Travel Leaders Group has unveiled "Vacation," a new interactive consumer site where travelers can research information on specific kinds of travel and-when they are ready to receive personalized advice-be matched with an appropriate Travel Leaders agent.
John Lovell, president of Travel Leaders Network, Leisure Group and Hotel Division, called the site both "a groundbreaking development and an industry first."
The announcement was made during the 2017 Travel Leaders Network International Conference, held at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando. The event is the inaugural conference for the new Travel Leaders Network which represents the recent merger of Travel Leaders Associates, Vacation.com and Results! Travel into one organization. Travel Leaders Group itself includes Travel Leaders Network along with several other brands including Tzell Travel, Protravel International, and Nexion.
Following the creation of the Travel Leaders Network-which included Vacation.com-the Vacation.com URL became dormant, Lovell explained. But the name was too valuable an asset to lose; the combined new network made the rebirth of Vacation possible, he added.
"When we pulled the organizations together we had the size to leverage the URL," Lovell said.
The new "Vacation" site, a total rebranding of the former site, represents a six figure investment, said Lovell. "It will change the face of how travel is sold, researched and consumed."
The site will be based on the use of Perpetual Demand Generation) (PDG-the first use for the travel industry but not a functionality or name coined by Travel Leaders Group. PDG is about being "on" throughout a traveler's 24/7 search for solid information, according to Ninan Chacko, Travel Leaders Group CEO.
The PDG concept is to provide travelers with personalized engagement targeted specifically to the individual throughout his or her online search versus a mass-market approach. The original content on Vacation will come exclusively from Travel Leaders and will include articles, blogs, videos, podcasts, interactive podcasts, and online quizzes.
The goal will ultimately be to connect consumers with a Travel Leaders Group agent. It will also be to create a site that is a powerful brand known simply by its name, without the .com, like Amazon or Match.
Travel Leaders Network agents currently can take advantage of the organization's Agent Profiler lead generation tool which showcases agents' bios and matches them with prospective clients. The new Vacation site, however, will provide a deeper dive into a prospective client's information, far beyond that consumer's basic information and their contacts.
"The magic is the way we are moving things through the sales funnel," said Stephen McGillivray, Travel Leaders Group's Chief Marketing Officer. "We will capture people who may not even know agents exist, but the transactor of the sale will be our agents-we will never break that promise."
Brian Hegarty, Travel Leaders Group Vice President of Marketing, pointed out that with Travel Leaders Network's Agent Profiler lead generation tool, "agents get the leads and then it's up to them from there. With this [the Vacation site], we provide more support and structure so they can sell better."
The new Vacation site will debut May 11. When it launches, it will be fully populated with content on several areas of travel.
However, the initial focus-using PDG --will be on Honeymoons and Destination Weddings. That choice was a natural given the popularity of the niche and the fact that 1,900 agents Travel Leaders Network agents specialize in honeymoons and another 1,250 specialize in destination weddings.
Agents selected to participate in Vacation will be matched with consumer prospects base on their expertise, location, availability, and performance.
Travel Leaders won't charge agents to participate, nor will they have to pay a per-lead fee.
However, Travel Leaders will share in any revenue on the back end that agents receive from bookings.
The plan is to eventually include agents, not only from the Travel Leaders Network agents but also those from the Travel Leaders Group other brands.
Eventually, the site will encompass other travel areas with river cruises as the leading candidate for the next area.
Travel Leaders Network represents 7,000 member agencies in the U.S. and Canada and some 35,000 travel agents responsible for $17 billion in annual sales.
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