Once the trip itinerary is planned, and after passengers have signed on the dotted line, the real challenge of being a travel leader begins. Now the travel planner must become a leader, a negotiator, a comforter and a guide to their group of travelers. In short, group travel planners have earned their psychology certificate after a few short trips.

To the untrained eye, leading a group of people on an exciting vacation may seem like the dream job, but in reality, only a few multitalented people are cut out for the stress and strain of being a successful travel planner and group leader.

The Group Travel Family of Brands has had the pleasure of working with and developing thousands of travel planners over the past four decades, delivering education, destination knowledge and travel industry networking to those few who are strong enough to weather the rigors of organizing travel groups. While the obvious rewards of a successful trip include great destinations, local cuisine and welcoming lodging, Charlie Presley of The Group Travel Family likes to say, “The real value that the travel planner delivers is the enhanced quality of life that the travelers receive from traveling as a group.”

That is where the skill of understanding people — and managing their expectations and interactions — makes the travel planner a deft human resource manager as well as a part-time psychologist. Many group travel leaders have a loyal following of travelers and therefore know the types of personality traits that each traveler possesses. However, every new traveler brings his or her own unique personality traits to the group mix. Understanding those traits in individuals and how they meld together in a group is a valuable talent to be developed by group leaders.

The travel planner needs to recognize different personalities within the group. In focus groups at Group Travel Family meetings, travel planners have identified a few personality types that may be helpful to understand and learn how to manage while on tour.

Organizers: These are very structured group members who follow the rules and may not understand why others do not.

Free Spirits: They sometimes need to be gently reined in without breaking their spirit.

Negative Nellies: These are fundamentally good people who might complain to gain attention.

Ambassadors: They simply want everyone to get along, without conflict, and have a good trip.

Travel planners may run into variations of the above personality types, but group members will most likely fall into these four categories. With so many differing personalities in a travel group, planners and leaders must have the skill set to play peacemaker while keeping the itinerary on schedule.