Partner Spotlight: ALG Vacations

If you follow Smiley Travel on social media, or you’ve read our newsletters and blog posts before, you may have seen us talk about ALG Vacations. Recently, ALG invited Rebecca on a trip to Mexico, where she volunteered with other travel professionals at Asociación Microatia, a center for hearing-impaired children, and VIFAC, a shelter for pregnant women. I’m a big fan of any business who works to give back to the communities they serve, but I wondered, what is ALG?

First of all, ALG stands for Apple Leisure Group. You might remember hearing the ads and giveaways for Apple Vacations on the radio during Deliiiilah on Light 106.9 (if you’re from Louisville) or Warm 98.5 (for my Cincy folks) back in the nineties and early 2000’s. Since then, the travel company has expanded massively, becoming one of the leading companies in travel and hospitality.

ALG Vacations is one of the many companies Rebecca partners with to bring all of us the best trips. It consists of six distinguished brands, many of which you’re probably familiar with, like Southwest Vacations, the official vacation package provider for Southwest Airlines. One of Rebecca’s favorite ALG brands is Funjet, which offers fun and unexpected getaways perfect for any Smiley Traveler. Luckily, you don’t have to worry about which brand is offering what. That’s what we have Rebecca for. She knows what brands fit the vibes and the vacation you describe, and she’s great at finding the best trips!

What stands out to me about ALG the most, though, is their commitment to kindness in travel. ALG’s three pillars of kindness are Kindness to Ourselves, Kindness to Others, and Kindness in Travel. Through The Kindness Movement, they are on a “journey to make the world a kinder place.” They do this in many ways. They host volunteer trips for their travel agents, like I mentioned above. They also have an Amazon shop set up “where 100% of commissions earned go back to the destinations we support.” You might remember in April’s blog, all of us at Smiley Travel picked our favorite travel tech featured in the ALG Vacations Amazon shop. You can click directly on that link to browse their entire shop. 

As part of The Kindness Movement, ALG also hosts a yearly Kindness Conference every summer, where they invite 40 excellent travel professionals under 40. Last year, Rebecca was chosen to attend the conference in Punta Cana as a young professional. This year, ALG invited her back to Punta Cana as a Kindness Coach. Only five professionals from the previous year’s conference get invited back to be a coach! Way to go, Rebecca! 

During their time in their host city, Rebecca and other attendees volunteer in the community, attend workshops and presentations, and build connections. There’s also a celebrity attendee, which is pretty cool. Last year it was Hannah Waddingham, who you might know as Rebecca on Ted Lasso. This year it’s Hoda Kotb, best known as co-anchor for NBC’s Today Show. I can’t wait to see the pictures of beautiful Dominican Republic and Zemi Miches Punta Cana All-Inclusive Resort, where the conference is being hosted.

Until next time, Smiley Travelers,

Keep Exploring!

And #AlwaysTravelKind

Rachael <3

Smiley Travel Writer & Editor