Luxury tour operator Carrier will “shine a light” on its top agent partners by highlighting them on its new consumer website.
The brand’s digital platform is currently undergoing development, and once the new version goes live, customers will be able to find a Carrier agent partner to fulfil their booking.
New managing director Natasha Towey, who is a month into her role, said: “We’ve got a big web project in the go at the moment. We’re investing £200,000 in a new web platform – the old one was dated and we hadn’t invested in it for some time.
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“Our brand has evolved in that time so the website has to follow alongside that. We want to highlight the rise of the travel advisor on our website, as 75-80% of our bookings are through the trade.
“We recognise that in our space, consumers will go to a travel agent and we want to shine a light on that community on the new website”.
The website will also feature the brand’s first agent portal housing marketing collateral and online training. Previously the operator has used Dropbox to send out its campaigns and marketing suites.
This year the brand will also restrict access to its marketing collateral to ensure it benefits preferred partners and isn’t open for all to access and use.
Head of sales Rick Milne said: “We invest a lot in our marketing and we think it’s important to ensure our partners have access to this and restrict it so not just anyone can use our marketing. During the pandemic we did open it up and gave all agents access and that was the right thing to do because everyone needed it.
“[Who gets access now] isn’t just down to revenue, it’s also down to loyalty and us having that partnership approach in place.”
Towey thanked agents for their support in helping ensure the operator’s year “got off to a good start”.
She said agents were the at the “heart of Carrier” as she reported that bookings were up 22%, with revenue 45% up. Carrier has already has three bookings worth £250,000 or more so far this year, all of which have come from the trade. Towey said the operator had a strategy of growing its highest value bookings, and it was paying off with a 140% increase in bookings over £80,000 when compared to 2019 levels.
“Most top tier bookings come from our trade partners,” she said. “Our agent partners are true travel entrepreneurs, they have the networks and we want them to shine so we’re so proud of the partnerships we have with the trade. The team works hard to support them”.
Milne added: “We are a B2B business at heart. Yes we have a retail shop that does some direct because but at heart we are a B2B, trade-centric business. Every department has a touch point with agents and that’s crucial.”
When asked about her immediate plans and ambitions, Towey said her focus was currently on the people within the business and working alongside Carrier.
“I believe we have the best team we have ever had, and that’s why we win Team of the Year at the Aspire Awards.
“We recruited 19 people last year and did so early to ensure we got the top talent on the market and 75% if anyone recruited last year is dedicated to the trade. We bolstered our concierge team too and that’s a focus, as it touring with two new starters in that team.
“We invested £100,000 in fam trips and educationals last year with 70 trips in total and that has been great because the expertise in the team is just incredible and we can see the effect it’s having in conversions which have improved by 45%.
“My focus is on retaining and making sure we have a highly engaged and happy team.”
Towey said Carrier had introduced an anniversary scheme for staff, offered financial security and cost of living support over the last 12 months. She said staff were also supported with well-being and mental health initiatives.