Avoya Travel hosted the 2021 Avoya Conference virtually last week, which Recommend attended. During the conference, Avoya leadership shared more about their new partnership with Certares, which will join Jeff and Michael Anderson as shareholders of Avoya Travel.
As Avoya enters phase three of their Avoya 2025 plan to become the number one vacation platform, the company shared that it has completed over 700 innovative technological and capability initiatives to date in 2021, with more to be completed before year’s end.
Some enhancements and developments Avoya shared during the conference include:
- A Customizable and Co-Branded Avoya Marketing Resource Center Assets:A new suite of customizable co-branded marketing assets is now available for use designed to help increase the potential marketing reach of the Avoya Network, adding a new level of personalization that includes adding your own agency branding. Nearly 150 new marketing assets, featuring social media, videos, trip planning resources, flyers, e-mail templates, and more, allow for you to have greater customization, including the addition of your business logo and the ability to spotlight your agency’s information, all integrated into Avoya’s patented CRM technology, Agent Power.
- New Digital Magazine: This new digital magazine will be sent to travelers quarterly to create awareness, drive website traffic, and increase demand. The e-magazine will be designed with traveler engagement in mind. In addition to destination, experience, and product-specific content, the digital magazine will include exclusive deals from Avoya and supplier advertisements aimed at driving even more sales. Avoya also released the first volume of its “Travel Secrets Guide,” a featuring a compilation of submissions from Independent Agencies, supplier partners, and Avoya staff sharing the best-kept secrets of destinations around the world in the form of a digital flipbook; a co-branded version of the guide will be made available through Avoya’s Marketing Resource Center for the Avoya Network to provide to travelers.
- Enhancements to Patented SaaS Technology, Agent Power: Avoya has made several enhancements in Agent Power, many of which came as a direct result of suggestions from the Independent Agency Advocacy Board. The developments featured multiple improvements and additional functionality designed toincrease efficiencies in administrative processes, streamline day-to-day tasks, and simplify the selling process to help Independent Agencies focus on making new bookings and maintaining customer relationships.
- 2022 Avoya Events: Events planned for 2022 include new event types, many of which will feature small group events by product type to provide more in-depth education and experiences. These include a New Independent Agency Virtual Event on March 15 – 17, a Hotel Virtual Event on July 12 – 14, and a Luxury Virtual Forum scheduled for August 16 – 18. In addition to the new offerings, Avoya will host the extremely popular annual Land Forum as a two-part hybrid event taking place virtually April 12 – 14 and then in-person the first week of May, as well as the return of the Success Academies. Avoya also announced the development of new Immersion Academies earlier this year and confirmed that the events will be hosted in partnership with preferred supplier partners including Windstar Cruises, Oceania Cruises, AMR Collection, Sandals & Beaches Resorts, and more. In addition, Avoya shared that the 2022 Avoya Conference will be hosted in partnership with Celebrity Cruisesonboard the new Celebrity Beyond from Nov. 8 – 13, 2022.
“The Avoya Network was highly engaged and hungry to help lead the recovery of our great industry. We are excited to host the 2022 Avoya Conference onboard the beautiful Celebrity Beyond where we can once again get together in person to celebrate the Avoya Network’s resiliency and our mutual success,” says Dondra Ritzenthaler, senior v.p. of Sales, trade support & service, The Americas at Celebrity Cruises, in a press statement.
During the conference, Avoya execs also shared their numbers regarding recent booking and departure trends, as well as Net Promoter Survey (NPS) scores. When compared to 2019 levels, Avoya’s strongest year to date, Avoya saw a 30 percent increase in Upper Premium and Luxury bookings from September 2021 through November 2021 as well as a 196 percent increase in World Cruise bookings during that same period. Land bookings were up 28 percent in November, and year-to-date, average booking value is up 30 percent.
Avoya is also currently reporting bookings for departures in the second half of 2022 as well as bookings for all 2022 Europe departures are both up 30 percent compared to the same time in 2019. Bookings for 2022 river and luxury cruises, escorted tours, and resort departures are up 34 percent in addition to bookings for 2023 departures being up 144 percent year over year. NPS scores, a rating of Avoya and the Avoya Network by booked travelers, are at 92, which is above industry averages as well as the averages of major global corporations.
“In collaboration with Certares and their strategic growth investment, our Avoya 2025 plan to become the number one vacation platform is stronger than ever and we were eager to share that positivity with the Avoya Network and our supplier partners. We’re confident that 2022 will be an incredible year for the Avoya platform and our Shared Success Model,” says Jeff Anderson, Co-CEO of Avoya Travel.
For more information, visit avoyanetwork.com.
