Travel Agents Go Back To School At Delta Vacations University

Delta Vacations University welcomed 2,000 attendees last week in Atlanta, GA.

It was a record-setting conference in Delta’s hometown last week, as Delta Vacations University welcomed 2,000 attendees, half of them first-timers, to its first-ever session held in Atlanta, and its first sold-out show ever.

Eight out of 10 Delta Vacations sales comes through travel agents, noted president John Caldwell, and travel professionals played a key role in the company’s 10% growth this year over last. In return, working with Delta Air Lines’ tour arm offers travel professionals the advantage of a one-stop-shop for air and land.

“Our BDMs go in with Delta’s BDMs on common accounts, so you get the two-for-one of working with us so we can move the business together,” Caldwell said. “You get both our support and Delta’s support, so if there is a hurricane or an earthquake, we work closely together with Delta’s operations team to get your customers in and out of the market. We think agencies really feel and appreciate that additional support.”

Delta Vacations has seen particular growth among Millennials, who make up “the majority of our customers, and we are focused on them,” said senior VP of marketing Tina Iglio. For that segment, the company is offering more experiential travel, more wine-tasting tours and more excursions. In Paris, for example, “we have walking tours and smaller groups that allow travelers to get out into the local neighborhoods. And we have found that Millennials really do actually like staying in hotels—our customers want that ‘portable luxury,’ those boutique properties. And of course we have tips and tricks for travel agents to share with those customers.”

Also seeing growth is multigenerational travel, a market for which Delta Vacations offers a Flexible Groups program that accommodates group members coming from different cities. Especially popular are destinations like Costa Rica, which offer “soft adventure” for active families as well as high-end spas in which to relax, Iglio said.

As far as hot destinations, the edges of Europe are in vogue, said Elizabeth Moriarty, VP of product development. Ireland is seeing “tremendous growth,” along with Majorca, Seville, and Toledo.

Closer to home, Cuba is on the horizon, with Delta Air Lines beginning service to Havana on Dec. 1 from JFK, Atlanta and Miami. “We’ll be having vacation available by December; we’re just finalizing the details,” Moriarty said, though Iglio added that “getting rooms in Cuba is a challenge, and the level of service if different.”

Another big focus for Delta Vacation is the Romance category, including destination weddings and honeymoons, Moriarty said. New for this year are honeymoons in Europe; there are now five—Rome, Paris, Florence, London and Venice—and by year’s end the Amalfi Coast and Amsterdam will be added.

Meanwhile, keynote speaker Walter Bond challenged the audience to study for their jobs just as he studied for his in the NBA: by researching the best of the best in the industry and learning the keys to their success. “To learn what it takes to be a star in the travel industry,” he said, “study the superstars. Who has multiple locations? Who owns the cruise industry? Who owns the market in Jamaica?”

And to be the best, you need to look and act the part, Bond said. “Does you website look great? Does it make you look like a professional? If we had a tailgate party at your agency, would the crowd be saying you are amazing? Or would they say you suck?” (Self-serving editor’s note: TMR’s SuperAgent series offers up stories of top agents and how they got to where they are today.)

Getting back to business, Iglio noted that Delta Vacations customers get bonus SkyMiles on top of their regular airline miles—an extra benefit travel agents can offer clients, along with the All-Inclusive Plus program that offers all-inclusive hotels plus extra a la carte restaurants and room amenities, so the agent “has something special to offer.” And Delta Vacations’ redesigned online hub offers marketing materials “you can take off the shelf and just slap on your logo,” plus content, brochures and videos to help you sell.

For independent agents, Delta Vacations has a dedicated sales team working with home-based agents and consortia, and “dedicated staff to coordinate with them regarding incentive programs, promotions, whatever they need. We’re seeing double and triple-digit growth in that segment, because we’re spending time with them,” Caldwell said.

So does Caldwell think travel agents are back?

“I’ve been calling on travel agents for 30 years—and believe me, they never went anywhere,” he said. “Travel agents have learned how to provide value—and we’re here to help them close sales and grow their business.”