Exciting News About Waterstone
Dear Travel Friends,
I am beyond thrilled to be announcing to you a new and exciting chapter at Waterstone; a chapter that is a continuation of a passion for travel and hospitality and one that is focused on our partners, the travel advisor community.
Recently I signed a partnership with Kristen Moore, CEO of the highly respected representation company Destinations of Distinction. Through this partnership, Kristen joins Waterstone as our COO and also acquires the company. This is truly exciting for me in particular as it strengthens Waterstone and sets us up for a long future of success.
I founded Waterstone 21 years ago and I could not be more proud of the company my colleagues and I have built. Today, the company has never been more successful and our key business measurements are exceeding even my expectations. The partnership with Kristen comes at the right time to accomplish two goals I had set for 2023.
Firstly, Kristen joining as our COO creates a platform from which we will further strengthen Waterstone and create new business opportunities for our loyal members. Already Waterstone offers our clients sales and marketing representation, public relations and consulting services while we are active in the US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand. Our plans call for further investments to bring additional services and new streams of revenue to our existing clients. I say existing clients because our intention is to try and keep the company a boutique model, though we find ourselves perpetually adding new hotels, villas and DMC’s thanks to introductions by our existing members.
Secondly, this partnership allows me to put into motion a succession plan for Waterstone, one that all our stakeholders can rally around. While I remain CEO of Waterstone and I intend on staying with the firm for years to come, Kristen is the future of Waterstone. Kristen will be very busy managing Destinations of Distinction and acting as COO of Waterstone, but she is more than up to the challenge.
I’m humbled because in organizing this venture I fielded interest from several companies. However on meeting Kristen, I was sincerely bowled over by her intelligence, her business acumen, her passion for our community and her drive for excellence. I was struck by her sensitivity to the uniqueness of Waterstone’s culture and how well she fits into our model. Keeping the Waterstone ethos is important to me as well as to Kristen. Strengthening the company and creating new business opportunities cannot come at the expense of losing our special high touch, high service spirit.
I am very lucky because I have been supported by a fantastic team, a team that continues to “hit it out of the park” day in and day out. In particular, Lynne Partridge, our Vice President has been a great support. She and I have many times discussed how to take Waterstone forward and her advice has been always appreciated. In taking on the future, Lynne will continue to aggregate responsibilities since her talents know no bounds.
Kristen, Lynne and I share an enormous respect for the special calling of being a travel advisor. We are all truly awestruck by the broad spectrum of skills and talents that go into making a successful travel advisor. This is why we are 1000% committed to always being a trustworthy supplier to our travel partners. The three of us look forward to leading Waterstone in a way that adds value to our members and our travel partners.
My dear friends, I am so grateful for your support of Waterstone which has been the bedrock of our success. Kristen, Lynne, the team and I are committed to you and will always work hard to earn your support.
With gratitude,
Marcelo D. Vazquez
CEO, Waterstone