Marketing Milestone Travel

by Harvey Chipkin April 29, 2015

This is the second of two stories on “milestone” travel

Many travel agents consider “milestone” travel a key part of their business. In fact, some agencies even have “milestone” in their name or slogan.

Agents and tour operators shared their thoughts on marketing milestone travel with Travel Market Report.

“We started the agency five years ago and called it Conger Cruise and Travel but we changed it when we realized how
frequently people traveled to mark special days in their lives,” said Susie Conger of her agency, Milestone Getaways in Boise, Idaho

“I looked at the way my husband and I travel,” Conger said. “It’s always on birthdays and anniversaries and I think that has an affect on your relationships and happiness.

“Our goal with clients is to start them [clients] with honeymoons and take them through babymoons, tenth anniversaries and golden anniversaries.”

Close relationships
Marketing milestone travel is mainly related to building close relationships with clients, according to Conger.

“We automatically have their birthdays because that’s required for ticketing and so forth,” said Conger of her clients. “But mostly it’s about building relationships which allows us to get to know other milestone days.

“It all goes into our management system,” she added. “The fiftieth anniversary is a big one and a lot of people celebrate more advanced birthdays like grandma turning 80 and everyone wants to celebrate.

“One of my clients is turning 70 and wants to take two children and five grandchildren to Disney for three days. That kind of trip is a significant part of our business.”

Conger’s agency has a program under which it sends out greeting cards for clients’ special days.

“I may send an anniversary card two months ahead of time so they can plan a trip,” said Conger. “For a birthday, we might send a card to the husband reminding him that his wife’s birthday is coming up.

“If we have a chat with a client and find out about an upcoming milestone, we might send them a postcard with a nice beach photo and write in our own handwriting, ‘Super awesome to talk to you today. When you dream about this beach call me,’” she added.

“Randomness and quirkiness are what I look for.”

Not set in stone
Susan Schaefer, owner of Nashville-based Ships ‘N’ Tips Travel, doesn’t “really market milestones as such,” she said. But learning about special events in their lives is part of building her relationships.

That can also lead to some unexpected milestones.

“Sometimes it’s surprising, like the anniversary of when they finished their chemotherapy,” Schaefer said. “As you’re building a relationship with a client you get to know the kids’ birthdays or when a graduation is coming. I might say, ‘Hey, it’s your last year of your 40’s; a trip might be the best thing.’

“I don’t focus on any milestones that are carved in stone.”

Calendar of events
Tour operators have their own advice for marketing milestones.

“We recognize that travel professionals manage many aspects of their businesses and have many details to handle,” said Dan
Sullivan, president and CEO of Collette. “We always recommend keeping a calendar of important dates such as birthdays and anniversaries for their long-term clients.

“Reaching out to clients about important anniversaries and milestone shows that the travel professional is dedicated to providing personal service,” he added.

Think also about the reasons someone would travel, said Sullivan.

“Did a client just send their last child off to college? Did they finally retire? Has it been an exceptionally rough winter where the client lives?,” he said. “All of these may just give someone the reminder they need to book that trip.”

Collette encourages agents to use sale and offer code opportunities as a way to reach out via email or their social media channels with specific messaging surrounding a milestone event.

Tech tools
At Abercrombie & Kent, spokesperson Jean Fawcett recommended that agents use client database software, “which is particularly good at noting the ‘zero birthdays’” [like 30, 40, 50, etc.]

Fawcett said one agent planned a big birthday celebration by taking her family to South Africa.

“It turned into much more when one of her daughters and son-in-law surprised her with a renewal of their wedding vows and another was proposed to by her significant other.”