p12 Elite Nov13 11/11/09 15:51 Page 12
news conference report
ttglive.com
Elite Travel Conference 2009
November 6-8 ■ Bournemouth
The consortium’s sell-out conference saw business
TECHNOLOGY.
strategy top a busy agenda. Chris Gray reports
Fight back – in
the hairdressers
Elite angles for ‘big fish’
AGENTS should use mobile technology to sell to
customers in their homes, at supermarkets and
at hairdressers, the conference was told.
ELITE Travel Group is predicting it will grow Cruise – provided by US company Turico – allows Brian Sheerin, from technology company
by 20% next year as it attracts agencies from agents to search for a cruise by destination and Micros Travel, said agents were not making the
other consortia. date without specifying which line; Elite Hotels, most of technology to fight back against online
Commercial manager Julie Franklin said a which has more than 10,000 properties; and direct sales.
couple of “big fish” agencies were interested, Elite Airfares – which uses net fares provided by He said: “Why don’t agents have kiosks in
along with some smaller ones. consolidator JTA, whose managing director supermarkets to attack that captive audience?”
They could join other new members such as Wayne Darrock is Elite’s chairman. Hairdressers should also be targeted because
Departure Lounge Travel and Travel by Design, Elite has also launched a Target Tracker women and increasingly men spend so much
which have both joined in the past year. system that allows agents to monitor progress time in them, he added.
Franklin said Elite’s year-old commercial in meeting operators’ targets. Sheerin urged agents to transform themselves
alliance with Advantage, improvements to Franklin said Elite then passed on any in a similar way radio did when it first faced
members’ services and respect for their overrides earned by the consortium to agents competition from television. Radio responded by
independence was proving attractive. The tie-up rather than putting them in its central funds, as using technology to put sets in cars, which TV
with Advantage had increased members’ other consortia did. could not do, and by having the best commenta-
average commission by 1.4%, she said. She said sales for 2009 overall were slightly tors for sports events. Agents needed to be
Elite will also launch a new dynamic packaging down on the previous year, with individual equally innovative, he said.
system on December 1 that will give members members reporting rises and falls of up to 15%. “The big question mark is whether there is
a wider inventory of cruises, air fares and Commercial director Nigel Armitage told the really the energy and drive to fight back,” said
accommodation. Franklin said it was the only conference he expected Elite’s sales to be 10% Sheerin. “The methods you choose are up to you,
consortium to have the system. up next year despite distractions such as the but the technology to help you do it is there.”
The system consists of three elements: Elite general election and the 2010 World Cup.
PROFILING.
Target ‘John Lewis types’
ELITE member Kristina Hulme claims to have
identified a new breed of customer, which she
calls “John Lewis” clients.
Hulme, owner of Cheshire agency Travel by
Design, said this type of customer was “wealthy
but understated”.
Typical John Lewis customers were likely to be
interested in holidays in New Zealand, because
the country attracted people who were successful
but had opted out of “life in the fast lane”.
Elite’s 2009 conference attracted 95 agency
members and 60 suppliers. Its June 2010
THRILLS AND CHILLS: Polar explorer Alan Chambers told members about his unaided conference will be held onboard Royal
walk to the north pole in a team of four. He recounted his experiences of battling Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas.
through -50C temperatures – highlighting ways of managing a team through adversity.
12 13.11.2009
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