The Advantage Travel Partnership has welcomed more than 50 branches over the past year, gaining more than £500 million in new member turnover.
Kelly Cookes (pictured), chief commercial officer, said the figures had more than doubled year on year and the new branches represent expansion by current members as well new members to the consortium.
The new branches are a mix of 36 high street premises, along with homeworking agents and others working from an office.
“It is a complete mixture, and it’s also across the different models that we operate,” she said.
“Some have come from being brand new start-up businesses; some have moved to us from other consortia; and some were previously unaffiliated to any consortia that have now seen the benefits and have joined us.
“A real mixture but the growth has been really strong.
“The growth is coming from everywhere. It has been a positive year in terms of high street, but also outside the high street as well.”
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She highlighted how Advantage members range from larger chains on the high street, such as Fred Olsen Travel, Baldwins, Kuoni and Dawson and Sanderson to homeworking groups, such as Travelosophers, and individuals, such as new member Travel Den, set up by Gilli Knight.
“We’ve got a model and a package to suit everybody now,” added Cookes, describing the offering as a ‘one-stop business hub’.
“The managed service model is really flying, probably because we protect all customer money.
“Because of all of the benefits it offers, [Advantage Managed Services] has really thrived over the last couple of years, and the pipeline for that is really strong as well.”
Advantage Managed Services (AMS) was introduced 15 years ago to help run the operational side of travel firms while they focus on sales and customer service.
Turnover for AMS members has risen 65% since pre-Covid times and the agents represent about 25% of the consortium’s overall membership.
“That managed service proposition has become more attractive to people post-Covid,” said Cookes.
“A lot of people have struggled to get the right staff. Being part of AMS means that the people you’ve got can concentrate on selling, and the operational admin bit is done in the background by us.
‘With the costs of running a business, some of the pain is removed by being part of AMS, along with the fact that we have really strong commercials, which you wouldn’t get as a standalone business.”
Members are also a mix of business and leisure agents, although Cookes added: “There is less and less of a line between the two.
“We have now got a lot of business travel members saying, ‘we’ve got clients that want us to service them on the leisure side’, and we’ve got leisure members that are picking up smaller corporate accounts.
“When we’re talking to bedbanks or airlines, we are talking about our combined leverage across business and leisure.
“As a member of Advantage, you have access to everything. You don’t join as a leisure or a business member, you just join as a member.
“You get access to our full range of products, all our commercial deals, all of our marketing. And you choose what works for you as a business.”
Cookes also noted that the retention level among the 750+ branches is “really high”.
“The only time we really lose them is if a member is winding down their business. They might sell it. They might exit and retire,” she added.
She pointed to a recent survey of members which gave reasons about why agents join the consortium, and why they remain.
“In our last survey, 86% said it was the people,” she said.
“We’ve got a really strong team, and that’s something that gets mentioned all the time.
“And 79% of people said the reason they join and stay is because of our commercial buying power.
“And 91% of them say that they believe Advantage puts members at the centre of its business, and champions the role of the travel agent.”
The consortium has also increased its own headcount post-pandemic to cater for the growth in members, and now employs just over 100 staff, all working remotely.
“We have scaled up the business to work with those members, to make sure that we are supporting the increased number of members that are coming in,” said Cookes.
She said being fully remote has “revolutionised” the business because it has enabled the consortium to recruit “the best people, rather than the people that are close to London”.
“We have now got a graphic designer based in Glasgow, and we’ve just taken on a new marketing executive based in Chorley,” she noted.
“We’ve got a fantastic range of people around the UK and…those people will go out and see members local to them, so we are not just visiting the members that are surrounding our head office.
“We are able to get out much further and spend time with members.”
She said Advantage hosts about 40 face-to-face and virtual events each year, including a summer barbecue, cruise conference on Ambassador in October, the AMS conference in the Canaries, also in October, a big celebration awards lunch in early December in London, then next year’s annual conference in Malta.