One On One: Vacation.com President John Lovell
by James Shillinglaw /“I personally think the distribution channel is in a very good place.”
Vacation.com held its 18th annual conference and trade show last week at the Diplomat Hotel & Resort in Fort Lauderdale. The event attracted three top cruise executives as keynote speakers—Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd.’s Richard Fain, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ Frank Del Rio, and Carnival Corp.’s Arnold Donald. Vacation.com also used the conference to unveil enhancements to its Agent Snapshot travel agent profiles on its website, introduced a new AgentMate travel agency operating system, and debuted PinSIGHT, a new hotel booking system. We sat down with John Lovell, president of Vacation.com, to get his views on the industry.
TMR: What’s your view overall of the health of the travel-agency distribution channel?
JL: I think it’s really healthy. Obviously the model is changing. More and more independent business owners are starting up. That’s just a change in the way travel is being sold. But I personally think the distribution channel is in a very good place.
TMR: What are the industry segments—cruise, hotels, tours, airlines, etc.—that continue to produce the most revenue and profits for travel agents today?
JL: I think it’s across all segments. Cruises still remain very strong. Wholesale packages and tours remain strong. Hotels are very strong as well, and insurance is also a key component. If you are working with the right host agency or agency group, you also can make good money selling airlines. So there’s profit to be made everywhere. Nobody has announced commission cuts. In fact it’s quite the opposite. More and more money is coming into the distribution channel.
TMR: How are sales this year overall for your group and looking into the future?
JL: For 2016, “moderately good” is what I’m saying. We are going to be up year over year on all of our travel verticals—cruise, tour, insurance, etc. And 2017 looks a lot stronger than 2016. So I’m optimistic about the future, and today it’s really not the doom and gloom that some people are describing. It’s moderately good. Yes, we have challenges in certain markets, but overall it’s a good year.
TMR: How is Europe selling for your members this year?
JL: We’re in line with every major supplier that has a core focus on Europe. We continue to push it, but Europe is a struggle right now.
TMR: How are your top travel-agency members succeeding in today’s travel market? What are the keys to their success?
JL: I think it really comes down to embracing the programs, services, and products that we offer. They also need to invest in the technology that we have to make them more efficient and take advantage of all of our marketing programs. Those are some of the key differentiators. But ultimately it comes down to the commitment, focus, and passion that each of them have for this business.