Johanna Jainchill
My colleague, Travel Weekly features editor Emma Weissmann, recently quoted Brand USA's chief AI officer, Janette Roush, as saying, "There's no bonus prize for taking seven hours to do something that could be done in seven minutes."
She was, of course, talking about the advantages of using AI tools for efficiency.
I can't argue with her; the number of tasks AI can do in minutes that would take me days is mind-blowing.
But amid all the industry discussion around AI, it was also refreshing, if not surprising, to hear from a travel company that is finding ways to better serve customers with more analog, person-to-person solutions.
During a lunch in New York City, Avanti Destinations CEO Paul Barry said the custom tour operator had made several moves to improve efficiency for travel advisors, including the opening of a call center in Manchester, England, in 2023.
"A call center?" I thought. When headlines like this from the BBC ran just last year: "Will AI mean the end of call centers?"
Avanti, based in Portland, Ore., realized that while its hometown office was open 10 hours a day, those were West Coast hours. The company was being overwhelmed with calls early each morning, with as many as 50 people waiting on hold at the start of the day, making it difficult to ever catch up.
Barry's British roots inspired him to open the U.K. call center, which significantly extended Avanti's hours and prevented the "mad rush" of early morning calls in Portland.
"Travel advisors work in multiple time zones at different hours of the day," Barry said.
With longer hours, advisors spread out when they would call, and hold times dropped significantly.
"It had an instant and evolving impact," he said.
Avanti expects 2026 to be its best year ever. Barry attributes its growth to several factors, including the call center and last year's debut of InstaQuote. Advisors can place a link to the program on their websites or send it directly to clients. The traveler or advisor can fill in basic information, such as destinations and hotel star ratings, and within minutes receive a price quote that includes suggested transfers, tours and experiences. Advisors can then modify and finalize the package either by phone or online.
Barry is the first to admit Avanti had been "old-fashioned" in how it did business prepandemic. "You call us up, ask us for a quote, we put something custom together, and then we sent it out to you."
But the company has found that technology works best when it removes repetitive work rather than eliminating human interaction.
To that end, Avanti also embraced automation. It developed proprietary AI to streamline the quoting process by organizing itineraries and checking live pricing and availability for hotels, sightseeing experiences, flights, rail tickets and ground transfers. The tool, which is also available to advisors, can quickly reprice and date-shift itineraries -- work that once required rebuilding trips by hand.
AI has meant "fewer errors, faster turnaround and a better experience for the advisor and their client," Barry said.
But unlike many companies making headlines for AI-driven cost cutting, he said the goal was "never to replace" Avanti's reservations team.
"It was to remove tedious, time-consuming tasks so they can focus on the parts that actually require expertise and judgment," he said.
And when it comes to travel, real intelligence is something that's still needed.
For Avanti top producer Cathy Bancino of Witte Travel & Tours in Grand Rapids, Mich., the variety of ways to work with Avanti has made it much easier to sell its tours.
That includes the opening of the Manchester call center, which she said made a big difference for someone like her who works East Coast hours and can now reach the U.K. office at 7 or 8 in the morning.
"People still have questions, and they still want to speak with a person," she said. "AI is great and helpful, but it can't tell you everything."
InstaQuote has also helped her weed out shoppers. Clients in the early planning stages who simply want a rough idea of what an Italy trip might cost can input their criteria and begin the process. Advisors can then determine whether the client is serious or just browsing before investing substantial time.
"It's quick and easy and such a time-saver for us," Bancino said.
She pointed to another feature Avanti added in 2019 for top producers: TC Connect. It's a personalized travel consultant she can email and who she described as "your go-to person" for anything she needs.
Bancino said the challenges of having to call in and being on hold a lot are not uncommon when working with tour operators, and she wishes more companies would make changes similar to Avanti's to increase efficiency.
The point seems to be that advisors value both fast digital quoting tools and real people available by phone or email for nuanced questions and expert guidance. In an industry increasingly focused on automation, companies that are able to combine technology with responsive human service may ultimately have a competitive advantage.