Marat Shkandin | Co-Founder

Marat Shkandin has spent his career building travel advisors inside some of the industry’s most respected organizations, translating “how travel works” into real-world skill, confident client conversations, and professional standards that actually hold up once you’re in the job.

He is known for helping new advisors make the hardest shift early: from loving travel to operating like a business owner. His training style is clear, structured, and modern, grounded in what works in the field, not what sounds good in a slide deck. He’s been quoted in trade media on the realities of the business, including business planning, seasonality, revenue timing, and the numbers behind a sustainable travel career.

Marat was part of award-winning advisor development efforts, including the Tzell Travel Advisor Bootcamp, which received a Gold Travel Weekly Magellan Award in 2019. He also contributed to NEXT, the Protravel and Tzell initiative created to recruit and develop a new generation of luxury travel professionals through training and placement. 

Today, Marat’s work centers on two core strengths: building new advisors from the ground up, and teaching sales and leadership in a way that feels human, confident, and commercially real. He is the creator of the Inside-Out Sales Method™ and Inside-Out Leadership™ frameworks, designed to help advisors sell with clarity, deliver elevated service, and grow with integrity.

Featured and referenced in travel trade media

• Travel Market Report: “Is This the Next Generation of Travel Advisors?” (includes quotes from Marat on business planning, income timing, fees, and the mindset shift into business ownership). Travel Market Report

• Travel Agent Central: Coverage of Protravel and Tzell launching NEXT to recruit and develop young travel professionals. Travel Agent Central

• TravelPulse: Coverage of Protravel and Tzell’s NEXT initiative and its training and placement focus. TravelPulse

Marisa Costa | Co-Founder

With 15 years in luxury travel, Marisa has worked as a tour operator, safari specialist, and travel advisor. She created the NEXT program—the innovative joint initiative between Protravel International and Tzell Travel Group that recruited, trained, and placed the next generation of luxury advisors.

She's served on the Global Board of Young Travel Professionals, founded AMIKO (a digital community for modern advisors), was named a "30 Under 30" rising star in the industry, and currently serves on the board of Prost NYC. She's traveled to nearly 100 countries—and yes, she still gets excited about a good upgrade.