Avanti Destinations has just launched fixed-price, non-customizable packages across 18 countries, marking a significant shift in their offerings. Recommend recently caught up with CEO Paul Barry to get the scoop on the new packages.
RECOMMEND: What spurred the creation of these new packages?
BARRY: [The idea] was generated by advisor feedback. As you know, we’re trade only. We don’t sell directly to the public. We’re very focused on making sure what we offer makes the life of a travel agent easier.
And that’s been one of our internal mantras for quite a long time: making the life of an advisor easier. Coming out of the pandemic, business roared back for everyone. [T]hat’s the roar that happened in ’23. [Now] we’ve gone back into a normal booking pattern in 2024, and we’ve asked our advisor partners how we can make their life easier, and the feedback we’ve been given is [about] doing the Avanti custom FIT.
We’ve got a lot of back-and-forth between our educated staff here who can put those trips together and also feedback from the advisors. It sometimes takes quite a while to get a custom quote that fits the specifications that the advisor needs. They love the trips we put together, and the clients return and have a fabulous time.
But sometimes, during the quotation process or the initial stage, the advisor’s customer is not yet ready or fully inspired and doesn’t know exactly what they want. And so, the feedback’s been given: We love doing custom FIT, but sometimes that customer isn’t there yet. So, do you have something that can help inspire them or showcase what you do, et cetera, so we can start having those conversations?
It may end up being a full custom FIT, but there is an intermediary step regarding the inspiration and education part of it. So we came up with these fixed-price packages because they allow inspiration for these newer areas we’re selling that are less well known.
R: Which brings us to the advantages of the new packages…
B: I think by the general public in terms of what to see and what to do, it provides a price point guarantee for different rate seasons that we offer and allows that conversation to happen in a more timely way. And that can then evolve into a customer purchasing one of those curated vacations or moving on to maybe a fully custom FIT for them.
So this provides a showcase of what we can do. These are some of our best curated popular vacations that we’ve worked on throughout the years in these areas. It allows us to service the travel advisors much quicker and better and gives them tools they can use for their clients. With the microsites, they can pull out some fixed-price vacations and just send them directly to their customers and say, “What about this? Have you thought about this? Here’s the pricing for the different rate seasons, how much it’s going to be,” etc. It starts the conversation instead of going to a full custom FIT right off the bat.
R: And this is especially helpful for new advisors.
Typically, an FIT is a really time-consuming, long process for most advisors today in the industry. Going through that process is off-putting, especially for newer advisors coming in. [This is] providing more tools for them to use their time most efficiently, to know where to start that conversation.
They know their clients, so we’re just giving them different tools to engage with them in what they think is the best manner possible.
R: How did you pick which destinations to include in the new fixed-price packages?
B: Europe’s always been our mainstay, and it’s the most popular international long-haul destination for U.S. customers. I don’t see that changing in the next few years, but what we did to pick is out three new areas. We’ve been selling Central South America for 20 years, Asia for about the past six or seven and the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji have happened in the last year.
I think there’s less knowledge about what to see and what to do in these destinations, so providing some showcased, personalized, curated vacations was certainly more helpful. People tend to have a greater knowledge of Europe, what they want to do, what they want to see, etc.
There was an information-inspiration gap, and these destinations are certainly emerging and growing and getting more American customers to visit them. So we just thought that the evolution of the destination was the right step for us and also for how we can best service the travel advisors out there.
R: Avanti is also bringing back a printed guide. We’re a print publication, and we’re very happy that people like to hold something in their hands once more. Why did you choose to bring that back?
B: Can I just repeat your words to you, and then you can put my voice on them? Let me give you an Avanti story based on that. We were well known for producing brochures back before the pandemic. We printed our last one in 2019. They were more catalog style, where you’d get listings of cities, countries and various options of hotels and experiences and transfers, as well as maybe some mini modules within the various countries in our brochures, and they were incredibly popular.
We went electronic only after 2019 and obviously didn’t do anything during the pandemic. And even today, with the rebound in travel, so many of our outside representatives, what we call our regional sales directors, constantly kept asking, “When are you bringing back your brochures?”
I thought, “Well, you tell me how they use these brochures.” Well, they don’t send them out to their clients—they use them as their own reference guides. So, we thought that the evolution of the old-fashioned brochure for the Avanti-style product was to come out with an Advisor Reference Guide of the regions that we offer.
I believe the knowledge and inspiration gap is greater for our non-European destinations, so we started there with the South Pacific. The Advisor Reference Guide is split up into three sections. The first part is informational, about what to do, generally what to see, what there is in the destination, certain infrastructure, things about distances between cities, seasonality, etc.
The second part is our fixed-price packages, highlighting and showcasing some of the best vacations in those areas. Then, the third element would be the, or is, part of the old-fashioned, more catalog-style a la carte hotel experiences, transfers, etc.
We’re not going to print a quarter of a million brochures; we’re going to print a lot less than that, but they’re meant to be Advisor Reference Guides because the travel advisors will use them for themselves and maybe share them in face-to-face meetings with their customers. They’re also mimicked online with our new micro websites, one for each region.
(Of note: The prices are only on the microsites because the printed piece is meant to be somewhat evergreen, and the prices are subject to change. However, each Advisor Reference Guide has a QR code to take you to the microsite for immediate pricing information.)
R: Finally, who should travel advisors look to as the market for these FIT packages?
B: The demographic is customers looking for a customized, personalized experience when they travel internationally. I would say probably people [50 to 70 years of age who] tend to have done very well for themselves in their careers and work. They value their time a lot. I think we can all agree that as we age, we value time far more intensely.
So, the idea of trying to put together their own custom FIT is just too much for them. That’s why they use a trusted advisor and the same reason a trusted advisor uses us. It’s a mindset of people who value time, want a personalized experience, and often want to bring along close friends or family relatives.
It’s been very common for us to have multi-generations, you know, older parents bringing along their adult children or older parents bringing along their adult children and teenage kids.
R: Any other detail you’d like to add?
B: The important thing about the microsites is that you don’t have to be an advisor who’s already registered with Avanti to look at them. You can use the three URLs in the press release (linked below). Any advisor who’s never booked FIT or worked with Avanti before can go in, check those out, see the pricing, share them with their clients and only register as they get ready to book.
It opens up not the whole website but the inspirational things [and] they can see these new packages.
R: Thank you, Paul!
More About Avanti’s New Fixed-Price Packages
Avanti has prepared 58 new fixed-price, non-customizable FIT vacation land packages for destinations including Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. Avanti plans to extend this offering to Europe in 2026.
Pricing for these packages varies according to “rate seasons” set by hotels and service providers. Some destinations have a single rate season year-round, while others have multiple. Packages are not available during holidays and blackout periods.
Avanti has launched three regional microsites for Asia, Latin America and the South Pacific. These sites feature a user-friendly interface, allowing advisors to navigate between regions and countries easily. The “packages” tab displays all options for a selected country, with non-customizable packages marked with a lock symbol and the lowest starting price. Advisors can view all rate season dates and prices, share PDFs with clients and book directly through the site.
Sample packages include:
- Ultimate Australia (16 days/15 nights): A comprehensive tour of Sydney, Adelaide, Kangaroo Island, Melbourne, Uluru and Port Douglas. Priced from $10,075 to $10,299 per person/double occupancy.
- Southern Wonders in New Zealand (10 days/9 nights): Exploring the South Island’s scenery, including Christchurch, Mt Cook, Queenstown and Franz Josef. Priced from $2,825 to $4,599 per person/double occupancy.
- Highlights of Costa Rica (9 days/8 nights): Visiting San Jose, Tortuguero, Arenal and Guanacaste. Priced from $3,675 to $3,975 per person/double occupancy for 4-star hotels.
- Ultimate Peru (9 days/8 nights): Covering Lima, Cuzco, Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu and Puno. Starting at $2,199 per person/double occupancy for 4-star hotels.
- Ultimate Japan (14 days/13 nights): Exploring Tokyo, Hakone, Takayama, Kanazawa, Hiroshima, and Kyoto. Starting at $6,225 per person/double occupancy for 3-star hotels.
- 6. Ultimate Vietnam (15 days/14 nights): Visiting Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hue, Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City. Starting at $3,875 per person/double occupancy for 4-star hotels.
These packages offer a range of experiences, from city tours and cultural immersions to natural wonders and historical sites. They include a mix of private and shared tours, accommodations and various transportation options.
For more information, visit book.avantidestinations.com.
