TRAVELMANAGERS is gearing up its business to ensure its personal travel managers are “working smarter” – the theme for the company’s annual conference taking place this week.
Executive General Manager Michael Gazal, speaking to travelBulletin on the sidelines of the conference yesterday, explained how the business practices of TravelManagers’ PTMs has changed since the pandemic.
“Advisors that survived the pandemic became a lot more focused on what don’t I want in my business anymore, what fees do I want to be charging to value on myself, what market do I want to chase?
“I think {PTMs] have become a lot more selective, “these are the clients I know I want to deal with, I want to attract a good quality client into my business.”
TravelManagers’ Business Partnership Managers are helping PTMs in identifying their niche to base their business on, House of Travel Chief Executive Officer Joe Araullo added.
“BPMs, they’re the ones actually helping PTMs find their niches,” he told tB.
“We’ve always said, sell everything, but just find a niche and build a business around your niche,” he added.
TravelManagers’ new Flowjo tech will be key to helping PTMs work smarter, the two emphasised, with Gazal saying it will be a “game-changer”.
The company is aiming for a 12-month roll-out for Flowjo, with up to 50% of TravelManagers’ network hoped to have adopted the tech by this time next year.
“They’re going to have a better work-life balance, and they can choose to either work more, make more, or they can choose to have more time out and feel less stressed,” Gazal enthused
Other goals for this year to help PTMs work smarter include an emphasis on education, particularly the CATO Touring Academy.
Gazal said TravelManagers had witnessed a notably positive outcome in its PTMs who have become CLIA Masters.
“We do want to get as many people [on the Touring Academy] that have gone through CLIA, because we’ve seen the results of our cruise-educated guys that have gone all the way to Masters, and what that’s meant in terms of their return on their business,” Gazal enthused.
TravelManagers’ working smarter approach also extends to its wider supplier partner family, as the company attempts to streamline its events.
“We’re trying to make our gatherings a combination of work content, some learning, but we’re trying to combine it with as much social, because the more PTMs collaborate, the greater the relationship will be.
MEANWHILE, TravelManagers is also rolling out Fastbook, its own in-house cruise wholesaler, House of Travel General Manager Cruise, Jeff Leckey, has told tB.
Fastbook represents TravelManagers’ expanding cruise offering, underpinned by technology, with 32 live APIs hosted on the platform.
The new wholesaler features live 24/7 availability, and is also integrated with Tramada, meaning a seamless back office experience for TravelManagers’ personal travel managers.
Fastbook was tested with a pilot group of travel advisors in June, and it has since been rolled out to the wider network, with all PTMs now able to access the software.
Leckey said the uptake of Fastbook has far exceeded in-house expectations.
“As a group, we love technology, so finding a way to work smarter with tech is always a good thing for us,” he said.
“We were able to reduce the amount of clicks required to get from availability to booking – that sort of stuff, the PTMs have told us is important.”
Fastbook is now in the hands of TravelManagers Cruise Product Manager, Lia Malone, who has completed state-by-state training of the system, and will help PTMs with its implementation.
“[We have] our own wholesale cruise operation our own PTMs are using, that’s all recognised as TravelManagers volume, as opposed to buying it over the market,” Leckey added.
