Travelink Leverages Biz Travel Success to Grow Leisure Sales
by Harvey Chipkin /Travel agencies can win a generous amount of leisure business from their corporate clients, provided they adopt the right strategies, tools and marketing, according to Linda Raymer, CTIE, president of the vacation division at Travelink.
Travelink, a Nashville-based American Express affiliate, has recently seen a resurgence of its vacation business after a downturn following the economic crisis of 2008.
Among factors fueling growth of vacation sales at the predominantly corporate agency, according to Raymer, are:
• a longtime incentive program for corporate clients
• a high rate of repeat and referral business
• a sales process that includes in-depth qualifying questions
• a focus on creating experience-based vacations.
Flexible incentives program
Travelink is a $159 million business, whose sales volume is 80% corporate, 17% leisure and 3% other, which includes meetings.
The agency has long had a successful incentives program that provides flexible individual rewards in the form of certificates redeemable for travel. Under the program, a corporate client might offer, for example, 10 awards at $5,000 each or two awards at $25,000, depending on its goals.
Raymer said what often happens is that an employee might earn, for example, a $3,500 award and then use the award money to treat themselves to a more expensive trip. The client company gains by giving a valued employee a memorable travel experience, and Travelink reaps the rewards of a bigger-ticket sale.
The gift of travel
Although most of the travel handled by Travelink’s vacation division is non-incentive, the company sells anywhere from $200,000 to $500,000 a month in prepaid certificates, a number that grows every year.
Now Travelink is putting renewed emphasis on its incentives program, targeted to millennials who don’t relate to the idea of staying with one company for their entire careers – or even for a long time. “This is a way for companies to make employees feel this is a great place to work,” said Raymer.
When promoting the “gift of travel” idea to companies looking for employee engagement strategies, Travelink tells clients that “if you give people an experience like travel they will take those memories with them forever.”
Research shows that a travel award is worth far more to a company in the way of employee loyalty and productivity than the actual cost of the certificate, said Raymer.
Caring about employees
Travelink works with its corporate clients to help cultivate employee loyalty in other ways too.
“We often participate in an employee day or a wellness fair where we go onsite and talk to employees about the travel benefits their company offers them and create special vacation offers for those events,” Raymer said.
“Companies want their employees to feel the company cares about them, and that’s a goal we can help them achieve.”
Cultivating loyal customers
According to Raymer, 85% of Travelink’s vacation business comes in through repeat and referral business, including Travelink’s corporate clients.
The approach to sales used by Travelink’s vacation travel advisors has a lot to do with the high loyalty rate, she suggested.
“I always tell my staff, ‘Don’t sell out of a brochure. Your job is to understand how to make this person’s dream for their vacation a reality. You must create a memorable experience for them so they will return and send their friends and family.’”
Today’s travelers derive memorable experiences from experiential travel – and that is especially true for younger people, said Raymer. “It’s all about the story they can tell when they get back home.”
The sales process
Customer consultations at Travelink start with in-depth conversations. “We try to have a conversation with travelers about their goals and do some serious qualifying, going deeper than, ‘What is your favorite airline or hotel chain, and where was your last vacation?’” Raymer said.
The vacation advisor then presents the client with an itinerary outline. “If the customer likes the direction and thinks we have captured their ideas, we charge a trip planning/research fee and then develop a full-blown itinerary.”
Travelink offers clients assistance on “every detail,” from “beginning to end,” Raymer said.
Adding ‘exceptional value’
“We would never suggest a customer simply fly to Barcelona and get on a cruise ship. We recommend pre- and post-stays and offer private shore excursions, activities, restaurant suggestions, transfers, etc.
“It’s about creating an exceptional experience where we are with our customers from touchdown to takeoff and for every aspect of the trip in between.”
The strategy is based in a belief that Travelink “can add exceptional value” to its clients’ travels. “If we are doing a good job of communicating that, we will succeed,” Raymer said.
Marketing basics
Standard marketing tools also help.
Travelink also has success promoting its vacation travel services through direct mail, which is particularly effective for luxury travel, Raymer said.
The vacation division also engages in extensive digital marketing to its database of past and present customers.