Travel, Krueger reflects on the lessons that have shaped her as a leader, including building the right inner circle, being the kind of champion for others that you’d want for yourself and learning from the “scripts,” or examples, of others.   Krueger also outlines Classic’s cultural pillars and discusses making career advancement moves to fit life stages. She also explains Classic’s ownership evolution, up to its recent acquisition by TBO, and previews the company’s continued digital transformation. Even with forward motion on the tech side, Krueger says that “trust, time and humanity” are and will remain foundational to Classic and the travel advisors it serves.   This…

People in this episode

Host: Emma Weissmann

Guest: Melissa Krueger

Topics covered

• career growth
• company culture
• travel industry
• digital transformation
• leadership

Keywords

• Classic Vacations
• Melissa Krueger
• career advancement
• company culture
• travel advisors

Sponsors

AmaWaterways

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Classic Vacations, TBO, TravelAge West

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