TPI Bets on Partnerships, Not In-House Tech, to Support Advisors

On Monday, Travel Planners International (TPI) announced a new partnership with TravelJoy, the CRM and itinerary builder that has carved out a loyal following in the travel industry.

The partnership gives TPI’s more than 5,800 advisors access to TravelJoy at a discounted rate, allowing them to first be able to make cruise bookings directly in TravelJoy (the hope is to expand beyond cruises in the future). The benefit for members is that they don’t have to keep switching between tools, but can instead streamline their workflow by doing all their planning in one place.

What’s more notable than the actual news—hosts have long partnered with tech companies to enhance their offerings—is that this is the third partnership that TPI has unveiled with a travel technology company over the past few weeks, joining previously announced deals with Travefy and Tern.

Jenn Lee, TPI’s president and chief marketing officer, spoke to TMR after the TravelJoy news was announced on Monday. According to the CMO, the move was made with a clear definition of TPI’s role as a host in mind: supporting the independent travel advisor’s business, not running it for them, and using its scale to provide choice.

“This is really part of an overall strategy to best align with the role a host agency is supposed to play in regards to travel advisors’ individual businesses,” Lee said. “Advisors should be responsible for their business. The host agency is there to support that notion 100%. It’s your brand, your business, your identity; we just help you build it.”

Lee noted that many host agencies try to be “all things to everyone,” including building their own all-encompassing CRMs and technology. However, she made it clear that this is not TPI’s goal. She added that today’s travel advisors are “overwhelmed by disconnected tools and cumbersome systems,” and that TravelJoy offers the kind of “smart, integrated foundation advisors have been craving.”

“We came to a point where we decided we did not want to be a technology company,” Lee explained. “Tech companies are coming up with all these new offerings, and some CRMs are really kicking butt. We realize we’ll never be as robust as the CRMs in the way they are communicating with their clients.”

Instead, TPI is leveraging its scale to empower its advisors. “What we do best is use our buying power to get commissions, negotiated exclusives, and incentives. Let’s use our buying power to buy down the pricing of these, making them more affordable for advisors to tap into a robust CRM.”

How the Partnerships Work

TPI’s new partnerships will offer advisors a range of choices, as Lee believes a host agency should not tie advisors to a single entity. The three CRMs—Travefy, Tern, and TravelJoy—are all very different, with different looks and feels, and different strengths and weaknesses, Lee said.

For advisors who haven’t yet chosen a CRM, TPI is introducing the options one at a time through demos and webinars. The agency’s goal is not to force a specific technology but to ensure its members have the tools they need to succeed in a changing industry.

Lee added that the “advisor of yesterday” who works from paper trails and Excel sheets is no longer effective. The new partnerships are aimed at helping advisors keep up with client expectations and run a more efficient business.

“It’s very clear what our role is as the host agency: a sales, marketing, and back-office support agency for the independent advisor,” Lee concluded. “Their role is to become more efficient with the booking, management, and process. We cannot become a technology company because we are not a technology company.”