Closing the Sale: Offline Still Wins Out Over Online

Consumers may begin shopping for travel online but increasingly they wind up booking their trips through travel agents.

That was a key point that emerged during the keynote address and a wide-ranging panel discussion at the New York Times Travel Show last week. Both focused on The Future of Travel Distribution and Travel Marketing.

Steve McGillivray, chief marketing officer of Travel Leaders Group, said agents will thrive if they can explain their “differentiators” to consumers. “Shopping may start online but it closes with traditional travel agents.”

“The three big OTAs are in a race to the bottom on price,” he added.“I say let that happen.”

‘Digital omnivores’
Yana Gutierrez, vice president of strategic partnerships for American Express Travel, said consumers have become “digital omnivores.”

“Travel has been redefined by the accessibility of so much information,” she said.

Gutierrez said agents need to get comfortable with the current “intersection of the physical and the digital.”

Big Data
Agents also need to be aware of Big Data and its implications for travel, the speakers said.

“Big Data can help you [agents] reinvent your role,” as it provides insights into “what travelers consume,” according to Gutierrez.

McGillivray suggested that agents can – and should – harness the power of Big Data to serve their customers. “Big Data is behind the right offer at the right time to the right customer.”

He recommended agents affiliate with a network or consortium that can aggregate data on clients’ preferences and booking habits. Once they’ve made those connections, agents should make sure to give their client base the information they need.

Using social media
Laura Fink, American Express Travel’s vice president of global marketing, urged agents to “unlock the advocacy of customers” by seeking clients’ recommendations through social media.

The first step for agents, however, is to build their own social media presence, she said.

“Get out and experiment if you don’t know what to do,” said Fink. “The flexibility of digital [social media] is an advantage. It’s not a question of using one or the other [platforms] and it’s all free.”

McGillivray recommended agents capture all their clients’ email addresses from Facebook or Twitter. Agents should also have separate personal and business Facebook pages, he added.

But McGillivray warned against devoting too much time to collecting those email addresses. “Time is money,” he said, and can be better spent in other ways if the effort isn’t paying off.

Raising awareness
Considering the travel agency industry as a whole, the speakers said boosting the public’s awareness of agents is a perennial need.

ASTA is working on that challenge with a variety of initiatives, including its upcoming PBS segments on the value of agents and its TravelSense consumer site, said president Zane Kerby.

ASTA’s recent study on the Value of Travel Agents turned up an “enormous opportunity” for agents, added Kerby.

The study found that only 13% of travelers used a traditional travel agent in the past year – about one in 10 Americans – up from 11% percent a few years ago.

However, 41% of leisure travelers who did not use an agent in the past year, said they would be open to using one in the future, Kerby said.

ASTA’s role
McGillivray acknowledged ASTA’s role in promoting the value of agents, saying that Travel Leaders Group, which represents 6,000 agencies, “still looks to ASTA to promote awareness of agents.”

But there’s still a ways to go.

“I hate when the consumer media keeps asking me the same old questions from the ’90s [on the relevance of agents],” McGillivray said. “We have survived, and we are thriving.”