EXCLUSIVE: Abercrombie & Kent‘s biennial 100 Club conference will become a global event in 2026, incorporating Australia and other international markets, LATTEcan reveal.
A&K’s most recent multi-day 100 Club event was hosted at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago earlier this month, the city where the luxury travel company has its largest office in the United States.
100 Club brings together Abercrombie & Kent’s top advisors and travel partners from around the US. The event honours A&K’s top-producing travel advisors and agencies with about 150 delegates attending, including the likes of Valerie Wilson of Valerie Wilson Travel and Virtuoso’s Chairman and CEO, Matthew Upchurch.
The event has been operating for the past 20 years and includes social gatherings, cocktail parties, gala nights and full days of conferencing, with most of A&K’s destination management companies (DMCs) from around the world attending and presenting.
This year’s 100 Club also featured presentations from A&K Founder Geoffrey Kent, A&K Travel Group Executive Chairman, Manfredi Lefebvre, and A&K Travel Group CEO, Christina Levis. They spoke about the future outlook for Abercrombie & Kent and Crystal. A core component of the presentations was dedicated to A&K’s Philanthropy – the community-first conservation work that Abercrombie & Kent has been involved in for more than 60 years.
Attending for the first time and from Australia were A&K Travel Group’s Asia Pacific executive team, comprised of Debra Fox, Managing Director Australasia – A&K/EVP, Trade Sales APAC – A&K & Crystal; Tony Archbold, VP Sales APAC – Crystal; Michelle Mickan, VP, Marketing APAC – A&K & Crystal and Susan Haberle, VP Sales & Partnerships APAC – A&K.
Fox, who has just marked two years with A&K, told LATTE she found 100 Club “absolutely brilliant”.
“For me, it was a first-time and I just loved every minute of it. It really is the perfect induction for someone new into A&K. Eye-opening and incredibly insightful.”
Fox said travel advisors she spoke with at the event were saying it was the “best-ever”.
The program included 2.5 days of senior global management discussions, involving 70 company executives. Those sessions, Fox says, were “outstanding, digging deeper on the strategic initiatives that are in place” and sharing further knowledge on projects in the pipeline.
She noted that Executive Chairman, Lefebvre, was “so excited about the future.”
Among the future projects was the new Peruvian Amazon riverboat launching in 2025 and A&K’s first destination management company (DMC) for Mexico, as revealed exclusively by LATTE last week.
Also in Mexico, A&K has signed its first beachside property, with Fox saying Mexico is a “big part of our future.”
Africa expansion
Fox also revealed to LATTE that A&K would be “going back to our traditional roots”, meaning Africa, with plans to build and open its own lodge in Rwanda in 2025 now across the line and approved.
“This new addition will mean that A&K will be able to cover the gorillas in both Uganda and Rwanda,” she said.
On the topic of gorillas, Fox shared that the population of primates is finally growing, no doubt influenced by the work A&K’s Founder Geoffrey Kent carried out in partnership with Uganda many years ago to develop a permit system in order to raise funds for their protection. According to recent data in 2024, there are now 1,063 mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda, Congo and Bwindi — up from 1,004 in 2018, whereas the number was estimated to be 786 in 2010.
Also in Africa, Abercrombie & Kent is investing significantly in new and existing properties, which will include the delivery of a new project in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park and upgrades to several other properties such as Gorilla Forest Camp in Uganda (in mid-2025) and Baines’ Camp in Botswana (also in mid-2025).
The Amboseli project is particularly exciting, with the new flagship lodge to be positioned near Kenya’s border of Tanzania, providing views of Kilimanjaro.
“Being located in a private conservancy gives us closer access to game drives, and also allows night drives which is a real advantage,” Fox explained. However, the biggest drawcard for the newbuild Amboseli lodge will be its proximity to big tusk elephants.
Fox adds that the enhancements planned for Gorilla Forest Camp and Baines’ Camp will bring those assets up to the same standard as Amboseli, “giving us even more consistency among the Sanctuary Lodges in Africa.”
Other announcements made at 100 Club include A&K’s return to Cuba with a new itinerary from Camaguey to Havana.
