Samantha Davis’ 15-year travel career has taken her across the globe, but this Aussie native recently landed in Manhattan Beach, Calif., for her role as director of sales for North America at Excite Holidays, an Australia-based tour operator that recently opened its first office on the U.S. West Coast.
We chatted with Davis to find out more about Excite Holidays, its newly released marketing video and its plans to deepen its relationships with North American advisors.
Can you tell us about the inspiration for Excite’s new “Where Do You Want to Go?” video, which follows four children who use their imagination to visit their dream destinations?
Our new brand video was created in-house by our marketing team, with the hope that it offers a little inspiration for our agents.
We are all busy people working in this industry, but it’s important to step back and reflect on how lucky we are to be able to deliver incredible travel experiences to clients every single day. We hope our agents feel excited about what they do when they watch the video, and we hope travelers feel inspired to visit a travel agent and plan their next amazing adventure.
You recently launched in the U.S. What have you found to be the main differences between the U.S. market versus Australia/New Zealand?
The challenges faced by agents are fairly universal, and the solutions they are looking for in a booking platform are largely the same between the markets, but there are some slight differences that we are seeing in the U.S. market compared to the others that we operate in. Destinations booked differ slightly; we are seeing a lot more bookings for the Caribbean and Mexico, as well as a lot of interest in our offers for European countries such as France, Ireland, Iceland, Spain and Italy.
We have also noticed a shorter lead time with bookings from the U.S. market, for which our system is an excellent solution. We have also used a different communication approach for our agents, as there are a larger number of home-based agents in this market. We’ve relied on more digital communications such as webinars to overcome some of the geographic barriers that come with a widely dispersed client base.
And, of course, having grown up in Australia, I have had to learn to substitute “s” for “z” in my spelling and how to drive on the other side of the road.
Samantha Davis (third from left) at Excite Holidays' U.S. launch party in West Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 30, 2017.
Credit: 2018 Excite HolidaysCan you elaborate on the importance of a partnership with travel agents?
Our company motto is “Made for Agents,” and this idea drives everything that we do, from the features of our platform and the way we communicate to the content we create and the way we work. It’s all created specifically for the needs of travel agents. We are proud to work exclusively with the travel trade, and we firmly believe in the importance of agents. Our focus is helping our agents grow and succeed in their own business.
Features such as Flexicomm allow agents to manage the level of commission to meet the needs of each client and maximize their earning potential. Our 24/7 support teams are available 365 days per year to provide personalized support to our agents on toll-free calls, live chat and email. And our rewards system allows agents to turn their hard work into savings by earning rewards points on every booking they make, which can be redeemed for their personal travel against any product in our system.
What are your goals for the company in 2018?
There’s always a lot happening at Excite Holidays, and 2018 is no exception. Look out for some new products coming online later in the year, as well as a lot more video content, webinars and other agent-focused improvements to our system. Our development team is hard at work on a few exciting projects, and we will be sure to update the market when they officially launch.
The Details
Excite Holidays
www.exciteholidays.com
