For many in the travel industry, the hot ticket in Nashville
last week wasn’t to the record-breaking Taylor Swift concerts taking place at
Nissan Stadium. It was to Travel Leaders Network’s annual EDGE conference at
the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center—a sold-out event that
attracted more than 1,700 attendees, including 1,300-plus travel advisors, from
May 8-10.
“This is the second-largest EDGE,” said Roger E. Block, CTC,
president of Travel Leaders Network (TLN). “The first was the 10th anniversary
in Las Vegas [in 2018], and we would have far eclipsed it if we had had the
room.”
The demand for attendance at the gathering of the largest
network of travel agencies in North America reflects the demand for travel.
“2022 turned out to be a very good year,” said Block. “2023 is looking
incredibly strong—especially for leisure.”
In fact, 2023 is projected to be TLN’s highest sales year
ever for cruises and tours. John Lovell, CTC, president of Travel Leaders
Group, predicts cruise sales for the company will be 12 percent above 2019
levels this year, and land sales will be 8 percent or 9 percent above 2019
levels. Corporate travel sales for the company are at approximately 85 to 95
percent of pre-COVID levels. “There is an excitement about the industry because
it is coming back and coming back really strong,” said Lovell.
In addition to record-breaking ocean cruise sales, TLN is
“having a very, very good year on the river side,” said Lovell. Europe is
selling “extremely well,” he added, with Italy, France and Germany seeing the
highest demand. Scandinavia, Egypt and Japan are also top destinations for the company’s
clients. While travel to U.S. destinations remains strong, theme park bookings
are down compared to 2022 but are comparable to 2019.
Overall, said Lovell, “bookings are outpacing 2019, and
there’s no sign of slowing down.”
As travel continues its strong rebound from the
pandemic-induced pause, TLN is driving more business to its 5,700-plus travel
agency locations than ever. Last year, TLN delivered more than 215,000 leads to
its members—a 24 percent increase from the pre-pandemic high of 2019. The leads
represented $324 million in sales with preferred supplier partners and $53
million in commissions earned by members. With 97,000 leads generated in the
first quarter of this year, 2023 is projected to surpass 2022 lead-generation
numbers by 54 percent.
“With the post-pandemic travel boom, the issue has become
not only how do advisors get clients, but how do travelers find the perfect
advisor for their trip? TravelLeaders.com, powered by Agent Profiler, is the
answer that ‘matchmakes’ these two groups for a great solution for both,” said
Stephen McGillivray, CTC, chief marketing officer of Travel Leaders Group.
McGillivray urged travel advisors at the conference to
enhance their profiles on TravelLeaders.com to become “Super Agents.” To
achieve the Super Agent designation, advisors must have complete profiles in
Agent Profiler, including client reviews and a certain level of expertise. The
Super Agent designation brings users to the top of consumer searches on
TravelLeaders.com. Advisors can now add logos for certifications to their
profiles and display itineraries of trips they’ve designed.
Stephen McGillivray, chief marketing officer of Travel Leaders Group, with a Dolly Parton impersonator at the EDGE conference in Nashville. (Photo Credit: Sara Perez Webber)
Travel Leaders is also raising the profile of advisors in
communications with consumers. When the company’s marketing arm adds travel
advisors’ photos to consumer emails, there’s a 40 percent click-through rate.
The tactic has been so successful that advisor photos will be added to direct
mail in the third quarter.
McGillivray also announced the launch of Social Share Pro, a
complimentary subscription-based tool that creates scheduled content for
advisors’ social media channels—including Facebook and Instagram posts, stories
and reels. “There’s no doubt social media channels are essential,” said
McGillivray. “We want you to look great in front of your customers.”
Advisors at EDGE also learned about Cruise Complete, Travel
Leaders’ new cruise booking engine that will launch in June. Replacing Cruise
Pro, the new web-based platform, “dramatically streamlines your process and
saves you time,” said Cory Voss, vice president, product and solutions delivery
for Travel Leaders Group.
Cruise Complete is a one-stop shop, offering real-time
pricing and availability for 22 major ocean and river cruise lines. Features
include the ability to compare up to four sailings on one screen; to work
multiple itineraries for different clients simultaneously; and to book up to
four cabins on the same sailing at the same time, even if each cabin has a
different passenger count, type of passenger, rate and category.
Dave Hershberger, president of Cincinnati-based Prestige
Travel Leaders—who has attended every EDGE conference—sings the praises of the
benefits his agency receives from being a part of Travel Leaders. The biggest,
he says, is Agent Profiler. “We are getting unbelievable leads off of
that—qualified, closable leads,” said Hershberger, who also names commission
opportunities, relationships with vendors and technology as prime perks
provided by Travel Leaders. “We’re able to provide full-blown corporate
technology to our customers and not pay the full price as if we were doing it
on our own. The cost savings is tremendous.”
Hershberger expects Prestige Travel to hit $25 million in
sales this year, with a business mix that’s about 65 percent corporate. “We’re
probably about 30 percent ahead of 2019 on corporate bookings, which is
shocking to me,” he said. “It’s booming—though not as much as vacation is
booming right now. Vacation is insane. I’ve been in the business 40 years, and
I’ve never seen this type of environment on the vacation side.”
Also on an upward trajectory are the number of agencies
under the Travel Leaders umbrella. “Last year we had one of our best years for
growth, in terms of not just numbers of members but preferred suppliers, and
the trend is continuing,” said Block. “So far this year, just in the U.S.,
we’ve signed up 87 new affiliate members in the first quarter and two new
franchise associates.”
While finding employees is the biggest challenge agencies
have right now, says Block, the educational opportunities offered by Travel
Leaders are helping to shape the next generation of travel advisors. “What’s
really encouraging is when you look at our hosts and how many new folks they are bringing in, it’s by the thousands every
month,” said Block. “There’s such a thirst and a need for the type of training
we provide.”
The EDGE conference offered 200 educational workshops. (Photo Credit: Travel Leaders Network)
Travel Leaders’ educational programs range from entry-level
training—learning how to qualify a customer, for example—to certification
programs that can take nine months to a year to complete. More than 1,300
travel advisors are currently enrolled in Travel Leaders’ New Advisor – Leisure
Learning Path training.
The EDGE conference offered 200 educational workshops, many
of them sold out. Attendees also heard from suppliers in the general
sessions—many of whom received Power of Partnership (POP) awards from TLN.
Advisors could meet with suppliers during the trade show and attend
supplier-sponsored workshops. “We have the right suppliers here,” said Lovell.
“Everyone wants to be here.”
Suppliers are eager to work with Travel Leaders because of
its reach, notes Lovell. “We probably represent anywhere from 35 to 40 percent
of the distribution channel,” he said. “We give them the ability to touch the
biggest organization but also the organization that sells the most in any
particular category.”
Travel Leaders’ members include corporate as well as leisure
agencies, “which is one of the things that makes us different from all of our
competitors,” said Block.
In addition, noted Block, the company’s average transaction
price has increased over time as it has added more training, more programs and
more alliances—communities of top-performing members focused on specific
niches. They include the Independent Advisor Networks Leaders Alliance, the
Honeymoon & Destination Wedding Leaders Alliance, the Luxury Leaders
Alliance and the newly launched Technology Leaders Alliance. The Technology
Alliance, available only to owner and manager-level members, acts as a platform
for sharing and learning about tools that exist outside of TLN—from the use of
AI to pay reconciliation for corporate agencies.
To be a member of the Luxury Leaders Alliance, which now
includes 275 members, advisors must be in the top 1 percent of all luxury
sellers in TLN. “A lot of people consider us nothing but mass-market retailers;
it’s anything but that,” said Block. “TLN is one of the very top luxury
sellers, period.”
As Travel Leaders continues to recruit new members, Lovell
says its biggest selling point is value. “If you’re an agency of 10 people, I’d
say that you’re really an agency of well over 120 people, because each one of
our employees is really working on your behalf, be it marketing, training,
education, technology,” he said. “We give them the ability to drive leads into
their business, to grow their business, to market to their existing clients, to
make the phones ring. Ultimately, we’re bringing great technology tools to make
their lives a little bit simpler.”
And Lovell believes business next year will be even
stronger. “We have more capacity coming on in terms of the cruise industry,” he
said. “More resorts are being built, so we will have more capacity there. I
project a very strong ’24. And if you look at our advance bookings, they’re
really showing that as well.”
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe
to the daily TravelPulse
newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
