Avoya Travel (No. 36 on Travel Weekly’s Power List) has launched a booking engine enabling consumers to book their own cruises. Then the booking is sent to an Avoya advisor.
The Avoya Live Bookings engine joins the host agency’s lead-generation tools, including Live Leads and Smart Leads.
“Leads are great. But we kind of challenged ourselves and said, ‘What’s better?'” co-CEO Jeff Anderson said during a media briefing. “What’s something even more valuable that we could generate?”
With Avoya Live Bookings, consumers have access to a full booking tool at AvoyaTravel.com. The booking tool is still in beta testing.
In total, the booking engine has accounted for more than $600,000 in revenue since beta testing began in August, according to Anderson, including individual bookings of more than $10,000.
Avoya has direct connectivity with the major cruise lines, Anderson said, and created the booking tool in-house. While it’s still in development, the end goal is to “build the best booking engine in the world for cruise.”
Once a booking is made online, it’s handed over to one of Avoya’s independent contractors, who earn a split of the commission. The advisor can help that traveler with air, insurance and hotels. They will also have the chance to serve that client’s future travel needs.
“The biggest [booking] so far was $13,000 on a high yielding product,” Anderson said. “So, you could do quick math to understand that that commission check has a comma in it.”
Avoya is working with a test group of advisors. As the booking tool is used more widely, Avoya will consider how it will determine which independent contractors get the bookings, said chief sales officer Phil Cappelli.
“This is a groundbreaking thing in that we’re sharing these bookings with the group, because we appreciate the service and the support the advisors could provide to a booking,” Cappelli said.
Avoya targets experienced advisors
Avoya hosts more than 2,100 advisors. While the host agency has targeted rookie advisors in recent years, that strategy is shifting as it looks to onboard advisors with experience.
The host agency is courting seasoned advisors to join its Elite 100 program. Advisors in that program keep 100% of commission on any of their own clients’ travel (Avoya keeps a portion for sales that come from its lead-generation programs) for $399 a month.
To attract seasoned advisors, Avoya is offering a $5,000 “quick-start incentive” for up to 60 top producers, Cappelli said.
Avoya said commissions are up 32% year to date for its network. For Elite 100 agencies, commissions are up 44%.
Avoya also introduced the Premier Commission Program, paying advisors higher commission on leads that come from the Live Leads program.
This week’s virtual media briefing came on the heels of the Avoya Travel Conference, which was held onboard the Norwegian Joy from Sept. 25 to Oct. 2. This year, the host agency is celebrating 60 years in business.
