When Playa’s Rose Cosentino explains how she got her first start in travel, we were a bit shocked.
“When I think about that, I do laugh,” she explains. “I very, very quickly realized it wasn’t for me.”
That job was in accounting at Sunquest, and thankfully for all of us in the industry who have gotten to know and work with her over the years, she figured out her personality was better matched with sales. Cosentino is now Vice President Global Wholesale & Retail Sales for Playa Hotels and Resorts, a position she was appointed to in July.
Cosentino’s fascination with travel started as a child; she told us she was absolutely enthralled looking at maps of the world, looking at maps of countries, “overall geography.”
“For whatever reason, I had an affinity to geography, not knowing that it was foretelling of what has transpired to be a 30-year career.”
Cosentino was “young and green” and though she had a business degree, she didn’t have any education in travel. But she had an innate sense of how to source different things; how to piece things together, which she put into action at her second job in the industry – an agency in North York, ON.
“I went to the school of hard knocks and learned the hard way, in terms of how to do certain things,” she laughs. “I had a natural affinity for knowing how to source different things on my own. GDS at the time was very, very new and many agencies, including ours, didn’t have it. We used the old-fashioned OAG and the Big Hotel Index book to do transactions and call to make bookings with the tour operators and cruise lines”
“I was young and determined to stay current with the times, I knew we had automate the agency to improve productivity and provide better customer service. I still remember when we received our first swivel GDS, I thought ‘my God, my life is forever changed.’”
Cosentino left for a new opportunity after a few years, eventually opening her own agency before moving to other positions at companies such as Just Vacations, Huntington Travel, CWT Concierge and iTravel2000 where she worked with many agents, many of whom she still sees today. She was working at Signature Vacations managing their call centres across the country when 9/11 happened.
“That’s when the world changed, that’s how I describe it. The world literally changed. I just remember watching people in the call centres, the staff, just petrified as to what was happening. And then shortly afterwards on 11/9, Canada 3000 went bust.”
Cosentino says her agent background helped her at that time, as she could lend her perspective in terms of what travel advisors were going through. She says there was a bit of a learning curve and disconnect for those who didn’t fully understand the role of a travel agent.
“I don’t mean that in a negative way. They just didn't understand what happens in a travel advisors world, and because I came from that, I could explain. To this day, you often hear me say, I come from that world, that retail side. I don't think that will ever go away, it’s in my DNA”
Cosentino’s reputation as a hard-working woman who cares has followed her through the industry. She’s known for always taking the time to find out clients’ needs by really listening and asking questions to better understand what they want to achieve. Never sell from your pocketbook, avoid cookie-cutter tactics and allow yourself to lean in and be part of the clients’ journey. She says her experience at that first agency really taught her the importance of tailor-made details, something which now brings to her role at Playa.
“I've been blessed with an amazing team. I will say, that without them, I am nothing. And the same with my Playa family. I've never encountered an organization that really prides itself on how they value people. I've never seen anything like it.
I think the one thing that we do well, that I'm going shout from the rooftops, is how we embrace the travel agency community. We do things with them in mind.”
We were curious, after all her accomplishments, what would Cosentino say to her young self?
“Follow your heart, have a vision, lead by example, learn from your mistakes and care about everyone on your team”. The travel industry for me has been a privilege, it has allowed me access to see the world which is really what I wanted to do from the beginning. I was able to take looking at an atlas and make it come to life. I should have trusted, what I inherently knew was important to me.”
Access to seeing the world, meeting incredible people, and exploring different cultures is where Cosentino says she’s most happy.
“I'm fascinated by travel, and just constantly learning. I feel like the day that I stop learning is the day that you die. I use my travel experiences, number one to help understand where people are coming from. I feel like the world is constantly teaching me, it’s humbled me.
I'm so happy that I get to do that and to be able to work for an organization that is very much people focused. I'm proud to be to be part of our team. I appreciate that; I truly, truly appreciate that and I feel very passionate about where I'm at.”
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