Advantage chief reveals huge growth in demand for managed services
James ChappleThe Advantage Travel Partnership grew its membership by around a quarter last year, with boss Julia Lo Bue-Said anticipating further growth owing to the complexities of post- versus pre-pandemic travel.
Speaking on the eve of the 2023 Advantage conference in Benidorm, chief executive Lo Bue-Said said this growth was coming across both its leisure and corporate functions, primarily in terms of new members taking up its managed service proposition.
"The managed service model, without a shadow of a doubt, is where the growth is," said Lo Bue-Said. "Managed service is the model we’re finding agents – whether they’re new to market or existing agents that have been somewhere else – want to join."
Lo Bue-Said revealed Advantage’s membership grew by 25% in its 2021/22 financial year to the end of September 2022 to around 350 companies operating across about 750 UK locations. She added that in terms of new physical locations, leisure was leading the way, with corporate growing more substantially in terms of spend.
Advantage chief commercial officer Kelly Cookes said Advantage’s membership had now "far surpassed" pre-pandemic levels. "Our membership is going to continue to grow," Lo Bue-Said continued, highlighting Advantage’s "sound" financials and scope to continue investing in products and services that will allow members to "stand out in the marketplace".
One area of focus for Advantage, Lo Bue-Said said, has been on helping members address with clients the substantial price increases that have followed the pandemic. "We still have a very competitive marketplace. They [agents] have access to pricing consumers do not – agents are in the best possible position to advise on the right products, service and pricing."
Lo Bue-Said said Advantage’s new members were a mix of new entrants into the market and businesses joining from other consortia, but there was a trend towards established agents using Advantage’s managed service proposition "to set themselves up on their own".
"They may have been a manager of a branch for a different company," she said. "They don’t want the faff of licensing and bonding – they are great sellers, so what we do is literally allow them to plug and play."
She added Advantage’s wide range of operating models and the commercial value its services can add were key motivating factors for new recruits. "They want to deliver commercial value to their bottom line."
In addition, Lo Bue-Said said the pastoral support the consortium can offer was another factor. "In the past couple of years, the feedback from our business development team is that life is quite tough, and being a business owner can be quite lonely for a lot of our members."
James Chapple
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