Los Angeles, Calif.
Ask Mason Kramer about the experiences at William Woods University that most influenced the direction of his professional career, and the Los Angeles resident will cite two.
One was his time serving on the President’s 20 student liaison group, where among other tasks he was responsible for planning for the arrival of members of the WWU Board of Trustees for their visits to campus, including coordinating the logistics of their flight and hotel accommodations.
The other was when he took his first Woods Around The World trip, to South Africa, which is probably his most favorite and formative memory of his time at William Woods.
“Getting to explore a place so foreign to me at the time with a group of friends and professors was an incredible experience,” Kramer said. “It was something that allowed me to hone in on my love of travel and creating experiences.”
Together, the two experiences fit perfectly within his career trajectory. Kramer is the Sales Manager – Americas for a unique company called OneFineStay, which provides luxury vacation rentals at some of the most desired locations around the world. Whether it’s spacious apartments, beachfront villas or countryside mansions, located anywhere in the world one can imagine (London? Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics? The Caribbean?), OneFineStay does all the planning to find their clients an unforgettable option that is ideally located, beautifully designed and lavishly furnished.
“We’re a hospitality company providing a luxury rental portfolio focusing on opening doors to the finest homes and villas in the most desirable destinations and delivering one-of-a-kind service to guests, homeowners and travel partners, globally,” Kramer said. “I have an exciting responsibility of curating and delivering unforgettable experiences for our clients, with the goal of creating once in a lifetime trips.”
Sounds like a perfect combination for the one-time horse-obsessed young man from Kirkwood, Missouri.
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Kramer chose to attend William Woods for the reason countless other Owls have through the years – horses. That, and the desire to study at a school where he would be known by his first name both socially and academically, that was also a reasonable driving distance from his home in suburban St. Louis.
“Having 200 plus horses in a five-minute walk from my bedroom was, and still is, a dream,” he remembered from his days at The Woods.
But there were other experiences during his time in Fulton that shaped his future. Such as rushing the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, which included serving as philanthropy chair where he got to indulge his growing passion for creating experiences, doing logistics, and budgeting. Or the great network of friends he established. Ultimately, his love of traveling and planning led him in a different direction, and he ended up graduating from WWU one year early, with his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.
Less than a week after graduating, he was off to the West Coast to explore his future and interview in his targeted cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Just one day after arriving in L.A., he was offered his first job as a Sales Administrator with OneFineStay, and was on his way to making a career out of his two passions.
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These days, Kramer’s days are a blur of people management, creativity and strategy. As Sales Manager, his top responsibilities include analyzing sales data to uncover insights, creating amazing accommodation itineraries that resonate with his clients’ desires, and cultivating relationships with guests, luxury travel agents and corporate partners. His position comes with it a series of daunting challenges as well, including the need to be constantly innovating and exceeding the high expectations of his clients in what is a changing and highly competitive travel environment. Not to mention curveballs like economic fluctuations, political instability and unforeseen events like natural disasters or pandemics.
But passionate about his work he most definitely is.
“My role involves developing and executing strategic sales plans to drive growth and elevate our brand’s presence in what is a competitive tier of the travel industry, all of which I find extremely exhilarating,” he said. “Working closely with an awesome and dynamic team of other travel professionals who are passionate about emerging markets, forging top-tier vendor partnerships and an inspiringly high level of attention to detail.”
And don’t forget one of the best fringe benefits of his job – the travel for him, of course. Hey, someone has to sample these incredible venues before they can be marketed, right? Thus far, he has journeyed to London, Paris, St. Martin, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Costa Rica.
“Getting to experience most of our destinations first hand not only helps me to advise our clients better but also helps to create unforgettable experiences for myself as well,” Kramer said.
Ultimately, he hopes to one day see himself in an even bigger leadership position, leveraging his ongoing experience in the luxury travel and hospitality sector to manage a global team, where he can drive innovation and growth in the industry. His dream is to be seen as a visionary leader who made a significant impact on the luxury travel sector, while inspiring the next generation of professionals in the travel space.
His advice for upcoming professionals and college students, in addition to working on communication skills, networking and doing internships, won’t surprise you.
“TRAVEL! Go see places and cultures and try to understand the world from another perspective as often as you can,” he said. “Sign up for that next trip today, and book that flight!”
Spoken like the true travel professional he is.
