In the world of high-stakes collectibles, few things are more iconic than the ruby slippers. Yes, those ruby slippers — worn by Judy Garland herself in The Wizard of Oz. After disappearing for years, they reappeared at Heritage Auctions, gleaming with pop culture history and fetching an eye-watering $32.5 million.

Heritage Auctions doesn’t just deal in ruby slippers. They handle Batmobiles and Bond submarines, Game of Thrones memorabilia, John Wayne’s personal collection, and fine art and wine from across the globe. It’s a business that bridges the past and the present, a company built on transparency and trust. And behind the scenes, one of the people making it all work is Kyli Rosson, who started at Heritage as a high school intern.

“I was filling in while someone was on vacation,” Kyli recalls with a laugh. “That was in 2008. I thought it was going to be the longest two weeks of my life. But I ended up staying — and growing up here.”

Today, Kyli leads travel management for a team of more than 400 travelers, making sure specialists, consignors, executives, and auction staff are in the right place at the right time — whether that’s for a Game of Thrones auction preview in New York or a wine auction in Beverly Hills. And for a business that depends on personal relationships, logistics, and historical authenticity, travel isn’t just a line item. It’s a lifeline.

The Complexity Behind the Glamour

Heritage’s business is glamorous from the outside — priceless artifacts, famous collectors, cultural significance. But operationally, it’s a logistical puzzle that Kyli helps solve every day. Staff crisscross the country (and the world) picking up collections, cataloging them, and ensuring items arrive safely for preview and auction. 

“I wear a lot of hats,” she says. “I manage the travel, coordinate auction previews with our logistics and security teams, and I’m an auction supervisor too — so I’m in the room making sure everything runs.”

With offices in Dallas, New York, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Tokyo, and more, that’s no small feat. And while many auctions now happen online,the travel hasn’t slowed. It’s just shifted.

“Our consignment directors are always on the road building relationships,” Kyli explains. “Our operations teams go with them to help package and ship collections. Our executive team visits clients and our international offices. It takes a lot of coordination.”

When Travel Tools Become a Roadblock

Before AmTrav, Kyli and Heritage used other travel management solutions. For years Heritage worked with a travel agent – a coin collector, so a friend and natural fit for Heritage – alongside an online booking tool. When their travel agent retired and American Airlines’ removed the lowest fares from non-NDC channels, Heritage knew they needed a new solution.

Kyli and Heritage evaluated several offerings, doing a final trial to compare AmTrav against a competing business travel provider. The competitor won. While the online booking platforms were similar, the competitor offered really great pricing. And then things changed.

“Once the sales team was gone, customer service went downhill — fast,” Kyli says. “They stopped being responsive. Anytime there was an issue, they’d tell our travelers to call the airline or the hotel themselves, or you’d wait 40 minutes to get a human on chat, then wait 15 minutes between every response. It was incredibly frustrating.”

There were other issues, like third-party hotel rates from sites like Booking.com: Kyli says “our travelers liked earning rewards points,” but Heritage got stuck with the bill when plans changed and nonrefundable hotels had to be canceled – and Heritage couldn’t turn off those rates.

The last straw was that the great pricing turned out to be a limited-time promo that expired and increased.

A Fast, Frictionless Switch

Fed up, Kyli reached back out to AmTrav.

“We called Susan [Altman at AmTrav] and said, ‘Can we make this happen quickly?’” Kyli remembers. “And within two days, the site was live again. It was seamless. Rebecca [Gavin] and AmTrav’s implementation team worked nights and weekends to get us up and running.”

Andrea, who had previously managed travel at Heritage before Kyli took the reins, was equally impressed. “They bent over backwards, it was unheard of,” she says.

Kyli agrees: “I was shocked at how fast everything moved — and how supported we felt.”

Built-In Support, Not an Afterthought

That support didn’t stop at implementation.

Not long after launch, one of Kyli’s travelers was driving to the San Francisco airport when her flight to New York was delayed four hours. Kyli jumped into AmTrav’s chat support — and got an immediate response.

“The traveler asked if she could switch to a Delta flight that was leaving five minutes earlier. I messaged AmTrav and they said, ‘Yes, we’ll switch her, and you’ll get a refund on the delayed flight.’ By the time she got to the airport, her new boarding pass was ready and she got to New York hours earlier than expected.”

That kind of real-time service, Kyli says, is critical.“With AmTrav, we get real people who solve real problems, fast.”

A Platform That Works - and a Team That Listens

The tools are working too. The Heritage team books 98% of trips online, finding all the options they need. Kyli and Andrea can count on AmTrav’s reporting features for everything from daily air spend to credit card reconciliation. And while they’re still fine-tuning some reports, they know someone’s always on it.

“It’s not 100% perfect yet,” Andrea says, “but it works. And Greg and the team are all over it. I’m patient because I know they’re listening.”

That responsiveness extends to new tools too. Recently, Kyli also used AmTrav’s Gather tool to coordinate 60 staff members attending the biggest coin convention of the year. It was her first time using it for a major event.

“I can send one link to everyone with Gather. They book everything through that. It’s so much easier than managing it all manually.”

A Better Fit for the Long Haul

For Kyli, the partnership with AmTrav is about more than just functionality. It’s about shared values.

“At Heritage, transparency is everything,” she says. “We want our collectors to know exactly what they’re getting, where it came from, and what condition it’s in. We appreciated that AmTrav was upfront about pricing. No surprises.”

And the relationship doesn’t feel transactional.

“They’ve offered to fly out and do trainings. They’ve taken things off my plate. I’m not handholding people through the booking process. The support’s just built in.”

When asked what AmTrav could do better, Kyli laughs: “Honestly? Just be faster — and you’re already fast.”

Kyli’s Way: Southern Roots, Swiftie Vibes, and Seamless Travel

Kyli’s story is in many ways the story of Heritage Auctions — loyal, transparent, and passionate about history. In her spare time, she’s an avid cook – her favorites are southern classics like biscuits and gravy, since that’s where she’s from – and has started her own collection of Taylor Swift albums: one record to play, the other preserved in its original packaging. (And yes, she went to the Eras Tour.)

“There’s something magical about seeing a piece of history go to someone who treasures it,” Kyli says. “That’s what we do here. And with AmTrav, we can focus on that — not the logistics of how to get there.”