We’re tired of the same old.
The travel industry has worked by the same rules and money exchanges for a long time. And very few of those are in your favor or to the destination’s benefit.
It’s why every decision we make is shaped by a clear sense of purpose regardless of hurdles. Through every step, we've focused on staying true to you, our values and making space for thoughtful, lasting impact.
Bigger Dreams; Better Experience.
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Hello! 👋 My name is Mike and I’ve recently started my own small business called Cocoa & Chocolate Travel Co. that will primarily focus on elevating empathy & care for both (1) travelers and (2) destinations. Sounds like the way it should be, right?
We’ve noticed the volume of people that often come to our local destination - Hershey, PA - and yet are only familiar with the standard resort & attractions (which are amazingly lovely 🔥). Heck, we’ve done the same when we first moved here.
But we soon realized, there are a ton of excellent local businesses who offer products and services at similar quality yet they’re struggling to make ends meet. The travel industry tends to highlight the suppliers (e.g. advisor talk for lodging, flight and restaurant business) that pay the highest commission. We can’t blame them, but it eroded trust to the extent that agents have been cut out entirely by booking platforms like Expedia and Booking.com.
And actually, it’s why suppliers tend to not have favorable views of folks who book through those platforms - those platforms have taken such a high commission cut that there’s very small margin (if any) to allot to their clients. In response, suppliers have turned to offering specific perks and upgrades to travelers who book through advisors to lure them away from those larger platforms (aka OTAs; online travel advisors). They actually spend less offering perks to travelers than what they have to pay out to Expedia/booking.com and other OTAs!
Our desire is to gain this back by highlighting not only the typical destinations & attractions, but more importantly, the not-as-often-visited areas, businesses and lodging options while building those into client recommendations! We’re working hard to not only suggest local gems, but proactively build relationships with them to create unique experiences for you, our clients!
Great to meet you and if there’s anything we could do to make this less out of the blue and is something you’d like to pursue - feel free to reach out whatever way is most comfortable to you 🤗
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We exist to:
Bring awareness to more authentically planet-friendly choices
Partner with clients to develop fuller immersive travel experiences
Eliminate tourism leakage
Values like integrity, creativity, and empathy shape the way we work. For us, these aren't just words—they’re the foundation of everything we build & work on.
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We believe in keeping things simple, smart, and human. Every travel design starts with listening and ends with something we're proud to share.
Two (2) big things you might notice when partnering together:
We’re travel designers. This is meaningful to us because it conveys more vivid imagery of partnership, meaningfulness & uniqueness you and your travel deserve. Most of us don’t have the opportunity to take endless travel. You deserve every opportunity of travel to count and deliver the memories.
You shouldn’t have to do much homework. We love our clients who enjoy the planning process, but also realize that not everyone does. Our goal is to make this as lightweight (think yes/no approvals) as possible with each interaction