New Name, Same Direction

Often, an organization’s name change is accompanied by a new strategic direction. Leisure Travel Group’s name change to Signature Travel Network reflects the direction in which the travel agency cooperative has already been moving — toward customized service, individual growth and expertise of members, and an entrepreneurial spirit.

In many ways, the Marina del Rey, Calif.-based cooperative has already reached those goals, offering marketing and technology tools that have helped push total sales at its member agencies to nearly $1 billion a year.

But the organization is not content to rest on its laurels. It recently underwent a corporate restructuring, with Michelle Morgan moving from her position as executive director to serve as president.

In addition, Ignacio Maza moved from the management team of the high-end Virtuoso travel agency marketing organization into Signature’s newly created position of executive vice president.

Maza will orchestrate all of Signature’s marketing and supplier relations, Morgan said. He will be based in the cooperative’s New York office, which is scheduled to open April 1.

The restructuring is designed to provide the organization with a wider national scope and strengthen it for future growth.

In fact, Signature recently launched a proprietary wholesale company, Insignia Vacations, and is set to launch Insignia Hotels and Insignia Cruise Vacations later this year (see related stories).

“The name ‘Leisure’ has become less reflective of the organization and the style in which our members do business,” said Filomena Andre, Signature’s senior director, marketing. “Our members offer expert services in a wide variety of areas ranging from, indeed, leisure travel to corporate, adventure, honeymoon and cruises.”

Additionally, Signature is member-owned, and members put their “signatures” on all bookings via tools such as e-marketing campaigns, travel publications and a destination specialist training program, all provided by the cooperative.

Moreover, the rebranding highlights Signature’s customized technology, branded marketing tools and the training and growth of individual agencies, according to Morgan.

Customized technology “recognizes the individuality of each of our members,” she said.

Signature’s technology tools allow each member to customize e-mail campaigns to clients with a personal greeting and include a call to action that posts the agency’s name, logo and phone number.

The cooperative’s e-marketing client database contains information on 250,000 clients, and Signature sends a weekly e-mail to targeted segments of the database, with impressive results. A cruise promotion e-mailed last August was responsible for 45 staterooms booked within a 24-hour period, for example. This year, Signature is doubling its efforts to two e-mails per week, Andre said.

In addition, Signature members can harvest product databases that allow them to fully customize information for their own Web sites, “giving the product display their own agency look and feel,” Andre said. “They can slice it and dice it to meet their individual needs.”

Added Morgan: “They can use our content, product and pricing, and focus on a small cruise segment, for example. We have some agencies that just want to sell Mediterranean cruises.”

The organization’s initial e-marketing focus was on the mid-market, and it is currently developing a module geared toward the upscale market, with a series of luxury vacation products.

Signature’s branded marketing tools include The Travel Magazine, which it launched last year, with destination articles and plenty of product offerings. The cooperative publishes the magazine three times per year in addition to special issues focusing on family travel, cruises and island vacations.

Member agencies customize the publications by having their logos and contact information printed on every issue for distribution to clients. They also customize the inside cover, which otherwise features a letter to readers from the cooperative. Many members use this space to publish their own letters.

In addition, The Cruise Brochure is now The Cruise Journal, with “Private Collection” Alaska and Tropical issues featuring cruises with value-added amenities such as stateroom gifts and onboard cocktail parties available only to Signature members’ clients.

These are the types of plug-and-play tools that help members help themselves. Rather than spoon-feeding its agencies, Signature provides tools that members can apply in their own ways. The more they use the tools, the more they grow. For example, Eric Maryanov, president of All-Travel.com in Los Angeles, doubled his agency’s tour and cruise volume in one year, according to Andre.

“He is superb at utilizing all of the tools that Signature Travel Network offers,” she said.

In addition, the cooperative has grown by leaps and bounds in membership, adding 65 member agency locations last year. Today, nearly 300 locations encompass nearly 200 agency members.

That’s a far cry from the early days of Signature, the oldest travel agency cooperative in the United States. When it formed in 1956 as Leisure Tours, it consisted of “a handful” of high-end travel agents, Morgan said. It was a “country club atmosphere, very exclusive,” she added.

It’s also a far cry from early cooperatives in general, wherein agents banded together strictly to leverage more commissions, she noted.

Morgan joined Signature in 1991, after working in the marketing department of Ask Mr. Foster for several years.

When Peter Ueberroth, then owner of that agency, accepted the offer to coordinate the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles in the late 1970s, he sold it to Carlson Companies.

Carlson started a franchise, Carlson Travel Network, in 1984, and Morgan automatically transitioned from working in a corporate environment to working with small business owners as leisure marketing director.

“It was then that I was introduced to true entrepreneurs — individuals who owned and operated retail travel agencies,” she said. “I developed a deep admiration and respect for the men and women who had their names above the doors and their personal finances on the line every day. I was inspired by their tenacity and have committed my career to helping these business owners compete more effectively, improve yields and enhance efficiencies.”

Which is why she joined Leisure Tours in 1991, which had about 40 members. Today, Morgan credits Signature’s success to its management team, which consists of individuals who are “extraordinarily talented in their respective areas of responsibility,” she said.

But it’s under Morgan’s direction that the organization focuses its efforts on reaching both owners and frontline agents.

“We try to embrace the frontline salespeople because, for owners and for us, that’s where the rubber meets the road,” she said.

Added Andre: “Michelle has a fundamental understanding and focus on members’ needs. Everyone in the office understands that members come first.”

Hence, such big moves as launching Insignia Vacations, a proprietary wholesale company offering customized Hawaii programs exclusively to member agencies, and cruise and hotel programs.

Morgan noted long- and short-term advantages for Signature in operating its own wholesale company: leveraging volume from Signature members with airlines and hotels, preserving confidentiality of client data and the ability to engage in more targeted marketing as definitive booking data is tracked and monitored.

“Additionally, having a res center will enable us to create proprietary cruise vacations with exclusive hotel, sightseeing and air components,” she said.

Insignia Vacations does not preclude Signature’s relationships with its preferred suppliers, Morgan said. It is continuing to work with Pleasant Holidays and Hawaii World as it builds its own wholesale company.

“Decisions regarding the selection of preferred suppliers is all about what’s in the best long-term interest of our members,” she said. “Our commitment is to continue to increase sales with Pleasant and Hawaii World and to build Insignia Vacations with sales that were formerly directed to Classic Custom Vacations and to other non-preferred suppliers.”

Meanwhile, Signature is improving and expanding its other tools.

Last year, more than 800 agents at member agencies underwent training for CruiseConnection, which compares up to five rate codes and performs several different functions, such as booking air, making dining arrangements and booking pre- and post-tours and hotel stays.

Last November, the cooperative launched Experts2Alaska.com on its Intranet, in conjunction with Princess Cruises. The site provides in-depth information on destinations, activities and excursions, ship tours, deck plans, cruise offerings and cruise/tour packages.

Alaska is Signature’s No. 1 cruise destination, Andre said. Member agencies are booking more first-time cruisers due to the fact that more lines are offering close-to-home sailings, she added.

Meanwhile, Signature will completely redesign Experts2Mexico.com, which it launched last year, and Experts2Hawaii.com, which went online in 2001. Both sites will have more streamlined navigation when relaunched later this year. Signature has launched consumer versions of the Alaska and Mexico sites, along with marketing campaigns designed to generate leads to members. Hawaii has not yet been released as a consumer site.

Future portals include Tahiti, the Caribbean and the South Pacific.

In particular, South Pacific business is booming. In fact, bookings among member agencies in 2003 skyrocketed by 98 percent over 2002, primarily due to Signature’s heavy promotion of the region.

“It was our belief that sophisticated travelers would seek to visit the South Pacific instead of Europe, with war looming on the horizon,” Andre said.

Signature followed up with Aussie and Kiwi Specialist training through its Tour Universities program in several cities last fall, resulting in the certification of several hundred agents, she added.

Mexico bookings also increased in 2003, by 30 percent; and Hawaii bookings rose 20 percent.

“The growth in South Pacific, Mexico and Hawaii business was felt across the board, in both FIT and packaged vacations,” Andre said.

More targeted training is on tap for 2004, including courses on specific countries in Europe and exotic destinations.