Nexion Travel Group president Jackie Friedman had a clear message for reporters during a press conference at the host agency’s CoNexion 2022 event.
“The travel advisor is here to stay,” Friedman said. “Even throughout the pandemic, we didn’t really see a slowdown of people wanting to come into this industry. … In fact, this year, we’re on track to bring on the largest number of advisors we’ve brought on in a long time.”
More than 600 advisors have joined the host agency through the first nine months of 2022, according to Friedman, who said 60-65% of those are entirely new to the profession.
“I was shocked, to be honest, at how many advisors did not leave the industry,” Friedman told a group of media members on Sept. 20. “Some pressed pause. They had to take other jobs to be able to put food on the table, but we didn’t see them leave.”
I was shocked, to be honest, at how many advisors did not leave the industry … Some pressed pause. They had to take other jobs to be able to put food on the table, but we didn’t see them leave.
Hosting a group of more than 600 registered travel advisors and supplier partners, the CoNexion 2022 international conference took place Sept. 20 - 22 at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, Calif., offering attendees a schedule loaded with education and networking opportunities, as well as a tradeshow comprising more than 100 airline, hotelier, destination and tour operator exhibitors.
To Fee, or Not to Fee?
A diverse range of themes and industry trends received attention throughout the three-day conference’s slate of general sessions and breakout workshops, but charging clients professional fees was a headlining message throughout.
Friedman mentioned she still speaks somewhat regularly with advisors who remain hesitant to apply the approach to their business.
“But when they take the plunge, when they try it, the reaction I get from them is [this]: ‘They said yes. They agreed to pay the fee!’” Friedman said with a chuckle. “The work advisors are doing today is so much more, and they should get paid for that. They just have to have the confidence to ask for it.”
Steve Lincoln, the owner of Lincoln Travel in Bridgewater, Va. — who was honored with Nexion’s prestigious Ambassador Award during this year’s event — said he’s been selling travel for nearly four decades, but CoNexion presentations made by colleagues both last year and this year have him rethinking how professional fees can be applied to his business.
Nexion Travel Group president Jackie Friedman said the host agency has attracted more than 600 new advisors in just the first nine months of 2022.
Credit: 2022 Shane Nelson“Even after 39 years in the business, I had an ‘aha’ moment, where I thought, ‘That makes sense,’” he said with a laugh, referring to a professional fees presentation made by Nexion advisor Rosie Dietrich during the event.
“She said something very simple, and it was just like a lightbulb went off,” Lincoln explained. “And that was, ‘A service fee is what the client is paying me for the work I do on their behalf. A commission is the income I’m getting from a tour operator or an airline for the work I do on their behalf, and they are two very different things.’ That really resonated with me.”
Busy Advisors Say Trip Spending Is Way Up
A longtime specialist in study abroad programs for major universities, as well as river cruise and other leisure products, Lincoln said his business has come roaring back in 2022.
“It’s actually a little bit overwhelming, to be honest,” he said, noting that many of his clients are spending more on trips and staying longer thanks to money they saved up during the pandemic. “I have people who are going to really cool places that are outside their typical wheelhouse.”
Nexion president Friedman said the host agency has been seeing a similar trend overall.
“Our average per diems with a lot of our bookings are higher,” she said of 2022. “So [advisors] are booking a lot more expensive trips and longer trips.”
Danny Genung, owner of Harr Travel in Redlands, Calif., said his agency has seen a dramatic surge in luxury business, a change he attributed to several factors, including reduced pricing on high-end cruise products during the pandemic.
“I had a lot of guests that were mini-suite or junior suite guests who would never step up into the full suite category because of price,” Genung explained. “But the price was lower when cruising resumed, so they did make that step up, and then they realized how much they loved it. Now, when they book forward, they are paying more, but they understand the value in a different way.”
Air Sales Are Bright as DOT Refund Concerns Fade
Robbi Jumaa Hamida, Nexion’s senior vice president of agency operations, also noted during the event’s press conference that many of the host agency’s new advisors have been attracted, at least in part, by its air sales commission opportunities, which he said fall in line with a changing attitude among many in the industry today.
“During the pandemic, we saw a lot of terms and conditions that maybe didn’t agree with what the customer’s expectation was,” Hamida explained. “So, we are seeing agents who want to get more into air … because they want to have more control over that ticket. They want it to be their ticket, not the tour operator’s or the cruise line’s ticket, so they can have more control, so if something were to happen again, they could go to the airline and take action.”
Robbi Jumaa Hamida, senior vice president of agency operations, said the host agency’s commissionable air sales options have been attracting new advisors.
Credit: 2022 Shane NelsonFriedman added that Nexion’s air sales have been an especially bright spot this year.
“Our air numbers for the past six months have been at or above 2019 levels,” she said.
Both Hamida and Friedman downplayed worries, meanwhile, about the Department of Transportation’s proposed rule change earlier this summer regarding who will pay out refunds for delayed or cancelled flights. Friedman pointed specifically to clarification in recent weeks about the proposed changes placing the refund responsibility on the merchant of record.
“When the story first broke, obviously there was a lot of concern,” Friedman said. “But as we learned more about what it is and what it isn’t — I don’t want to say it’s nothing. But I’m not terribly concerned because, again, these advisors, for the most part, are not the merchant of record.”
During this year’s final general session, Nexion officials excited many in attendance when they announced plans to hold the CoNexion 2023 event from Aug. 19 - 27 next year onboard the Celebrity Equinox during a Caribbean cruise that will depart from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
And this year’s conference wrapped up with complimentary access to Disneyland for all registered attendees, a perk that Lincoln of Lincoln Travel was excited about.
“I’ve never been to Disneyland,” he said with a bright smile. “But I’ve told Jackie [Friedman] before, ‘I don’t care if you hold CoNexion in Fort Wayne, Ind., I’ll go,’ because it’s really about the people.”
