ORLANDO -- Travel Leaders Group is creating a consumer-facing
brand, Vacation (repurposing its Vacation.com URL), that will house content
designed to capture consumer interest, and present those
consumers with a travel agent who can fulfill their travel needs.
The announcement was made during the Travel Leaders Network
2017 International Conference at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort at Universal
Orlando.
"When we brought our three agency groups [Travel
Leaders associates, Vacation.com and Results Travel] together earlier this
year, we did so with the realization that the dormant Vacation.com URL was far
too valuable to simply allow it to go away," said John Lovell, president
of Travel Leaders Network, Leisure Group and Hotel Division. "We have
transformed Vacation.com into a consumer brand purveyor of quality counsel and
expert information."
Travel Leaders said the site will have articles, videos and
podcasts. It will follow them on their "journey" of consuming
content, he said, and eventually present them with an agent to work with.
At its launch, Vacation will initially focus on honeymoons
and destination weddings, but additions are expected to be made.
Stephen McGillivray, Travel Leaders Group's chief marketing
officer, said today's consumer wants content on an on-demand basis. Hence,
Vacation will be powered by a proprietary perpetual demand generation (PDG)
vehicle.
"Fundamentally, perpetual demand generation is about
always being 'on' throughout each traveler's 24/7 quest for solid,
unimpeachable information," Travel Leaders Group CEO Ninan Chacko said. "By
powering Vacation with PDG, we will empower travelers to consume informative
content from a variety of channels. At each state of their journeys, we will
provide a level of personalized engagement specifically targeted to them, as
opposed to a mass-market approach."
Brian Hegarty, vice president of marketing for Travel
Leaders Group, described the process as delivering the right content to the
right consumer at the right point in time.
Agents who qualify to receive leads from the program will be
given detailed information on each lead they receive, according Hegarty. That
information will come from the consumer's activity on Vacation, including a
history of the content they have consumed, as well as their answers to online
quizzes they take and the type of planning style they prefer.
Agents also will be aided by a virtual sales assistant that will
schedule reminders and provide talking points and email templates, said Kevin
Weisner, senior vice president of leisure and strategy for Travel Leaders
Network.
"This is not a cheap investment," said Lovell, who
said it was "well into the seven figures."
The technology behind Vacation has been in development for
more than a year, according to McGillivray, who said no one in the travel
industry is using a PDG vehicle like Vacation.
Weisner said Vacation's lead-generation capabilities will be
pilot-tested with a limited group of about 25 Travel Leaders Network agents
through the beginning of September. After that, agents throughout Travel
Leaders Group will be able to qualify to receive leads from the program.
Participating in the program will not come at a cost to
agents, but revenue earned through leads will be shared with Travel Leaders
Group, said Weisner.