Ensemble Performs

Finishing up a best-ever sales year and with a jump in membership in the West, Ensemble Travel Group has plans to boost agents’ sales and keep clients coming back.

Ensemble held its third international conference Oct. 18-22 in Toronto, with a series of meetings, education sessions, awards, black-tie dinners and discussions. In sync with the meeting’s theme, keynote speaker Mary Tyler Moore added some “Star Power” to the sold-out event. The Emmy Award-winning actress drew quite a crowd as she candidly shared highlights from her life, from facelifts and divorces to life behind the scenes of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

She even answered a few questions from the audience — none of which were travel related, but as Ensemble spokeswoman Jill Mross said, the actress “has been through a lot, and so has the travel industry.”

The number of travel agents in the U.S. has declined by about 40 percent during the past five years. Over the same time period, New York-based Ensemble’s membership has decreased by 25 percent. More recently, the member-owned cooperative lost one of its key staff — come January, Lois Shore, Ensemble’s senior vice president of sales, marketing and public relations will join Outrigger Enterprises Group.

Despite the downsizing, Ensemble, first founded in 1968 as GIANTS, is set to make 2006 its best sales year ever. As for an exact number?

“We don’t actually share that, but it’s in the multiple billions,” said Ensemble’s Jack Mannix.

In February 2002, Mannix came on board as Ensemble’s president and CEO, and since that time, Ensemble established minimum productivity levels in 2003 and has subsequently raised them twice — the latest increase was in 2005. Ensemble also set sole affiliation requirement for its U.S. members — and officials say that come the first quarter of 2007, the same rule will apply to Canadian members. “As you raise the bar, fewer members qualify,” said Mannix. Ensemble currently consists of about 1,100 members — half in the U.S., half in Canada — and is the only international member-owned group — which, unlike many of its competitors, allows members to share in the company’s profits.

“That means we will probably be the best value out there for our members,” said Mannix. “Our model of member ownership is probably our biggest strength.” Ensemble board member Susan Tanzman said the diversity of membership is also one of the company’s strongest assets.

“It’s absolutely been incredible to learn what goes on [in Canada] versus what goes on here,” said Tanzman, of Martin’s Travel & Tours. “It’s wonderful having people out here to network with and to talk to other agents across the country.”

Tanzman, who is based in Los Angeles, has recently found herself in good company.

Ensemble has boosted membership in the West — three of its board members are Californians — and of the 25 new members added since 2005, about half are on the West Coast.

“People, particularly in the West, tend to think of us as a New York or Northeast organization,” said Mannix. “People are always surprised to learn the greatest number of members we have in one state is in California. We have about 125 members in California.”

While Ensemble has also added a California-based business development director, Mannix said there’s no specific strategy to expand in the West.

“I don’t think it’s by any particular design, and I’m not really sure why,” he said. “It just so happens that we’ve taken on more members in the West over the last six months or so.”

Although Ensemble’s membership straddles two countries, Mannix said that the vast majority of what Ensemble offers is applicable across the U.S. and Canada. “If I come to Southern California people will say, ‘It’s different here,’” he said, “and then they proceed to tell me the same thing people in the Southeast and people in the Northeast say. But a lot of the issues are similar. How do you make sure the customer continues to buy from you? How do you increase your income as you increase your sales?”

Keeping that in mind, the consortia used its international conference as a platform to announce new cruise options and online tools available to members in 2007.

Cruising With Ensemble

Ensemble’s exclusive vacation products include hosted cruises with over 300 sailings a year featuring shore events and private cocktail parties. Next year, Ensemble will offer Inspired Journeys, adding new theme cruises to its portfolio.

“Ensemble Inspired Journeys was designed to give our members a competitive edge in marketing to the experiential client or to the client looking for unique experiences,” said Mannix. “When our members are able to offer exclusive programs to their clients — experiences that they can’t get anywhere else — the credibility of and loyalty to that travel agent increases significantly.”

The Inspired Journeys revolve around two lifestyle themes. The Health and Well-Being Cruises aboard Cunard and Regent Seven Seas Cruises are focused on rejuvenation of the mind, body and soul. An onboard expert will lead discussions, while other activities include yoga, Tai Chi, meditation, massage and spa treatments.

The Epicurean Adventures, aboard Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Holland America Lines, will focus on discovering cultures through cuisine and wines. Lectures with onboard food and wine experts are paired with hands-on shore excursions and shipboard events, including cooking classes.

“Customers want an authentic experience,” said Shore, “they want to feel rich whether they are or not. … That’s what we have to sell, experience.” Five departures are planned for the 2007 Ensemble Inspired Journeys program (see sidebar), and the bundled packages can’t be priced by competitors or taken apart and sold piece by piece, said Shore.

Ensemble members will also receive several Inspired Journeys selling tools, including direct-mail pieces and press releases.

Ensemble also announced the launch of a variety of new online tools, and the 2007 launch of two mini-sites dedicated to the honeymoon and spa niche markets.

The Honeymoon and Bridal Registry will appear on the home page of Ensemble client sites, allowing couples to surf a variety of honeymoon destinations and offers, as well as seek counsel from Ensemble member experts.

The site will showcase five hot honeymoon destinations — including Hawaii, Bermuda/Caribbean and Tahiti/South Pacific — along with a Win a Dream Honeymoon sweepstakes, which the couple can enter on their agency’s site. A new online bridal registry, offered in partnership with Honeymoonwishes.com, allows guests to buy a part of the client’s honeymoon vacation online — such as a spa treatment, room upgrade or sunset cruise.

The other mini-site is dedicated to spa services. The new spa booking engine will allow clients, via their agency’s Web site, to link to hundreds of spa offers worldwide.

Other online tools include a new Avis/Budget booking engine and another that will allow agents and clients to order foreign currency.

Additionally, Ensemble’s E-Marketing Center will offer new marketing tactics, including a variety of customized e-mails.

Technical Training

With all this new technology at members’ fingertips, next year Ensemble will focus on training.

In fact, sometime this spring, Ensemble will start offering a series of citywide programs in 15 different U.S. markets to help members become more comfortable navigating the company’s extranet and other capabilities.

“This is the first time we’ve done a specific focus on extranet and the usage of our client sites, which are the consumer versions of the sites that we host for almost 400 members,” said Mannix.

In January, Ensemble’s 10-member board of directors will meet to discuss improving education and networking opportunities, for both agency owners and their staff, at board member Stephanie Turner’s home.

“I think that’s when you get the best ideas,” said Tanzman, “when you’re at someone’s house on the couch, in your blue jeans.”

The board will also work to develop a three-year plan.

“It’s difficult to plan more than three to five years in this business,” said Turner of Brentwood Travel.

General concepts include strategies to sell the highest-return items and improving marketing and technology capabilities for members.

“Some of it I just really don’t want to talk about,” said Mannix. “As far as the next big announcement, we’re working on a couple of things, but I’m not really at liberty at this point to talk about it.”

Mannix did say that overall, Ensemble is developing ways to “help our members be more successful.”

Even with all the best-laid plans, at the conference, some agents said that in the past few years, particularly after its name change in 2004, Ensemble may have lost some of its presence.

As one agent put it, “people don’t know as much about it … clients don’t book because we’re an Ensemble agency, they book because of our service.”

Mannix seems to agree.

“Brand awareness in the travel industry is slim to none,” he said. “Personal relationships are very important — paired with an organization to back the agent up.”