The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB) is the Aloha State's longtime destination marketer for the mainland U.S., and the organization also works with the nation's travel agents, looking to help travel pros sell vacations across the Hawaiian Islands.
Travel Weekly contributing editor Shane Nelson spoke recently with Robyn Basso, the HVCB's senior director of travel industry partnerships, about what makes Hawaii a lucrative destination for travel pros, how the HVCB helps to train and educate agents about the Islands and the new GoHawaii and Hawaii Virtual Reality apps.
Q: What makes Hawaii a destination where travel agents can have a great deal of success?
A: While many warm-weather locations tend to appeal to travelers as beach destinations, there is so much more to the Hawaiian Islands than just sun, sand and surf. We've got a 98% satisfaction rating and six unique islands to choose from.
Robyn Basso
We've got diverse natural wonders; that rich, exotic culture; and the ease and convenience of U.S. travel. Visitors can enjoy some of the country's best ecotourism, archaeology, geology, recreation [and] cuisine. It's definitely easy to wander off the beaten path in the destination and explore on your own.
And if travel agents can really take the time to qualify and match the right client with the right island or island combination, they can truly deliver that perfect vacation experience, leading to repeat business and referrals. I think Hawaii can also be a very profitable destination for travel agents. Many of our Hawaii wholesalers offer lucrative commissions on packages that include air, hotel, cars and transfers.
However, agents should really be prebooking tours and activities for their clients, especially now that we have record-setting numbers of visitors. So many tours can sell out. So it's not only an important service for travel agents to provide for their clients, but it can also be very profitable for agents, as well.
Q: Is that money agents often leave on the table?
A: I think so. Hawaii is a destination where when visitors come, they want to get out and experience things. They're not really spending much time by the pool or the beach, and they want to really experience the destination, so they're going to be booking these experiences and excursions. I think to add that service, to make sure they get that activity secured so they don't miss out, is important. But a lot of these activities pay up to 10% commission, so it is a great revenue opportunity for agents.
Q: How does being a part of the U.S. help Hawaii?
A: Hawaii is a destination that really offers the best of both worlds. You have this very exotic and incredible culture but with the ease and convenience of U.S. travel: no currency exchange, no passport needed, no language barrier. And with a lot that's happening in the world, I think that people have that feeling of comfort by coming to Hawaii and feeling like they can have that exotic culture but, of course, the convenience and comfort of a U.S. destination.
Q: Are you hearing from travel agents that Hawaii is benefitting of late because of its reputation as a safe destination?
A: In recent conversations, some agents have shared that. I'm honored to represent a destination that has such a great reputation in visitor satisfaction. And yes, some agents have said that they have seen an increase in inquiries for Hawaii vs. some of those other destinations.
Q: How does the HVCB work with travel agents interested in learning more about selling vacations to Hawaii?
A: Well, that is what my job is 100% dedicated to. We see travel professionals as an extremely valuable part of our effort to bring visitors to the Hawaiian Islands. We are dedicated to supporting them as an extension of our sales team. We do have regional directors on the mainland, and their job is to support the retail distribution channel, primarily by conducting live destination-training seminars at various industry events. They facilitate ongoing webinars to ensure agents are educated and updated about the Hawaiian Islands. We do conduct sales blitz events on the mainland, as well, which incorporate statewide and island-specific training. We also invite our Hawaii supplier partners to join us for the trade-show component and roundtable sessions to make sure agents have both the destination and product information.
We also partner with our wholesaler and consortia partners throughout the year to conduct in-destination fams as well as events that really give agents that firsthand knowledge that's critical to truly understand what Hawaii offers and the uniqueness of each island.
Q: Can you talk about the online programs that you offer agents?
A: As much as we can get in front of agents, we want to do that. We want to get that face-to-face time. But we also understand that we need a resource they can access 24/7. That is our travel-agent resource center, our website at agents.gohawaii.com, which we relaunched last year with upgraded sales and marketing tools as well as our Hawaii Destination Specialist Program. Some of the great features there that agents have really responded to are our Hawaiian language audio dictionary to help with Hawaiian pronunciation [and] top 10 itineraries by client type to give them some great recommendations of what to do. There's also a media center and an interactive Explore Hawaii travel guide that they can use in consultations.
The main thing we can do as a visitors bureau is to help educate. So our Hawaii Destination Specialist program continues to be something that we focus on. There are six certifications, beginning with the statewide program followed by in-depth modules on each of the islands. All of the courses are mobile-compatible, you've got audio narration, and they're segmented into short modules to fit travel agents' busy schedules. And what we really tried to do with the new program is to provide a richer understanding of the destination as a whole but also of the six really unique islands.
In addition to the knowledge, we have developed a comprehensive benefits package for our specialists, including various valuable consumer referrals. We conduct specialist-only webinars, and we provide continuing-education credit through the Travel Institute. We offer additional tools such as a subscription to Hawaii magazine, we have a great e-postcard marketing tool, an electronic guidebook that includes a note from the agent to their client, a personalized itinerary and a link to a microsite clients can access while they're in destination.
So we're really trying to provide sales marketing and training tools to ensure that the agents are knowledgeable and confident when booking Hawaii.
Q: Are there are a number of interactive tools agents can now use?
A: Absolutely, like the e-postcards they can use for pre- and post-trip follow-up. They can promote an offer or a Hawaii night. There are niche postcards as well as island-specific. And then the e-guidebook is a wonderful tool because agents can send a personalized email, they can populate the form to create itinerary-specific information for that client and then it goes to the client and looks like it came straight from the agent. And it comes with a link to the microsite so when clients are in their destination they can access information on their smartphone or tablet that will help them while they're here.
Q: Are you seeing an increase in the number of agents participating in your programs?
A: Absolutely. Since the launch of our program we've definitely seen significant growth in the number of agents not only using our website but also engaged in our training. Since we launched, we have over 20,000 new website registrants from our agent website, and we have 12,000 certification-course graduates since the program rolled out. The website launched Feb. 21, 2015, so we are really happy with the growth so far. We continue to promote it and get more and more agents engaged. With the training, we find that when agents really start the training program, they tend to complete all of them. So we want to get them interested right from the beginning, get them engaged and excited about selling and learning more about Hawaii.
The Kaanapali Resort on Maui. Photo Credit: Tor Johnson/Hawaii Tourism Authority
Q: How important is it for agents to have a broad knowledge of Hawaii and to know which island to send a client to?
A: I think that is paramount with Hawaii, because it's all about exceeding your clients' expectations. So I think agents need to know how to qualify, what questions to ask the client, what they are looking for in their experience. Do they want relaxation, do they want adventure, do they want nightlife, do they want to enjoy shopping? Really get to the core of what's most important to the client, because all of the islands are unique and different. They each have their own personality and feel, so it's important to truly understand what the client is looking for and then that they have an understanding of what each island offers, so they can match the right client with the right island. That's really key to exceeding those clients' expectations. That's a huge component of our online training programs, of our live training programs, of our communications. They need to understand what our destination offers as a whole but also those nuances between each island.
Q: Does understanding those nuances of Hawaii as a vacation destination give agents a competitive edge?
A: Absolutely. There's something about having that expertise. That is something that truly differentiates a knowledgeable travel agent, a Hawaii expert, vs. all the online booking tools that are out there and available.
Q: Are there some initiatives you've introduced recently that agents should know about?
A: We have about a year and a half under our belt now after launching the new site, and we have recently added What's New newsletters for each island. We want to make sure agents are easily kept up to date on what's happening on all of the islands.
We also added a new link to the Go Hawaii app so agents can download that and share it with clients. We've also added certification script to our support materials for our training materials. We got these wonderful, very visually engaging video presentations, and now agents can watch the video but also can print out the script for additional reference after they complete the course. That was something agents were asking for.
We've also refined our consumer-referral tool that we have on our gohawaii.com website. We incorporated back-end logic to ensure that we are always connecting the most educated agents with the consumers looking to book. So basically, the more training programs an agent completes, the more opportunities they have to receive those consumer leads.
Q: Are you encouraging agents to make use of the new GoHawaii app when pitching and selling Hawaii to clients?
A: We have definitely promoted it and have been sharing the news of the GoHawaii app, which is of course developed by the Hawaii Tourism Authority, with our retail agents through in-person training, email communications and on the website.
The app really makes them look like the destination expert in the eyes of their client, because it's really providing a one-stop mobile reference guide for travelers who are wanting fast, accurate and trustworthy information while giving them the opportunity to explore all that Hawaii offers. So users can access the island information, there's an event calendar, there are travel smart tips as well as helpful links. It's complementary; they can download it from the Google Play Store or on Apple iTunes. It's definitely something agents can share with their clients that will help them. I think it's always helpful when a travel professional can provide an additional tool that the consumer might not really know about that might help them be a bit more comfortable when they are in a destination. People seem excited and intrigued about it.
Q: What can you tell me about the new Hawaii virtual reality app? Is that something you'll be using with agents?
A: I'm excited; the Hawaii Tourism Authority is taking the lead with this new tool. It is a separate investment to really kind of focus on allowing visitors and agents the chance to better understand and experience each of those four major islands [Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island of Hawaii] in a very immersive way. I can see it being a very valuable tool to use at industry conferences and events and training seminars, getting agents into your booth and really giving them that feeling of truly being in Hawaii.
I think as it comes down to the agent level, it could be a powerful resource for agents to better sell Hawaii. Really, it transports that visitor to the Islands and really gives them a sense of what it's like to be in Hawaii. So with the realistic nature of virtual reality, I think it's going to help entice the actual visitors to book. We definitely want to leverage the resource. We haven't carved out a specific plan yet, but we want to take advantage of those resources and make sure we are incorporating it into our agent educational programs.