Will AARP Rekindle Ties to Traditional Travel Agents?

Could the AARP be coming back to travel agents, especially those with expertise?

The 48-million-member organization of people over 50 years old has assembled a team to find ways to work with travel agents in order to provide AARP members, especially baby boomers, with the customized travel experiences they are looking for, according to Howard Byck, senior vice president of Lifestyle Products for AARP.

Byck disclosed that development in response to a question from Travel Market Report after a presentation he made to travel marketers at the European Travel Commission’s Trans-Atlantic Conference in New York last week.

In his presentation, Byck noted that for baby boomers, Europe is growing in popularity as a destination and that they are especially interested in river cruises because of the value and travel experiences inherent in that mode of travel.

But the boomers, as always, are looking for customized experiences – travels that are “off the brochure,” said Byck.

That yen for customized experiences flies in the face of the AARP strategy of providing travel arrangements for its members on its own Web site powered by Expedia – and Travelocity before that. Travel was presented as a commodity – not an experience.

When AARP first announced that it would work with Travelocity back in 2004, many travel agents were put off by the move, though Byck told TMR that AARP never severed its relations with traditional travel agents.

Now it seems the organization wants to rekindle ties to the travel agency community in response its members’ desires for customized and unique experiences during their travels.

However, Doris Davidoff, a veteran travel agent who is now a consultant, told TMR that AARP “has never really worked with travel agents in any meaningful manner.”

“After they lost the ability to ‘own’ their travel program and spun it off, they made some comments about plans to work with travel agents, but they never really did. Grand Adventures, which was the company that got their email list after it was spun off, has never offered commissions to agents.”

Byck made a very interesting presentation to the trans-Atlantic marketers that keyed on baby boomers, a 78 million-person groups and a $2 trillion annual market, according to AARP.

“Don’t ignore them,” was Byck’s advice, because they represent half of the net worth in the U.S., albeit a net that has dwindled in the Great Recession.

That’s why boomers are not traveling as much. Although they still want to hit the road, they cannot spend as freely.

They are also the “Sandwich Generation” caring for both their elderly parents and often times their grown children, each half of the sandwich having moved in with the boomer caregivers.

The boomers, said Byck, are into technology and on the social networking sites and “travel research and searching for the best deals are a full contact sport” for these folks. They are not brand loyal.

In addition to customized experiences, the boomers are looking for enrichment and flexibility in their travels, he said.