With clients prioritising value like never before, the last thing agents can afford to do is to undersell themselves, their teams and the service they provide.
It’s perhaps why value, and clients’ pursuit of it, was one of the key themes of the recent Advantage Travel Partnership conference, where its senior leaders were eager to help members not just promote, but trade on, their customer service prowess.
Chief commercial officer Kelly Cookes, who will depart Advantage for InteleTravel later this year, set the scene. “Everyone wants value,” she said. “But I’ve never seen it be a driver like it has in recent months.”
Cookes added the market remains late, with nearly 40% of bookings for departures within 12 weeks – “higher than I’ve ever seen it”.
Commercial director John Sullivan stresses these trends haven’t come at the expense of sales or booking values. Revenue, he tells TTG, was up by 13% year-on-year during peaks (January to March) and by 10% during the first half of May. “That value piece is here to stay,” Sullivan says.
“The dynamics of what people expect on holiday are changing – fly and flop is still huge, but people want more. Agents have to be open-minded about what else clients are interested in, or can bolt on.”
Distractions, like Donald Trump’s antics, are another challenge. “So much is going on in the background,” Sullivan continues. “Things change quickly – it’s sometimes difficult to think long- term, but that value piece is key.
"It’s not a race to the bottom. It’s about selling the right product to the right customer at the right margin.”
’Our members are like local celebrities’
Advantage members “have their fingers on the pulse”, chief executive Julia Lo Bue-Said tells TTG. “Agents know the best prices, and they know the value proposition whether it’s short-haul, long-haul, cruise, etc.”
Sullivan believes amid these market complexities, agents must not lose sight of their own worth. “We talk about the value of product, but members must understand their own value,” he adds. “So many of our members are like local celebrities.”
Advantage grew global turnover to £17 billion last year, of which £155 million – up 33% year-on- year – can be attributed to Advantage Managed Services (AMS) members, who make up more than a fifth of new members. “That will grow quite significantly,” Lo Bue-Said predicts.
She reveals AMS continues to be the fastest growing arm of the business, and believes it is helping more agents – including existing members migrating to AMS – realise their value by taking over the more complex business functions.
“Agents are brilliant at selling and marketing,” she says. “We can do all the heavy lifting.”
’There is every reason to be optimistic’
Advantage unveiled its first rebrand for 20 years at the conference – new logo, colours, vision, mission, brand values and website.
Lo Bue-Said reveals a revamped search tool on the website will allow people to search leisure members by their specialisation. “Preferencing is the next part of this,” she tells TTG.
Advantage is targeting a 300% increase in member searches in the coming year. “If we can be that funnel to attract consumers, that’s brilliant,” she adds. “We can be the catalyst for clients seeking a quality travel agent. We absolutely see that as our role.”
Lo Bue-Said and Sullivan are upbeat. “There is every reason to be optimistic,” the former adds. “We’re an industry that deals with challenges year after year, yet the appetite to travel is still there – we and our members have a really special role in that in an ever more complex world.”
