Kelli Hayes Smith: Hey y'all, and welcome to the very first episode of Chart the Course Podcast presented by Legato. I feel like we have to say that. I feel like I get to be Vanna White for a minute. And then I just dated myself, but that's okay. A wheel, yes. Yeah. that would
Jonathan: Can you get a wheel? Let's get a wheel. Yeah. Yeah.
Kelli Hayes Smith: be fun. So, y'all, I have to be completely honest. He is doing this with his arm twisted all the way behind his back because I really like podcasting. And I think it's a great form of content and way to get stories out there, but also a really great resource. and I appreciate you for entertaining the idea, Jonathan.
Jonathan: Well, when you when you told me we can use the work multiple times and all about efficiency, that was really the selling factor. So yeah, there you go. You twisted
Kelli Hayes Smith: Yeah.
Jonathan: my arm. It works. I'm actually really excited to do this. anybody that knows me in my life knows my goal is to be Bigfoot and to not be photographed as much as humanly possible. So the fact that I'm being recorded, I'm stepping out of my Bigfoot error, if you will, and going into something new. So yeah.
Kelli Hayes Smith: I think that's gonna be a merch piece, Bigfoot era. I'm not stepping
Jonathan: Big funeral, yes.
Kelli Hayes Smith: out of my Bigfoot era. I think that that's a really, a really good piece of merch. So, but really though,
Jonathan: Yep.
Kelli Hayes Smith: it is a really good way, not just to get Legato's story out there, but one of the reasons that I really wanted to push this podcast and make you step out of that era is because we probably should talk about who we are first. Hold on. Hold that thought, everybody. Let's just like rewind for a second. Jonathan, tell everybody who you are before we get I just think that everybody knows who we are 'cause they should, but that's beside the point.
Jonathan: True. I'm popular in my own head. There you go. So
Kelli Hayes Smith: Exactly. Yes. My own fame.
Jonathan: my own fame, yes. I am Jonathan Morris. I am one of the owners and presidents of Legato, been in the industry for thirteen years, second generation travel. So my my dad has been in the industry for thirty five plus years, whatever it is now. So grew up as a kid traveling quite a bit and watching it from the outside and then yeah, lucky thirteen years ago came in and here we are today just enjoying enjoying the industry and everything that it has in it. So
Kelli Hayes Smith: Yeah, so and I'm Kelli If you don't know who I am, I'm Kelly Hayes Smith I work in marketing. I started in the travel industry about twelve years ago. So Jonathan and I are like right neck and neck on that, but he's beaten me a little bit. and I discovered in 2020 that actually planning the travel gives me the heebie jeebies, but I do really enjoy the marketing, which is funny because most people are the complete opposite and don't want to do the things that I do. But I love it. And so I focus primarily on marketing. I am the marketing manager here at Legato. and we started this so that we can tell our story. And one of the reasons, now back to the story that I wanted to tell before I got ahead of myself. I when I started talking to Jonathan and writing marketing message, I would make him give me brain dumps on what Legato is and what what the heart is and all of these things. And every time Jonathan you would talk about Legato, it was not just about the host agency that we have. It was all about pushing the industry forward, making like improving status quo, not settling for status quo. And I will have to say, this is going to be a hot topic. So I really hope that I hope you quote me on this. I have sat in rooms with a lot of the top dogs, both in the host industry side and in the supplier side. And I would listen to them talk about the problems of their time in this situation. And I kept thinking to myself, nobody's talking about the agent. Everybody's talking about all these things that bother them, but nobody's talking about the agent. And I can only tell you that since I've been at Legato, that's not the case. Like literally, I'm not lying on that. I wouldn't bring it up if it wasn't true. And I think that the podcast is also a really great way for us to. Talk through the industry, pushing it forward, changing the status quo, and just being here for agents of all host agencies and really making a difference.
Jonathan: Absolutely. And and and the way Legato was built is along this vision that it's creating a win-win-win. A win for the agent, win for the host, a win for the supplier, and ultimately putting everybody into a partnership kind of mode, if you will, where if the customer's happy, they get what they pay for, execute travel, then we all win. So it's when when you're when you're operating in that manner, you're not afraid of the inherent accountability or the responsibility. of bringing excellence to your piece of the pie. And that's that's the heart of Legato. It's always been everyone just own your lane, bring excellence to what you're responsible for. So agents, host, supplier, you know, we all have our specialties and what we what we focus on. So let's just stick there. Make sure the customer gets what they want. very proud that we, you know, we're not making passive money off of our agents and the and the fees and stuff like that. So You know, we have to actually wake up and go to work every day if we want to get paid. I mean, that's just the long and short of it. And we operate without that safety net, as I say, and been like that for eight years. It's working. Yep. So
Kelli Hayes Smith: And it's working. Yeah, it's working. And I I think that that's just that is really and truly why I wanted to push for this is because I think it's so important for people out there who and I was one of them who have been hurt by the industry. There are a lot of them. Some of them have been in the news recently. I mean, people are in my DMs often and they're talking about being hurt by the industry. And I think it's refreshing to see the people at the top of a host agency. really focusing on the agents and what's best for them and what's gonna make a difference for them and not just how do we make more money because the only way legato makes more money is for the agent to make more money. So what's good for the agent is good for legato and it's not like that everywhere. And I really want I want us to be able to focus on that, but not just about legato as a whole. It this is about, this is really about pushing the industry forward and and being a goodwill project. For the industry as a whole.
Jonathan: Absolutely. And I and I like to say it's like it's it's going back to our heritage as travel agents. we we call our agents travel agents for that reason. C it's going back to that heritage of, you know, thirty years ago, forty years ago, where if if people wanted to travel, they went to their local travel agency. And travel agents were viewed as a community asset. They were viewed as the local professional. So if you wanted to go anywhere, you went to the agent down the road, right? And it's so it's like it's we need to I believe we we lost some of the sauce. And we we actually allowed maybe others, maybe we left a little bit ourselves. we let that professionalism kind of lead the industry in some in some key spots, I believe. So it's all about raising that bar, making sure that travel agents are supported and trained as travel professionals and hearkening back to those the old days, if you will, of you wanna go somewhere, you go to the agent. And if you operate in that area of responsibility or excellence, then you know. Wanna travel the world, I'm gonna go to Kelli Kelli agency to go do whatever she specializes in, type of thing. So you say she ain't booking it. Neither am I. I don't do retail work. I don't do it either. So
Kelli Hayes Smith: Except she's not gonna book, so it's fine. Mm mm.
Jonathan: but it's the whole idea of like let's take that heritage, let's get back to our roots, and then let's use technology, let's use the tools we have available thirty years, you know, now present. to actually bring that heritage to life in a way that is modern and clean and lifts the administrative burden off of the agent, the host, the supplier. You know, let's let's make life easy and efficient. But you better be a professional.
Kelli Hayes Smith: Right. And I think when it comes to the titles, it is a what's the word I want to use? I want to be careful with this, but it's like a it is a hot topic. It also is like it's sensitive because people get prickly about what they're called. And I teaching marketing even before being at Logato had told people, you choose like choose your title. If you you can own what you want to be called. But we aren't belittling agents or advisors when we use the word agent. It's not about that. It's not saying they're not give being an advisor. It is saying that they're actually you have a better definition for that, so I'm not even gonna say it. You tell what is the reasoning behind that?
Jonathan: Yeah, so the reason we use agent is because, you know, the definition of agent versus advisor is stronger. If you're an agent, you have agency to then execute. And part of that agency to execute is you're advising. So you think about like a a real estate advisor, right? They can advise purchasing that property or whatever for whatever reason. But can they execute the contract? And the answer is no. They're not an agent. They're real estate agents. And that's how we viewed, and that's why we s have stuck with agent through the years, even though it's it's countercultural. you know, we're kind
Kelli Hayes Smith: Well
Jonathan: of lone duck on that one for a little bit, but we view it's the more powerful word that your job is to advise. It's also to execute, it's also the service aspect of it, and not just saying this is a good idea, go here and I can't do anything about it.
Kelli Hayes Smith: Right. And I I I think you're exactly right. Like real estate agents, nobody's trying to change that title. And I don't think it here's the thing. I think we have to stop like we say agent. That does not mean if you come to Legato, then you call yourself an advisor. Anybody's gonna be upset about it. Like whatever. Call yourself what you want to call yourself. Call it what you want to. There's a Taylor Swift reference for you. Number one, I got one in already. but but you have to you call yourself as you wanna be, but The goal is that you do the job. And let's I think we're kind of squabbling over the wrong thing and not the right thing. And honestly, I think that that is what this podcast is all about.
Jonathan: Squabbling. I like how we also wore the same uniform today. We
Kelli Hayes Smith: I know we did the same thing yesterday and I said to you we can't record today because we are wearing the same thing and I didn't even pay attention that second time in a row. So, y'all
Jonathan: Okay. Never mind. But yes. You are correct. We do squabble over the little things. And that's the overall heart to me is like we we're gonna major on the things that matter. We're gonna major on the main or majors, right? Just let the minor stuff flesh out. I don't quite honestly care if you're an agent, advisor, travel professional, travel concierge, travel counselor. It it doesn't matter. You call yourself whatever you're comfortable with. End of the day, just bring excellence to what you do. It's our job to bring excellence. We We're called a host agency. We've been trying to come up with a different term because it's we're just different. We do more
Kelli Hayes Smith: 'Cause we're not what everybody else is.
Jonathan: than a yeah, it's like we do more than a host. We do consortia stuff. It's like we're we do tech. I'm going Okay, but nobody I could come up with a new term with one person in the group.
Kelli Hayes Smith: But nobody knows what that is.
Jonathan: That that's ridiculous. So we're in the same boat.
Kelli Hayes Smith: Well,
Jonathan: Yeah.
Kelli Hayes Smith: this is really what this whole thing is about, guys. And so we hope you'll stick around and check out episodes as they come out. And yeah, we'll see y'all
Jonathan: Yeah.
Kelli Hayes Smith: next time.
Jonathan: Sounds good. Well thank you very much.
Jonathan: Can you get a wheel? Let's get a wheel. Yeah. Yeah.
Kelli Hayes Smith: be fun. So, y'all, I have to be completely honest. He is doing this with his arm twisted all the way behind his back because I really like podcasting. And I think it's a great form of content and way to get stories out there, but also a really great resource. and I appreciate you for entertaining the idea, Jonathan.
Jonathan: Well, when you when you told me we can use the work multiple times and all about efficiency, that was really the selling factor. So yeah, there you go. You twisted
Kelli Hayes Smith: Yeah.
Jonathan: my arm. It works. I'm actually really excited to do this. anybody that knows me in my life knows my goal is to be Bigfoot and to not be photographed as much as humanly possible. So the fact that I'm being recorded, I'm stepping out of my Bigfoot error, if you will, and going into something new. So yeah.
Kelli Hayes Smith: I think that's gonna be a merch piece, Bigfoot era. I'm not stepping
Jonathan: Big funeral, yes.
Kelli Hayes Smith: out of my Bigfoot era. I think that that's a really, a really good piece of merch. So, but really though,
Jonathan: Yep.
Kelli Hayes Smith: it is a really good way, not just to get Legato's story out there, but one of the reasons that I really wanted to push this podcast and make you step out of that era is because we probably should talk about who we are first. Hold on. Hold that thought, everybody. Let's just like rewind for a second. Jonathan, tell everybody who you are before we get I just think that everybody knows who we are 'cause they should, but that's beside the point.
Jonathan: True. I'm popular in my own head. There you go. So
Kelli Hayes Smith: Exactly. Yes. My own fame.
Jonathan: my own fame, yes. I am Jonathan Morris. I am one of the owners and presidents of Legato, been in the industry for thirteen years, second generation travel. So my my dad has been in the industry for thirty five plus years, whatever it is now. So grew up as a kid traveling quite a bit and watching it from the outside and then yeah, lucky thirteen years ago came in and here we are today just enjoying enjoying the industry and everything that it has in it. So
Kelli Hayes Smith: Yeah, so and I'm Kelli If you don't know who I am, I'm Kelly Hayes Smith I work in marketing. I started in the travel industry about twelve years ago. So Jonathan and I are like right neck and neck on that, but he's beaten me a little bit. and I discovered in 2020 that actually planning the travel gives me the heebie jeebies, but I do really enjoy the marketing, which is funny because most people are the complete opposite and don't want to do the things that I do. But I love it. And so I focus primarily on marketing. I am the marketing manager here at Legato. and we started this so that we can tell our story. And one of the reasons, now back to the story that I wanted to tell before I got ahead of myself. I when I started talking to Jonathan and writing marketing message, I would make him give me brain dumps on what Legato is and what what the heart is and all of these things. And every time Jonathan you would talk about Legato, it was not just about the host agency that we have. It was all about pushing the industry forward, making like improving status quo, not settling for status quo. And I will have to say, this is going to be a hot topic. So I really hope that I hope you quote me on this. I have sat in rooms with a lot of the top dogs, both in the host industry side and in the supplier side. And I would listen to them talk about the problems of their time in this situation. And I kept thinking to myself, nobody's talking about the agent. Everybody's talking about all these things that bother them, but nobody's talking about the agent. And I can only tell you that since I've been at Legato, that's not the case. Like literally, I'm not lying on that. I wouldn't bring it up if it wasn't true. And I think that the podcast is also a really great way for us to. Talk through the industry, pushing it forward, changing the status quo, and just being here for agents of all host agencies and really making a difference.
Jonathan: Absolutely. And and and the way Legato was built is along this vision that it's creating a win-win-win. A win for the agent, win for the host, a win for the supplier, and ultimately putting everybody into a partnership kind of mode, if you will, where if the customer's happy, they get what they pay for, execute travel, then we all win. So it's when when you're when you're operating in that manner, you're not afraid of the inherent accountability or the responsibility. of bringing excellence to your piece of the pie. And that's that's the heart of Legato. It's always been everyone just own your lane, bring excellence to what you're responsible for. So agents, host, supplier, you know, we all have our specialties and what we what we focus on. So let's just stick there. Make sure the customer gets what they want. very proud that we, you know, we're not making passive money off of our agents and the and the fees and stuff like that. So You know, we have to actually wake up and go to work every day if we want to get paid. I mean, that's just the long and short of it. And we operate without that safety net, as I say, and been like that for eight years. It's working. Yep. So
Kelli Hayes Smith: And it's working. Yeah, it's working. And I I think that that's just that is really and truly why I wanted to push for this is because I think it's so important for people out there who and I was one of them who have been hurt by the industry. There are a lot of them. Some of them have been in the news recently. I mean, people are in my DMs often and they're talking about being hurt by the industry. And I think it's refreshing to see the people at the top of a host agency. really focusing on the agents and what's best for them and what's gonna make a difference for them and not just how do we make more money because the only way legato makes more money is for the agent to make more money. So what's good for the agent is good for legato and it's not like that everywhere. And I really want I want us to be able to focus on that, but not just about legato as a whole. It this is about, this is really about pushing the industry forward and and being a goodwill project. For the industry as a whole.
Jonathan: Absolutely. And I and I like to say it's like it's it's going back to our heritage as travel agents. we we call our agents travel agents for that reason. C it's going back to that heritage of, you know, thirty years ago, forty years ago, where if if people wanted to travel, they went to their local travel agency. And travel agents were viewed as a community asset. They were viewed as the local professional. So if you wanted to go anywhere, you went to the agent down the road, right? And it's so it's like it's we need to I believe we we lost some of the sauce. And we we actually allowed maybe others, maybe we left a little bit ourselves. we let that professionalism kind of lead the industry in some in some key spots, I believe. So it's all about raising that bar, making sure that travel agents are supported and trained as travel professionals and hearkening back to those the old days, if you will, of you wanna go somewhere, you go to the agent. And if you operate in that area of responsibility or excellence, then you know. Wanna travel the world, I'm gonna go to Kelli Kelli agency to go do whatever she specializes in, type of thing. So you say she ain't booking it. Neither am I. I don't do retail work. I don't do it either. So
Kelli Hayes Smith: Except she's not gonna book, so it's fine. Mm mm.
Jonathan: but it's the whole idea of like let's take that heritage, let's get back to our roots, and then let's use technology, let's use the tools we have available thirty years, you know, now present. to actually bring that heritage to life in a way that is modern and clean and lifts the administrative burden off of the agent, the host, the supplier. You know, let's let's make life easy and efficient. But you better be a professional.
Kelli Hayes Smith: Right. And I think when it comes to the titles, it is a what's the word I want to use? I want to be careful with this, but it's like a it is a hot topic. It also is like it's sensitive because people get prickly about what they're called. And I teaching marketing even before being at Logato had told people, you choose like choose your title. If you you can own what you want to be called. But we aren't belittling agents or advisors when we use the word agent. It's not about that. It's not saying they're not give being an advisor. It is saying that they're actually you have a better definition for that, so I'm not even gonna say it. You tell what is the reasoning behind that?
Jonathan: Yeah, so the reason we use agent is because, you know, the definition of agent versus advisor is stronger. If you're an agent, you have agency to then execute. And part of that agency to execute is you're advising. So you think about like a a real estate advisor, right? They can advise purchasing that property or whatever for whatever reason. But can they execute the contract? And the answer is no. They're not an agent. They're real estate agents. And that's how we viewed, and that's why we s have stuck with agent through the years, even though it's it's countercultural. you know, we're kind
Kelli Hayes Smith: Well
Jonathan: of lone duck on that one for a little bit, but we view it's the more powerful word that your job is to advise. It's also to execute, it's also the service aspect of it, and not just saying this is a good idea, go here and I can't do anything about it.
Kelli Hayes Smith: Right. And I I I think you're exactly right. Like real estate agents, nobody's trying to change that title. And I don't think it here's the thing. I think we have to stop like we say agent. That does not mean if you come to Legato, then you call yourself an advisor. Anybody's gonna be upset about it. Like whatever. Call yourself what you want to call yourself. Call it what you want to. There's a Taylor Swift reference for you. Number one, I got one in already. but but you have to you call yourself as you wanna be, but The goal is that you do the job. And let's I think we're kind of squabbling over the wrong thing and not the right thing. And honestly, I think that that is what this podcast is all about.
Jonathan: Squabbling. I like how we also wore the same uniform today. We
Kelli Hayes Smith: I know we did the same thing yesterday and I said to you we can't record today because we are wearing the same thing and I didn't even pay attention that second time in a row. So, y'all
Jonathan: Okay. Never mind. But yes. You are correct. We do squabble over the little things. And that's the overall heart to me is like we we're gonna major on the things that matter. We're gonna major on the main or majors, right? Just let the minor stuff flesh out. I don't quite honestly care if you're an agent, advisor, travel professional, travel concierge, travel counselor. It it doesn't matter. You call yourself whatever you're comfortable with. End of the day, just bring excellence to what you do. It's our job to bring excellence. We We're called a host agency. We've been trying to come up with a different term because it's we're just different. We do more
Kelli Hayes Smith: 'Cause we're not what everybody else is.
Jonathan: than a yeah, it's like we do more than a host. We do consortia stuff. It's like we're we do tech. I'm going Okay, but nobody I could come up with a new term with one person in the group.
Kelli Hayes Smith: But nobody knows what that is.
Jonathan: That that's ridiculous. So we're in the same boat.
Kelli Hayes Smith: Well,
Jonathan: Yeah.
Kelli Hayes Smith: this is really what this whole thing is about, guys. And so we hope you'll stick around and check out episodes as they come out. And yeah, we'll see y'all
Jonathan: Yeah.
Kelli Hayes Smith: next time.
Jonathan: Sounds good. Well thank you very much.
