Hibiscus Travel: A Florida Travel Agency Built Around 30 Years of Firsthand Resort Visits
Hibiscus Travel: One Advisor, One Consultation Style, and a Name Born From a Single Solo Trip to the Islands
STUART, FLORIDA – Terese Ternullo launched Hibiscus Travel after relocating from Boston to Florida in 2001, but her path into the industry started earlier, in the mid-1990s, when she attended travel school and immediately knew she'd found her calling. The agency's name and identity trace back to a specific memory: a first solo journey to the islands, where a growing love for the hibiscus flower became both the inspiration and the namesake for the business she'd eventually build. Today, with roughly 30 years in the travel industry, Terese runs Hibiscus Travel as a boutique, one-on-one operation rather than a large agency with rotating staff, and holds CTIE and VTA industry certifications alongside affiliations with the Signature Travel Network and ASTA (American Society of Travel Advisors).
The agency's entire approach centers on a highly personalized consultation process rather than pulling from a fixed set of packaged trips. Every engagement starts with one-on-one conversations designed to uncover a client's travel style, even when a client doesn't yet know they have one. Terese has personally visited many of the resorts she recommends, attending global travel trade shows and touring destinations firsthand so she can speak to specific properties from direct experience rather than secondhand marketing material, something clients have specifically called out as a differentiator from larger, more impersonal online booking platforms.
Hibiscus Travel organizes its work into five core service categories, each treated as its own dedicated specialty rather than a generic add-on. Honeymoons and Romance covers everything from all-inclusive resort honeymoons and luxury cruises to custom European itineraries and exotic South Seas escapes, built around a couple's specific vision rather than a standard package. Destination Weddings extends that same philosophy to the wedding day itself, handling travel, accommodations, on-site events, and guest coordination from the first invitation through the final toast, so couples aren't managing vendor logistics on top of their own wedding planning.
Family Travel is framed around multi-generational trips specifically, recognizing that balancing grandparents, parents, and children in one itinerary requires different planning than a standard vacation, from kid-friendly activities and accessible accommodations to making sure every age group has both group time and downtime built in. Corporate Retreats target company incentive trips and team retreats, aligning the experience with a business's specific goals and budget, whether that means chartering a private island resort stay or booking a group aboard a cruise ship, with Terese handling meeting space, private transfers, and curated excursions directly. Group Travel, the fifth category, is built around shared-interest trips, scuba diving groups, golf trips, pickleball travelers, and bachelor or bachelorette parties, with Terese describing her own role as a kind of trip organizer who sets the group itinerary while still working one-on-one with each individual, couple, or family joining it on their own flights, rooms, and personal add-ons.
On the destinations side, the agency's specialties break down into five regions and trip types: Caribbean travel, Europe, Exotic Islands, Luxury Cruises, and River Cruises, giving the agency range across both classic beach-resort bookings and more specialized cruise itineraries.
Client feedback consistently points to the same two things: Terese's direct, hands-on involvement in every trip, and her habit of staying in a long-term relationship with clients rather than treating each trip as a one-off. Meghan and Joe said Hibiscus Travel's customer service was "OUTSTANDING throughout the entire year" it took to plan their trip, wedding, and accommodations together. Katrina and Matt, who've booked both resort and cruise vacations with Terese over several years, said they consider her "not only a great travel expert, but also someone I consider a friend" and have recommended her to their own family and friends. Several other reviewers echoed the same pattern of repeat bookings, with couples specifically noting plans to return to Terese for future anniversary trips after she matched them with a resort that fit their exact style.
With a single advisor personally visiting the resorts she recommends, five distinct service categories built around real client circumstances rather than generic packages, and a client base that keeps returning across years rather than single bookings, Hibiscus Travel positions itself as a relationship-driven alternative to self-service travel sites. Prospective clients can reach Terese directly through the contact section of their site or by phone to check availability.
