InteleTravel has acquired ticket platform Tickitto.
Tickitto is both a ticketing platform and ticketing supplier, according to James Ferrara, CEO of InteleTravel. It provides access to tickets for major sports leagues, concerts and more. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
The company will retain its team, including CEO Dana Lattouf, and operate as an independent brand under InteleTravel's umbrella.
InteleTravel, No. 23 on Travel Weekly's Power List, has acquired ticket platform Tickitto. Photo Credit: InteleTravel
InteleTravel first announced the pending acquisition to advisors during its recent InteleTravelQuest conference, held aboard the Norwegian Joy earlier this month.
In an interview after the conference, Ferrara said Tickitto's specialty is sporting events and concert tickets. The company has direct access to ticket sales as opposed to the resale market. With the NFL, for instance, tickets are available on Tickitto several weeks before outlets like TicketMaster thanks to a direct contract.
"We are fully integrating it into our platform, including our packaging technology, so agents will be able to package trips around events like big concert tours and sporting events," Ferrara said.
Advisors can tap 'eventcations' trend
In a release about the Tickitto acquisition, Ferrara said one in 10 of InteleTravel's bookings were related to a live event, concert or sporting match, something he called "eventcations." Tickets often represent several thousands of dollars in spend. The acquisition positions InteleTravel's 130,000 advisors to take advantage of the event-travel trend.
Sister companies Hickory Global Partners and McVeigh Global Meetings & Events will also be able to take advantage of the acquisition and offer tickets to corporate clients.
Dana Lattouf, CEO, Tickitto. InteleTravel, No. 23 on Travel Weekly's Power List, has acquired ticket platform Tickitto. Photo Credit: InteleTravel
InteleTravel has made several acquisitions in recent years, like Hickory, McVeigh and the U.K.-based tour operator Major Travel. But president Tara Minson said in an interview that its acquisition strategy isn't a buying spree.
"First and foremost, it is buying the right product," she said.
Ferrara agreed, noting many acquisitions are about providing more travel markets (like corporate and meetings and events) to advisors and expanding into more geographic markets.
"The strategy is to make each of these companies even more successful on its own and to make InteleTravel bigger and better," he said. "We want to provide more travel services and more travel products to our advisors."
This year's InteleTravelQuest played host to more than 3,000 advisors on a full-ship charter of the Joy. They had access to 100 hours of training via more than 80 classes and seminars; general sessions; receptions; dine-arounds with suppliers; and a trade show on the ship. There was also a trade show on Norwegian's Great Stirrup Cay, where suppliers each had their own cabana or villa for advisors to visit.
Investing in technology
The host agency is developing a new itinerary builder for advisors, expected to be launched in the next few months, Ferrara said. The itinerary builder will have artificial intelligence built in.
"We don't want to replace advisors with technology," he said. "We want to empower advisors with technology.
InteleTravel already has AI integrated into its tech products. For instance, it has a program that helps with crafting content like emails and social posts. To date, more than 6,200 pieces of content have been either written or critiqued by the system.
Minson said InteleTravel's AI strategy is developing tools, like the itinerary builder, in-house so advisors don't share information with a larger network than they should.
"That's why we're all about building our own AI tools and putting a really secure fence around it, so we don't only protect ourselves, but we're protecting our advisors, as well," she said.
The new itinerary builder will proactively point out things advisors might have missed in an itinerary, like misaligned dates or missing hotel nights, Minson said.
It's also been trained on travel specifically, according to Ferrara. The system will know to avoid things like day-of-arrival activities, even if an itinerary has enough time allotted. For instance, he said, it would know not to plan a trip to Pompeii on the day travelers arrive in Naples, because they'll likely be jet-lagged and tired from travel. That level of logic is being programmed into the tool.
"We're not calling it artificial intelligence. It's not AI," Minson said. "We're calling it InteleTravel intelligence. It's II."
Making moves in MICE
InteleTravel shared several other updates with advisors at InteleTravelQuest.
It is opening up the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) market to advisors via McVeigh, the corporate event and meeting planning company acquired last year.
According to Minson, several InteleTravel advisors have other jobs that, in turn, fuel their travel businesses. They book for clients, coworkers and colleagues. Booking MICE travel could be a lucrative revenue stream.
"This is an opportunity where we know that [mid-sized and large] companies are doing events, so now you can offer your service," Minson said.
The advisors will handle the travel side of things but hand off the event portion to McVeigh. Advisors will receive a percentage of the event's profits.
"It's an opportunity for them to earn off of elements they don't normally earn off of," Ferrara said, like food and beverage and audiovisual.
Another new platform was also introduced: businesstravel.com. It's a platform where InteleTravel advisors can service corporate customers, Ferrara said. They can do the bookings themselves or hand off corporate business to in-house InteleTravel employees and get a split of the commission.
Finally, Major Travel, the U.K.-based tour operator acquired last year, is opening up for outbound U.S. business, Ferrara said. The tour operator is already InteleTravel's No. 1 supplier for advisors in the U.K.