What's New with Consortia

Back in the day, many agents joined consortia primarily to ensure their share of lucrative override commissions. But over the years, consortia have grown and evolved to become increasingly sophisticated, offering ever more elaborate portfolios of preferred suppliers, along with sophisticated booking tools and marketing programs.

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Additionally, consortia hotel programs provide agents with considerable competitive edges in pricing and value-added amenities. Consortia of today also arm their member agents with a host of training and networking programs.

Following is a roundup of what’s new with consortia this year.

Cruiseexpress, the cruise booking engine for Travelsavers and Network of Entrepreneurs Selling Travel (NEST) members, underwent a significant revamp to make it more comprehensive. Travelsavers, NEST and The Affluent Collection are owned by American Marketing Group. The new version updates users on ways cruiseexpress can help them boost their profitability. The site features an interactive training tutorial, training schedule and a listing of VIP Program sales and exclusive offers.

It also provides information on the consortium’s PLUS program, which enables agents to earn additional commission, and the B2C program, which lets them add cruiseexpress to their existing websites.

A new app for Affluent Traveler consumers provides an in-depth look at some of the world’s finest spa resorts, featuring videos and slideshows, information on spa treatments, amenities and things to do at each property. It directs users to Affluent Traveler Collection agents.

Ensemble Travel Group unveiled a new hotel booking platform featuring rich content, intuitive search functionality and a robust inventory of hotels and resorts featuring competitive rates. Powered by Hotelzon, a Travelport company, it displays the Ensemble Hotel & Resort Collection and preferred rates provided by the Radius Travel Global Hotel Program, Ensemble’s preferred corporate hotel program.

The consortium also fully rebuilt its consumer website, www.ensembletravel.com, which now features search engine optimization and a greater call-to-action for travelers to connect with Ensemble-member travel agents. On the membership front, Ensemble has expanded its reach from beyond the U.S. and Canada to the Australia/New Zealand market.

Air By Ensemble, the cooperative’s air program, added Delta, Air France, KLM, Alitalia and Cathay Pacific Airways as preferred suppliers, bringing its total of air partners in the program to 30 late last year.

Ensemble will feature Emmy award-winning TV host Anthony Bourdain as the keynote speaker at its annual conference at the Omni Orlando Resort at Champions-Gate, Oct. 25-29. The annual Ensemble Executive Retreat for U.S. owners and managers will be held May 28-31 at The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Over the past 12 months, MAST Travel Network, the Midwest agency consortium and marketing group, experienced sales growth of more than 16 percent across its slate of preferred suppliers, said John Werner, MAST president and COO. Membership grew by 20 percent, with member and supplier participation in MAST’s marketing programs growing by 20 percent. And, the consortium recorded the highest attendance levels in its history at its meetings and events throughout the year.

Last fall alone, events included MAST’s annual All Star trip for its top-producing and most-improved member agencies aboard Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas; and the MAST Sales Sensation at the Drury Lane Theatre and Conference Center in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., which drew more than 530 attendees, including 98 exhibiting companies. In other developments, MAST created a training program to support its members who use ClientBase, hiring a full-time employee to undertake that training. MAST has also begun developing a new social media strategy and travel professional training curriculum to support members who hire new travel professionals but don’t have the time to train them.

Last May, Results! Travel launched Accredited Leisure Travel Professional, an educational initiative designed to enhance the professionalism of its franchisees and their agents. Participants have up to two years to complete the course work to earn the Accredited Leisure Travel Professional designation. Each participant must complete work in the categories of travel sales and service skills, supplier knowledge, cruise sales, destination knowledge and lifestyle knowledge.

Franchisees and their agents who have completed select pre-approved training programs within the past five years are eligible to receive credit that can be applied toward reaching the minimum threshold of credits for the certificati on program.

Results! also enhanced its suite of business travel management tools, called CTM Solutions, with the launch of the Individualized Business Travel Consultation. This is a consultative service that is designed to help franchisees focused on business travel capture more business.

Signature Travel Network redesigned SigNet, its proprietary Intranet site, to make it easier for frontline travel advisors to use the system, and give users the ability to customize the site to suit the individual needs of its consultants. It also selected AXUS Travel App as its partner to jointly develop a new proprietary itinerary management app designed to streamline communications between consultant and client as itineraries are created, developed and finalized.

Signature was once again first to the market with its 2015 hotel and resort program. This year’s edition includes 870 hotels, resorts, lodges and unique places to stay worldwide, as well as enhanced value-added benefits for clients. The travel network launched a new hotel and resort microsite,with more than 20,000 pages of hotel content that can be customized for members.

The consortium added a membership engagement department to continue to build relationships with each member. One of the department’s key responsibilities is to communicate Signature’s sales and marketing opportunities to members.

One of the most notable recent developments for Travel Leaders was arguably the launch of the latest iteration of Agent Profiler, Agent Profiler 2.0, a lead-generation tool that, among other things, enables agents to create multiple profiles for each of their areas of specialization. In February, Travel Leaders unveiled Agent Profiler 2.0 to consumers through its revamped website, Travelleaders.com.

In other developments, Travel Leaders also recently debuted Photo Gallery, a travel image library created with thousands of travel photos from its travel agents. It was designed to enhance member agencies’ marketing and social outreach efforts without being encumbered by liability issues that come with the use of stock photos.

Travel Leaders unveiled a newly redesigned version of POSTCARDS magazine for agents’ clients, whose content is designed to help members boost sales.

The Travel Leaders Luxury Travel Center of Excellence launched a Luxury Travel Certification Specialist Program to assist its agents with the necessary skill sets required to boost greater shares of the lucrative luxury market.

Vacation.com rebranded with the new tagline — “Belong. Inspire. Grow.” — which also included a redesigned member recruitment website, joinvacation.com, and new brand logos. The consortium also launched Vacation.com Young Professionals, a new networking group for professionals under 40. Its mission is to provide younger travel agents with the opportunity to develop professionally through networking, mentoring and collaboration, and Vacation.com events and webinars.

Vacation.com continues to invest in its web-based CruisePRO booking tool, and has added enhancements such as a past-passenger lookup feature, an automatic display of upgrade offers and new search capabilities for exclusive Vacation.com special offers.

It continues to make progress on its Agent Snapshot online booking tool, which will enable agents to introduce themselves and their travel experiences to consumers on the revamped www.vacation.com consumer website. Agent Snapshot is expected to roll out during Vacation.com’s Annual International Conference and Tradeshow aboard Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas, April 24 to May 2. On the marketing front, Vacation.com’s Engagement program will offer agents 258 direct-mail and email promotions in this year.

Virtuoso introduced its latest technology brainchild, Virtuoso Incubator, designed to develop new technology tools through outside vendors and companies, with the understanding that no one single solution serves its entire membership roster. Start-up technology companies must apply for the program and be approved by Virtuoso’s Technology Committee, which tests the technology solutions submitted and provides feedback.

In February, Merrill Lynch entered into a relationship with Virtuoso to provide its retirement clients with access to Virtuoso travel advisors. Last year, Virtuoso developed a new lead-generation program using travel advisors who have profiles on Virtuoso.com. It is supported by several lead-generation supplier and destination partners working under three different lead-generation programs: Core, Specialist and Membership. The consortium also developed a formal program around its Return on Life concept, which seeks to provide agents with a structured process and tool set to help meet their clients’ travel needs throughout multiyear periods.