7 tailor-made travel specialists join forces

These tailor-made travel specialists are convinced that the future is created in the plural. Networking is a solution suitable for small and medium-sized structures. They met in the Respire association, at the CDMV, during workshops or on study trips. Affinities were created and with them, the desire to work together. They found the Travel Creators Club

It is neither a network nor a purchasing center

At the beginning of this almost informal group (especially not a network or a central purchasing office): mutual assistance (advice on a contract, the choice of a supplier or the issuance of an emergency plane ticket when the capacity issue of an agency is limited), exchanges on reflections on the profession and around common projects.

Trips adapted to small structures

The members of the collective were frustrated with the organization of certain study trips: by wanting to attract too large an audience, the DMCs upset everyone: a member of the collective remembers having shared a study trip which brought together 3 premium tour operators , an “entry-level” group operator, an ultra-luxury tour operator and a MICE specialist. “I only program small structures and had no interest in visiting the structures adapted to the groupist or the MICE agency. Of all the hotels selected by the DMC for visits, only 20% caught my attention. An inestimable waste of time”

Joint study trips

They then decide to organize joint study trips: Barbara, Nathalie and Frédéric were in Zanzibar and Pemba in February and spent 8 days sharing hotel visits and experiences. The list was established jointly upstream and the choices were relevant since more than 50% of the accommodations visited will integrate the production of the 3 colleagues. The next joint trip will take place in Kenya in April.

The sound of travel: the podcast of travel creators

The idea for the podcast was the first concrete topic the club members worked on. Convinced that the tourism sector is saturated with images, Frédéric – project leader (and FM radio presenter in the 1980s) is convinced that the “sound” medium can attract a new clientele to the agencies. 5 episodes are recorded and the first is online. On the menu of the podcast “the sound of travel” (a nod to the name of Nathalie’s agency): travel stories and expert advice, distilled by the managers and employees of the club’s tour operators. For this project, the club relied on Travel Insight, a communication agency specializing in tourism.

The sound of travel on DEEZER: https://www.deezer.com/fr/show/5761507

The sound of the journey on SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0jy3sLizowB8zTDfC9P6Q8?si=QdKRME9HQjWwZ_vvPy0c5A&nd=1

The paid quote: be paid by prospects who do not become customers.

Tired of working “for nothing” by preparing quotes for travel candidates who do their shopping in a large number of agencies or who come to their homes to obtain advice and then book directly, the members of the club have thought about the invoicing quotes. Nathalie – project leader has identified the semantics used by colleagues who claim to practice paid quotes and compared the offers of unregistered “travel coaches”. “It is fascinating that non-professionals manage to charge for advice when we, tour operators, sometimes have difficulty justifying our prices”. Elements of language have been transmitted to the members and already, Sylvia’s agency has invoiced up to 250 € for the preliminary study of the most elaborate projects.

Collaboration with freelancers

Of the 7 members of the club, 4 work with independent service providers who complement the internal sales teams of the tour operators. On the strength of her experience on the subject, it is Barbara who is leading the discussions on this subject. On the menu of his report: the legal, commercial and communication aspects of these collaborations.