Hundreds of travel industry professionals dropped in on Connect Travel’s recent virtual roundtable— Connect with Domestic Tour Operators: Globus Family of Brands—which featured a briskly paced Q&A with Stephanie Parr-Brooks, director of contracting, the Globus family of brands (Globus, Cosmos, Monograms, Avalon). Shari Bailey, vice president, Connect Travel, and general manager, Connect Travel Events, served as moderator for the discussion.
Top Take Aways:
- Bookings Trends: Globus is happy to share the information it is receives regarding requests and bookings—in addition to running tours. This is in part due to the programs The Globus Family of Brands has created to protect its customers. Shorter booking windows, outdoor locations, etc. are all trending with Globus; however, they feel the larger trend is safety, assurance, and flexibility. Globus has taken the time to create programming to address its clients’ “Peace of Mind”; creating pre, during, and post programs to put their customers at ease.
PEACE OF MIND PLANNING
PEACE OF MIND TRAVEL PLAN
IN TOURING WE TRUST
- Product Trends: Outdoor locales and activities are higher on the priority list than ever before. Globus is adding new destinations including those located beyond the gateways and creating new off-season tours to destinations less traveled—”Escapes by Globus.” They are consistently in search of new, unique products and welcome information to assist in creating new programs. Keep in mind, shorter booking patterns are real. Their window is within 60 days for group travel; be prepared for last-minute planning. Also, consider adjusting normal group requirements with your clients.
- Marketing/Promotions: Engaging its customers (consumer direct and B2B) through inspiration has been a primary effort for Globus. Training, blog posts, and social media are key factors in this. When considering promotions, be nimble and quick to adjust based on market demands. Ask Globus how to be involved, contribute to a blog post, create training for their top producing agents, or build a social campaign around their tours to your area.
- Connect: Staying connected is paramount to Post-Covid recovery. Like most operators, Globus, would like to receive destination updates, new product and program information, flexibility and availability guidelines, and safe + clean guidelines. Equally important, updated contacts from your organizations.
Quotes from Stephanie Parr-Brooks:
—“I oversee our health and safety risk management initiatives. Lately it’s been a lot of health and safety … I know more about sanitizing than I ever did before.”
—“The challenge is trying to find commonality in what protocols people have implemented and what they’re doing, and understanding that. At a granular level, it meant that we had to understand what the hotels were doing, what the motorcoach companies were doing. What our attractions are doing and then, trying to find protocols that really work. Finally, we broke it down to pre-trop, on-trip and post- trip.”
— “It’s safe to assume, at the moment, that groups sies will be smaller and we are managing that very carefully … “
—(Asked what is the best way for conveying COVID-19 travel updates information to her) “If they can have something clearly outlined on their website on their website. That makes it very easy for the trade to get a sense of what’s happening in a destination … “
—(What are your customers saying? What’s more important to them
— “Overall, there’s a great desire to travel … but, the general sentiment seems to be that many have pushed the proverbial pause button because they’re waiting to evaluate what’s happening with all the border restrictions and travel regulations on quarantines and testing … as borders start to reopen, as restrictions start to drop, we’re starting to see more of that confidence in booking.”
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• Contact Information for Stephanie Parr-Brooks: brooks@globusfamily.com
• To see and hear the video of the roundtable discussion with Stephanie Parr-Brooks, go to https://connecttravel.com/webinars/connect-with-domestic-tour-operators-2/
