Transat's Joe Couto giving the groups pitch
Alison Theodore, Saint Lucia Manager Canada &
Elaine Carnegie, Anse Chastanet
Transat's Nicole Bursey presenting this winter's highlights
Transat Escape's Dan Prior
As always, Transat winter launches attract a large crowd of solid agents ready to absorb the massive amount of product the operator brings to market each season.
This year’s highlights include the popular 2-destination vacations, family specials and the increasingly successful Transat collections.
But the spotlight was mainly on a part of the business where much of the travel won’t even take place this winter – the profitable group segment.
Joe Couto’s enthusiastic presentation drove home the key messages. The man can slice and dice the benefits of selling groups like a knife-wielding teppanyaki chef.
“More groups are shopping than ever before.”
“Don’t think it’s too late for this season.”
“We are still busy quoting for groups.”
“It never stops!”
Couto offered advice for group-hungry travel sellers, encouraging them to be on the lookout for trends, as groups are often the result of trending interests, like scrapbooking a few years ago. Smaller groups and big family gatherings are current trends, Couto said.
The booking cycle for groups is 12 to 18 months in advance of the regular cycle, Couto says, so the time to start cultivating potential 2015/2016 groups is now.
He advised agents to consider the value proposition versus simply price-shopping, as he says group incentives quite often result in significantly better value than individual bookings.
Transat Holidays is excited about its new auto-quote tool set to go live by mid-September. Couto says it represents a “better, easier, faster” process that will reduce retailer admin and quoting time.
A new Transat Holidays 2015-2016 Groups flyer details the 5-step auto-quote process, as well as outlining EBBs, the Group Price Promise, perks and privileges for wedding groups -- and agent incentives, including BonBon rewards and free seat offers.
