For travel advisors who sell ALG Vacations (ALGV), a new era has dawned with the company having consolidated its agency status accumulation for individual brands under the ALGV Elite advisors program this year.

In all, 710 agencies have reached the Elite levels of Sapphire, Emerald, Diamond and Diamond Select. To qualify for Elite status travel agencies are required to achieve a minimum of $400,000 in net sales.

Top Elite Levels

To achieve the top levels, Diamond and Diamond Preferred, travel agencies are required to achieve net starting at $1.6 million.

Previously, top-producing agencies were rewarded based on individual ALGV brand production. The company’s brands include Apple Vacations, Funjet Vacations, Travel Impressions, United Vacations, Blue Sky Tours and Southwest Vacations.

“The new ALGV Elite program has been met with praise by travel agencies who appreciate the change to the overall ALGV rewards program,” said Jim Tedesco, ALGV’s vice president of sales.

“Knowledgeable travel advisors realize the importance of matching individual clients to the specific ALGV brand that best suits their needs and preferences. The ALGV Elite program makes it easier for them to do just that and still reach top account status. With all that our retail partners been through in the past two years, we’re thrilled to reward them for their efforts and resilience,” Tedesco added.

Program Perks

Elite agencies are privy to a robust array of benefits that increase for each level reached. Perks include a preferred desk for bookings, complimentary airline seats, hotel nights or WAVES points redeemable for travel and other rewards; exclusive promo codes; a marketing toolkit to help agencies promote their achievements; and, for Sapphire Select levels and above, an invitation to an ALGV Elite international recognition trip.

Preferred Desk

In the view of Scott Wiseman, ALGV’s senior vice president and general manager, one of the most valuable perks of the new Elite program is access to the preferred desk.

“That’s the big one,” he said, because its focus is on taking care of the Elite advisors, he said.

“If I were an advisor or owner, that would be my first goal. I want to be in a business where I’m important enough to the company that my calls are handled with a preferred desk.”

Going forward, Wiseman is hopeful that 2022 will be a good year for ALGV and its travel advisor partners.

“We’re coming off of a great rebound in 2021 and 2022 is going to be even better than 2021 from a business standpoint,” he said. “I feel confident that next year, knowing what we know now, that it should be a good year for the entire industry.”

ALG Vacations' Ascend Conference

ALG Vacations will reprise its Ascend Conference this year, which will be held at the Cancun Convention Center Oct 20-23.

ALGV Senior Vice President and General Manager Scott Wiseman is so confident of the conference’s value that during last year’s final Best of the Best Travel Impressions conference he pledged to reimburse advisors disappointed in the 2022 Ascend event.

“Last year we took over the Cancun Convention Center and four hotels – that’s how large the conference was,” said Wiseman. “We had just under 500 travel advisors who paid to come.”

“They’re paying to come because we’re giving them something they really need,” he said, noting that sessions included such meaningful subjects as learning how to become an influencer and how to build a business plan, among many others.

The 2021 Ascend Conference also included general sessions, inspirational speakers, approximately 50 workshop and more than 200 vendors and suppliers.

Travel advisors can expect the same – if not more – at this year’s conference.