On the ground in Malaysia

There's only so much you can learn about a destination from behind a desk, so our own Sandie Clark and Leah Ashcroft spent a week travelling through Malaysia on a famil with Wendy Wu Tours, with Sara Macdougall-Unwin joining them in Kuala Lumpur for the annual Global Travel Network (GTN) conference that followed.

Flights were courtesy of Malaysia Airlines, who supported the event, giving the team the opportunity to experience the airline first-hand across both its long-haul Auckland–Kuala Lumpur service and domestic network. It added another layer to the famil, allowing the team to experience not only the destination, but the journey our customers could take to get there.

It was a week of genuinely getting to know a place; a proper feel for the destinations and hotels we recommend to our customers every day. Walking the streets, staying in the hotels, taking the trains, asking the questions you only think to ask once you are standing there. That kind of understanding is hard to come by any other way, and it stays with you long after you get home.

Getting to know Malaysia, properly

Wendy Wu Tours led the group through Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, the Cameron Highlands, Ipoh and Penang, covering considerable ground in a short space of time. Along the way the team completed site inspections at ibis Styles Sepang KLIA, Four Points by Sheraton Kuala Lumpur Chinatown, Strawberry Park Resort, Oakland Cameron Highlands and St Giles Wembley Penang, taking the time to understand where each property sits, what it does well and the kind of traveller it suits best.

There was plenty to take in beyond the hotels. The itinerary covered rail links and domestic flight connections, the layered history and culture of Melaka and George Town, the cool green tea country of the Cameron Highlands and the energy of Kuala Lumpur itself. These are the details that rarely surface on a booking screen, yet they are often exactly what shapes a trip, and knowing them means we can plan with far more confidence on our customers' behalf.

"For me, the real value was experiencing the whole journey first-hand, not just the destination. Those practical details give us a much better understanding of what the experience is actually like for our customers."

- Sandie Clark, Tandem Travel

Celebrating five years alongside GTN

With the famil complete, the team returned to Kuala Lumpur for the GTN conference and three days alongside more than 200 colleagues from across the travel industry. This year brought a double milestone worth marking: GTN celebrated ten years in business, and Tandem reached five years as a GTN partner.

Honesty, integrity and transparency have underpinned GTN since the beginning, and they are values that made the partnership a natural fit from the outset. Five years on, it remains a relationship built on trust, open conversation and a shared commitment to doing business well, which ultimately benefits the people we look after.

We were also honoured to be recognised while we were there. Tandem received the Delta Top Performer Award for the second year running, along with a GTN Loyalty Award acknowledging our five-year partnership. Sara, Sandie and Leah may have accepted them in Kuala Lumpur, but both awards reflect the work happening across Tandem every day. Strong industry relationships are built by the whole team, and those relationships are what allow us to open doors, secure the right options and deliver more for our customers.

Bringing it back to our customers

Travel moves quickly. New hotels open, airline networks shift and destinations evolve, and staying close to that change means being genuinely part of the industry rather than observing it from a distance. Famils like this one give our people the chance to experience destinations for themselves, ask the questions that matter and spend meaningful time with the partners who know those places best. That knowledge then comes home with them and is shared across the wider team.

So, while two awards made their way back from Malaysia, so did something we can put to work straight away: better first-hand knowledge of the places we're helping our customers travel to.

Malaysia on your travel plans? Our team now has even more first-hand knowledge to help you plan it well. Get in touch with the Tandem team to start the conversation.