Meet Chip Wilson | Certified Travel Advisor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chip Wilson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chip, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I’ve loved travel for as long as I can remember. Even as a kid, I was fascinated by maps, airports, hotels, and discovering new places. For a long time it was just what I did on vacation, a week here and there. My actual career was in marketing and ecommerce.

The moment that really stuck with me happened one night when I was out with friends. I was telling travel stories, probably for longer than I realized, and one of them stopped me and said, “Have you ever noticed how much you light up when you talk about travel?” I laughed and said yes. Then they asked, “Why don’t you do something with travel for a living?”

That stuck with me. I started looking into the industry more seriously, and I realized there was still a real need for good travel advisors. In fact, maybe more than ever. Travel has become so transactional. People book online, piece everything together themselves, and that can work fine until something goes wrong. A flight gets canceled, a hotel isn’t what they expected, or they need help while they’re already overseas. In those moments, people don’t want to be stuck on hold with a call center. They want someone who knows them and knows their trip.

That’s really why I started MCW Travel. I wanted to take something I genuinely love and build a business around helping people travel better. Not just booking the pieces, but being someone they can trust before, during, and after the trip. I wanted to bring back the personal side of travel planning, and, as I like to say, bring the wonder back into wandering.

What should our readers know about your business?
MCW Travel is a luxury travel agency based in Mansfield, Texas. I work with travelers throughout Dallas-Fort Worth and across the country planning custom trips, cruises, honeymoons, expedition travel, and special occasion trips. The common thread is that every trip is built around the person, not pulled off a shelf.

What sets me apart is really a mix of access and personal service. Through the relationships and programs I’m part of, I can often add value to a trip in ways people may not be able to get on their own, whether that’s hotel perks, upgrades when available, special amenities, or just knowing which property, cruise line, itinerary, or room category is actually the right fit. Sometimes the best advice is knowing what not to book.

But the part I care about most is being the person my clients can call when they need help. Travel is wonderful, but it does not always go exactly as planned. Flights change, weather happens, hotels make mistakes. When something goes sideways, I want my clients to know they have someone in their corner who knows them, knows the trip, and is willing to help.

Getting here was definitely not easy. I launched MCW Travel in 2019, and then 2020 happened. Starting a travel business right before a global shutdown was not exactly the plan. But in a strange way, it became a gift. I had been in the industry just long enough to know how much I still needed to learn, and that pause gave me time to study, build relationships, sharpen the business side, and get much more prepared for when people were ready to travel again.

The hardest part in the beginning was the sheer amount there was to learn. Destinations, suppliers, cruise lines, hotels, technology, marketing, client service, all of it. It was overwhelming. I had to learn to slow down, focus on the kind of business I wanted to build, and not get distracted by every shiny object.

What I’m most proud of are the small comments from clients. When someone tells me a hotel I suggested was their favorite part of the trip, or that a special experience became one of their best memories, that means a lot. Travel is personal. People save for it, dream about it, and look forward to it for months or years. Being trusted with that is something I don’t take lightly.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that most challenges can become useful if you are willing to learn from them. Starting when I did was hard, but it made me better. It taught me to be patient, to keep learning, and to build a business that is less about transactions and more about trust.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m down in Mansfield, which sits right between Fort Worth and Dallas. They’re only about 40 minutes apart, give or take traffic, but they feel like two completely different cities. So if my best friend were visiting for a week, I’d split the trip between the two and do a few days on each side.

I’d start in Fort Worth and put them up at Hotel Drover in the Stockyards. The hotel has that polished Texas feel without trying too hard, and honestly, the grounds alone are worth it. It’s the kind of place where you can sit outside with a drink and feel like you’re already on vacation.

The first day would be the easy Texas stuff. The Stockyards are touristy, sure, but they’re also fun, and I’d absolutely take someone who had never been. We’d wander through Mule Alley, catch the cattle drive if the timing worked, pop into a few shops, and just take it all in. That night, I’d do dinner at Cattlemen’s, which is an old Stockyards steakhouse that feels exactly like what you want it to feel like. Then, depending on the night, we’d go to Billy Bob’s for the honky-tonk, live music, and maybe even the bull riding.

The second day would be slower and a little more cultural. The Kimbell is my favorite museum around here. The building is beautiful, the collection is manageable, and the permanent collection is free. The Modern is right across the street, so you can easily do both without making a whole production of it. Later, I’d take them over to Magnolia Avenue on the south side. That’s where I actually like to eat and hang out, not just where I’d send a visitor.

The third day would be barbecue. If it’s a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, we’d do Goldee’s, which means getting there early, bringing coffee, and waiting it out. That’s part of the experience. It’s not the most convenient barbecue stop, but it’s one of those things that feels worth planning around.

Then we’d move over to Dallas. I’d book The Joule downtown, partly because it’s a great hotel and partly because that pool hanging out over the street is still one of the coolest hotel features in the city.

The next day would be the Arts District. We’d do the Dallas Museum of Art, then the Nasher next door, which is quieter and one of my favorite places in Dallas. For dinner, I’d keep it classic with Tex-Mex. Las Palmas in Uptown would be high on my list.

The following day, I’d take them to Bishop Arts in Oak Cliff. It’s great for wandering, shopping, eating, and just getting a different feel for Dallas. Later that night, we’d go to Deep Ellum for murals, music, and a little more energy.

One day would be closer to my backyard, Arlington. If the Rangers were home, we’d catch a game. If not, I’d still tour AT&T Stadium because it’s worth seeing even empty. Lunch would be at Hurtado, which is a great barbecue stop and very easy to work into that part of town.

For the last day, I’d slow things down. Maybe the Dallas Arboretum in the morning, especially if the weather was nice, and then one good dinner before they headed home. Nothing too packed. Just a good final day that feels like you actually got to know the area instead of only checking things off a list.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
First and foremost, I’d have to say my mom. She encouraged me to be curious, and just as important, she gave me the room to be curious. About the world, about people, about ideas, about pretty much everything. She made me feel like anything was possible, and I think that kind of encouragement early on is a big reason any of this happened.

I’d also have to give a shoutout to PBS, which probably sounds funny at first. But I grew up in a small rural community in Arkansas, and public television was my first real window to the rest of the world. It showed me places and people I never would have seen otherwise, and it gave me this sense that the world was much bigger than what I could see from where I was standing. I didn’t know it at the time, but looking back, I think that’s where a lot of my curiosity about travel really started.

Website: https://mcwtravel.com/

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Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mcwtravel