About Smart Traveler

What We Do

Smart Traveler connects you with the travel agent expert — or experts — in the type of travel, destination or travel supplier that best fits your plans. Want a great value on a luxury river cruise? An African safari, a Caribbean all-inclusive, an escorted tour of Europe? We’ve got travel experts to help, for any destination, traveling any way, at any time, with any travel supplier.

Our service is free. Travel suppliers compensate our travel counselors, so you never pay more than if you booked directly with the supplier — and most of the time you pay less, with an expert on your side before, during and after your trip.

Our Story

Smart Traveler has been online since 1995, one of the first travel sites on the web. It is led by Peter Coloyan — “Mr. Cruise”, who has sold travel since 1972 and worked full-time in the industry since 1977. He has sold or originated more than $500 million in cruises and trained more than 500 travel agents.

The family’s travel story began in 1935, when Peter’s father joined TWA in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. In 1955 the family opened a travel agency in Melrose, Massachusetts, best known for its tours to Armenia. Peter sold his first cruise there, part-time, in 1972. He grew the agency’s business — its largest account was Wang Laboratories — learned the airline reservation systems of the 1980s, and in 1986 created a Super Bowl package for New England Patriots fans: more than 1,200 fans on charter flights, with more than 600 hotel rooms and game tickets.

By 1996 Peter owned four retail agencies in South Florida. He sold all but one and moved the business online — one of the first independently owned travel agencies on the internet — and by 1998 was selling more than $10 million a year in cruises online. From 2001 to 2007 he owned a host agency that grew to 87 agents and $17 million in annual sales before he sold it to Expedia CruiseShipCenters. In 2019 the network’s websites had 112 million visits and produced more than 68,000 cruise leads and 30,000 other travel leads. In 2023 Peter formed the nonprofit Best of the USA, whose travel division runs Smart Traveler today.

Smart Traveler is a service of the travel division of Best of the USA, Inc., a Florida registered nonprofit organization. Our network includes the Official Travel Directory, the Official Cruise Directory, the Official River Cruise Directory, the Official Travel Industry Directory for travel professionals, and hundreds of travel websites.

Contact

Smart Traveler, 1127 Royal Palm Beach Blvd., Ste 255, Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411 · info@smarttraveler.com · contact form