Headquarter Happenings: Virtuoso Focuses on Human Connections While Promoting Digital Tool
byMarilee Crocker/
AI-powered technology may be increasingly adept at delivering personalized travel offers to consumers, but it will never,evermatch travel advisors’ ability to anticipate and meet their clients’ travel needs, dreams and unrecognized aspirations.
That was the message hotel entrepreneur Chip Conley delivered to advisors at the 31st本月初,在拉斯维加斯举行的Virtuoso旅行周。“你有细微差别,有直觉,你有同理心。机器没有。人工智能永远不会像您的直觉那样出色。”康利在开幕式上说。
“When you mind-read your customer and can understand them well enough that you can offer them something they didn’t ask for, you have a customer for life.”
Virtuoso首席执行官Matthew Upchurch强调了Conley的信息,在开幕词中反复触及了Virtuoso网络和顾问与客户关系的个人联系。“我们如何与算法竞争?我们通过更多的人进行竞争。” Upchurch说。“以人为本的业务是我们时代的创新。”
Wanderlist: Deepening connections
但是Upchurch不是技术的敌人。的确,Virtuoso的最新创新(称为Wanderlist)具有在线工具,客户,家人和旅行伴侣可以用来评估其旅行兴趣,偏好和目的地选择,并创建旅行愿望清单。然后,客户的Virtuoso顾问使用结果来帮助客户制定全面的长期旅行计划。
Rolled out earlier this year, Wanderlist is not an app or a website. The technology isn’t the point, Upchurch told journalists covering Virtuoso Travel Week. “The point of this tool is to create better human conversations, not to replace them.”
总体目的是激发客户在他们如何思考和计划未来的旅行方面变得更有目的,并使他们一次只计划一次旅行。Virtuoso设想顾问与客户及其旅行伴侣进行有关其长期旅行的愿望和计划的持续对话,就像财务计划者定期与客户协商以制定终身财务计划一样,多年来,主题Upchurch已返回。
“This is about enhancing and deepening the connection between an advisor and a traveler and their families,” Upchurch said of Wanderlist.
Virtuoso advisors must pay a fee to undergo training in Wanderlist before they can offer it to clients. Some 120 advisors have done so already, with a second round of training planned for the fall. There is a cost to the client, but Virtuoso expects advisors to embed that cost in their consulting fees. (Virtuoso is also training “Wanderlist guides,” whom agencies can hire both to help clients use Wanderlist and to develop their long-term travel plans, leaving the arranging of individual trips to the travel advisor.)
Professional development training during the 31st annual Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas.
Expanded networking & training
主题“您的流浪列表中有什么?”在今年的Virtuoso Travel Week上到处都有展出,吸引了6500多名与会者,其中包括3,093名旅行顾问。除了参加专业发展和非正式网络外,顾问还参加了数千次与供应商的一对一会议。
Virtuoso continues to expand its education and networking opportunities outside of Virtuoso Travel Week as well, including with Virtuoso Travel Week on tour, which this year and next is bringing networking and training to 26 cities in 11 countries.
Virtuoso Travel Academy, the network’s online learning platform, can now be downloaded to mobile devices; its content is being expanded in areas such as career growth, branding, productivity, sales training, and agency management. “Demand from advisors is higher for professional development classes than for product training,” said David Kolner, Virtuoso’s senior vice president, global member partnerships.
Virtuoso also has introduced short weekly podcasts, called “Thanks for Asking With Helen Nodland,” in which Virtuoso’s director of professional development talks with travel advisors about solutions to common challenges.
Virtuoso’s Communities program, which provides focused networking, marketing and training in six travel specialties (adventure, cruise, family, wellness, culinary and ultra-luxury) is being expanded in 2020 to include a seventh track for “celebration travel,” which will encompass destination weddings, honeymoons and travel for milestone events such as anniversaries.
社区项目提供顾问who want to grow into a specialty and to established specialists. Top-producing specialists receive added benefits and opportunities. In 2020, 150 top participants will be invited on the first Virtuoso Community Cruise, a full-ship, four-day charter on Seabourn that will include networking with 48 suppliers.
On the marketing side, Kolner said advisors are getting onboard with Virtuoso’s MyMarketing platform, especially its automated social media posting capability. Launched late last year, MyMarketing gives advisors centralized access to its marketing tools and collateral, as well as to reports on campaign effectiveness.
Keeping sustainability front and center
促进可持续旅行仍然是Virtuoso的优先事项。Upchurch告诉记者:“我们希望使可持续性成为消费者选择的更大因素,以使那些做得最好的组织和目的地在财务上取得成功。”beplay银行卡
But sustainability can be a tricky topic to discuss with clients, so Virtuoso has been researching the best ways for advisors to do so. One outgrowth is a new option for suppliers to post their sustainability stories on Virtuoso.com. “We have to have succinct stories about what our partners are doing that are relevant,” Upchurch said.
在今年的Virtuoso旅行周上,有600多名顾问和供应商参加了第一次以下的Sky会议,他们在那里听到了可持续发展领导人的消息。Virtuoso还召集了其第三届年度可持续发展委员会,这是旅行顾问和供应商之间的想法。
数字
Virtuoso counts more than 20,000 travel advisors in 50 countries in its network. This year they are on track to sell $26.4 billion in travel, a nearly 11% increase over last year.