Proud papa Brad Miron.
Cesar Mendoza of the Mexico Tourism Board with Brand Miron.
Brad Miron has spent many years working to understand what consumers want from the online travel experience. Now the veteran of Travelbrands and itravel2000 has put that knowledge into a new product he says will “redefine how consumers research, plan and book travel.
The overall brand is TripXpertz, but at an event held at the Los Colibris Mexican restaurant in Toronto, the focus was on MexicoXpertz, the first of a series of TripXpertz websites to go live.
The typical OTA approach begins with product and price. Miron says MexicoXpertz “turns the funnel upside down,” by providing “rich, engaging” destination content to hook the consumer before they drill down to the details of booking. “We believe conversion rates will go through the roof,” Miron said.
Mexico was a natural place to begin, Miron says, because he has spent many years promoting travel to the country, and has visited nearly every state.
“Mexico is so diverse,” Miron says. “The beach destinations are wonderful but there are amazing colonial destinations too. With more engaging content and a focused, simplified user experience, we want to introduce more of what Mexico has to offer.”
That works for Cesar Mendoza, Canadian Director for the Mexico Tourism Board. “This is an exciting project,” he said. “Mexico is now the 9th most-visited country in the world and we want to continue climbing the ladder. We want to go beyond sun and beach and invite people to explore our 3,000 years of history.”
With TripXpertz as the ‘grandparent’ brand and country-specific websites as the ‘parent’ brands, the company will also launch ‘children’ websites including Cancun Xpertz, Isla Mujeres Xpertz and so on. Miron says the sites will be largely promoted via social media, including Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter and others.
The company is putting faces to its product by selecting brand ambassadors to highlight various aspects of tourism – in the case of Mexico there’s a MexiMom, MexiBride, MexiKid etc. They will be used in video snippets and other forms of media to share their experiences in the destination.
TripXpertz plans to launch and “hyper-grow” a global network of destination focused sites in the next 36 months. The road map for 2017 includes the launching of USAXpertz, FloridaXpertz, OrlandoXpertz, CaliforniaXpertz, LasVegasXpertz, CaribbeanXpertz and EuropeXpertz.
Other major players with TripXpertz include VP Kim Uno, who also worked with Travelbrands and itravel2000, and call centre management specialist Lisa Georganes who has worked with Selloff Vacations, itravel2000 and Travel Nation Canada. Georganes will handle Canadian fulfillment through a call centre.
In Canada the agency will be hosted by The Travel Agent Next Door, which Miron says allows TripXpertz to take advantage of supplier agreements and back-end infrastructure.
