Cadence Connects Is Back—And It’s All About Turning Ideas Into Action
The host agency’s annual gathering returns with a sharper focus on execution, advisor growth, and real-world connection at Four Seasons Westlake Village.
Photo: Laura Ratliff
Cadence Travel officially opened its 2026 Cadence Connects conference yesterday, April 21, at the Four Seasons Westlake Village in California, bringing together advisors, supplier partners, and internal teams for three days of meetings, programming, and community-building. The annual event, now in its 11th year, remains the host agency’s central gathering point for its global network of more than 200 independent advisors and preferred partners.
This year’s theme, “Your Ticket to Thrive,” centers the event on both business performance and personal growth, blending one-on-one meetings, educational sessions, wellness programming, and new formats to deepen engagement.
Opening remarks on Tuesday afternoon emphasized Cadence’s long-standing culture and the role of relationships in driving its growth. “We love what we do, and we do what we love. And that’s why we’re in this wonderful hospitality industry,” said founder and CEO Wendy Burk, pointing back to the company’s founding values, which have remained consistent since its launch in 1995.
Burk also underscored the importance of partners and community, noting that many relationships within the network have evolved well beyond transactional. “I think many of our partners now are friends. You make the magic, and we so appreciate you,” she said. “We need one another.”
The structure of the event reflects that emphasis on connection. Attendees will participate in more than 40 pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings with vetted partners, as well as in new initiatives, including dedicated spaces for informal networking and wellness. The introduction of a separate engagement track for DMC partners also signals a push to expand how advisors interact with on-the-ground operators.
At the same time, Cadence is leaning into more intentional takeaways from the event. A new “passport” tool encourages attendees to define specific goals and track ideas they want to implement post-conference, a direct response to the common drop-off in execution once advisors return home. “We’ve all been in these conferences and then you go home and it’s really impossible actually to try to hold on to that inspiration,” said John Knob, Cadence’s senior director of culture. “We hope you use these tools, but it’s going to be up to you.”
That focus on execution—rather than inspiration alone—came up repeatedly throughout the opening session. “Inspiration is everywhere. But execution is not,” Kim Guimaraes, the vice president of national and strategic partnerships for Abercrombie & Kent and Crystal, noted during the keynote, emphasizing a broader industry shift toward delivering on increasingly complex client expectations.
Programming throughout the week reflects both sides of that equation. In addition to supplier updates and trend sessions, including data from Virtuoso on continued luxury demand growth fresh off its Symposium in Seoul, Cadence has built in wellness activations, collaborative workshops, and informal networking designed to strengthen advisor relationships across the network.
What comes through clearly is how Cadence sees itself now: less a traditional host agency, more a connected, relationship-driven community. “There really is something in the water at Cadence,” Knob said. “This community is built around people showing up to take better care of people.”
With strong advisor sentiment and continued growth in luxury travel demand heading into 2026, the event arrives at a moment when many agencies are scaling and looking for ways to maintain service levels while growing volume. Cadence Connects, at least in its current form, appears designed to address exactly that balance.
