PHOTO: John Lovell, CTC, Vacation.com’s president. (Courtesy of Vacation.com)

Vacation.com has long prided itself on the portfolio of best-in-class products and services that it provides its agency members. This year, however, the company has broken new ground on that front with the April launch of an enhanced version of its consumer website, the centerpiece of which is Agent Snapshot profiles.

Agent Snapshot, an online referral tool that connects offline agents to online consumers, features individual profiles of Vacation.com agents, including their photos, backgrounds, destinations, specialties, preferred supplier partners, geographical locations and contact information.

“Agent Snapshot is by far the biggest announcement we’ve made in years and it’s been very, very well received,” says John Lovell, CTC, Vacation.com’s president. At presstime, 4,300 Vacation.com-member agents had signed on to participate in Snapshot and 1,100 have published Snapshot profiles on the Vacation.com website.

“This is a big moment for us,” says Lovell. “The asset that we’re going to grow is our greatest asset, and that’s our members.” Agent Snapshot is designed to help solve what Lovell contends is one of the biggest challenges that today’s leisure distribution channel faces: connecting the online consumer with an offline expert.

“All the studies that have recently been published in the last nine to 12 months have talked about the renaissance of the travel distribution channel,” he says. “The consumer is looking for somebody that can really give them that professional guidance that they need and want — but there’s very few people that are connecting those two.”

An important element of Agent Snapshot is its ratings and review feature, which provides consumers with the ability to evaluate an agent’s performance. “Seventy percent of online consumers will not buy the product unless there is a consumer testimonial or review online — and in this case the product is you,” Tiffany Glass, chief operating officer of Travel Leaders Leisure Group and Vacation.com, told members at the company’s 17th Annual International Trade Show & Conference. “Everyone that participates in Agent Snapshot has a unique rating and reviews site.”

In particular, reviews are critically important to the increasingly lucrative millennial market, notes Lovell. “They really buy based on reviews.” Vacation.com has made it easy for agents to compile customer reviews through template emails that they can send to their clients. “The real goal is capturing the review of a customer that has already used the services of that travel agent,” said Glass.

Agent Snapshot profiles run the gamut in terms of areas of specialization, and include luxury travel, river cruises, honeymoon and destination weddings and Disney vacations. Some agents have honed down specialties even further, and are promoting their work with special needs clients, specific affinity groups and fundraising. “The more differentiation each agent provides in their snapshot the more probable a consumer match,” says Lovell.

The enhanced Vacation.com website now includes a sub-domain blog featuring value-added travel content ranging from debunking myths about using an agent, to destination articles and travel tips.

Vacation.com is unveiling a consumer campaign that will promote Agent Snapshot and the enhanced website. It also targeting consumers through search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO) and geo-targeting.

“Ever since the inception of Vacation.com, our leadership has continually sought to unlock the full potential of the best URL in the leisure travel space,” says Lovell. “With the formal addition of Agent Snapshot, we’ve finally reached the right conclusion with the best solution — and our members thrilled.”

A Group Guarantee
Vacation.com also unveiled a new guarantee for Distinctive Voyages, its hosted group program. When agents fall short of filling the cabin quotas for groups and are unable to obtain the tour conductor stateroom, Vacation.com’s preferred cruise will nonetheless host a cocktail party and exclusive shore excursion. “It’s important that when we make agents a promise we keep it, and it’s equally important when agents make a promise to their customers they keep it,” said Stephen McGillivray, CTC, chief marketing officer for Travel Leaders Group. “And the promise is Distinctive Voyages hosts cocktail parties and exclusive shore excursions.”

Cruise lines offering the guarantee include Cunard, Azamara, Silversea, Celebrity, Seabourn, Holland America, Crystal and Regent Seven Seas. “Starting May 1 this is a guarantee, so if we don’t have a host on board, they’re going to help us distribute packets, help organize cocktails parties and help get your clients on the bus for exclusive shore excursions.”

To help agents further capitalize on the ever-growing honeymoon and destination market, Vacation.com will debut Destination Bliss, an annual guide on the subject, in November. Agents will be able to distribute it to individual clients as well as at honeymoon and destination wedding shows.

On Cue’s Automated Messaging
Another new program, On Cue, serves as an enhancement of sorts for travel agents participating in Vacation.com’s Engagement Select marketing program, enabling them to send out automated and specialized greetings and reminder emails generated from ClientBase throughout the year.

Emails are customized with the agency logo, address and email address, and provide agents with personalized ways in which to recognize clients’ birthdays and anniversaries, and thank them for referrals, welcome them to the agency and remind them of passport expirations, among other things.

“On Cue is extremely appealing to our members because we take care of the creative development and email distribution on their behalf,” said McGillivray, announcing the program. “We know that communications based on actions or milestones receive the greatest response in terms of openings and actions generated.”

Additionally, Vacation.com unveiled its first-ever charitable outreach program, Vacation.com Family Bounds Foundation, which will provide financial grants and other support to member agents, their families and communities in times of need.

“This is really for the people in our organization and the wider communities in which they live,” says Lovell. “There’s nothing more important to us than the people that we work with and represent each day.”

Fundraiser For Foundation
To help jumpstart the foundation financially, Crystal Cruises donated a seven-day cruise from Rome to Venice on Aug. 30, which was raffled off during Vacation.com’s 17th annual International Trade Show & Conference aboard Quantum of the Seas this spring.

Other suppliers, including Celebrity, Viking River Cruises, Travel Insured International and Delta, have made similar types of donations. “As we start moving down this path over the next couple months, we’ll be able to re-engage the membership on a wider scale and they raise some good money as well,” says Lovell.

Robert Brill, senior vice president/general counsel at Travel Leaders Group, formed a board for the foundation, which includes Scott Nisbet, CEO of Globus Family of Brands; Gary Davis, co-president of Acendas; Dondra Ritzenthaler, senior vice president of sales and trade support and services at Celebrity Cruises; and Michele Saegesser, vice president of sales for Viking River Cruises. The board will award grants twice annually, in April and October. Lovell notes, however, that the foundation would be flexible if funds are needed at other times of the year. “Where there’s immediate need, we’ll look at that,” Lovell said.