List of 32 travel agency management groups

Whether you are thinking of moving into the travel industry or you already own a business in this sector, the concept of travel agency management groups is a task worthy of analysis and study.

Defining an effective business model for your retail travel agency is one of the key factors in optimizing sales and profitability.

Are travel agency management groups a good decision for your business? Especially if your business idea is linked to an OTA, do management groups make you stand out and are they worth being part of?

List

By performing a simple Internet search you can find out the name of dozens of management groups.

We would like to highlight the following among the many available options:

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Travel agency management groups can be a good opportunity to optimize your competitive advantage in the travel industry.

Matching a group to your needs and company profile will be your biggest challenge, especially if your business niche is in the online world.

What are travel agency management groups?

The idea of travel agency management groups was born out of the need, among independent agencies, to create a competitive “entity” capable of offering better strength, coordination and negotiation capacity with suppliers. In addition to being able to “rub shoulders” in the market with large companies.

In other words, there is strength in numbers. Suppliers are offered an advantage by negotiating with a management group, rather than different individual contracts.

This means that you as an independent travel agent, OTA, etc… can decide to be part of a travel agency management group and take advantage of this collaborative approach.

What advantages can it bring to your business?

Well, as its name suggests, a travel management group is a “group”, brand, firm… or whatever you want to call it, which has its own philosophy, business model, services, technology, etc.

The more associates that group has, the more competitive strength it will have to negotiate with suppliers.

The main advantages that you may see by belonging to a travel management group are:

• Better negotiation possibilities with suppliers. This is the main advantage of being part of a group as opposed to being on the outside. The negotiating tools and presence is much more powerful, obtaining advantageous agreements that are difficult to obtain in any other way. These are group agreements, for all the associates of the group.
• Brand awareness. By being part of a group you can incorporate the image and awareness of the brand, leveraging its popularity and reputation for your own business.
• Information platform. Management groups offer their associates different communication tools, advice on the special regime for travel agencies, VAT calculation, marketing and visibility of the business: corporate microsites, intranet, newsletter and information on the sector, offers, creation of their own exclusive tourism products. The support and attention to the associate is also part of its services.

What a travel agency management group really provides is a new commercial window with different qualities that the business must embrace.

In this regard, there is a fine line between the franchise model and the management group, although the level of dependency and cost is not so high.

What disadvantages can it bring to your business?

In terms of advantages, belonging to a travel management group provides a significant boost to your marketing and visibility in the market.

However, this business model can also bring certain less favorable aspects to your business:

• Loss of independence. Many offers or decisions will already be agreed upon in “favor” of the group. Being part of a whole implies taking on certain guidelines or work methodologies.
• Monthly fee. Not all but most of them charge a monthly fee for belonging to the group. These are not large amounts, although innovative strategies are beginning to be developed to build agency loyalty.
• Limited in-house products and technology. The two basic qualities of a travel agency management group are to offer quality technology to develop the business and a good proprietary product. These two issues are not always present.

From the point of view of an OTA where the business niche is mainly linked to the online arena, investing in a management group must be done with great care, as it must have the features and needs that e-commerce requires.

In all likelihood, in these cases, SEO and SEM positioning is more of a priority than any other type of marketing or commercial strategy.

Factors to consider when selecting a management group

There is a wide variety of travel agency management groups. Which one should you choose? From the internal point of view of the business process we can point to the following factors:

Commissions and supplier negotiations

All groups claim to offer maximum commissions. This is not entirely true. Ask and find out the real percentage, you will see that there are differences between groups.

Real support

Support is fundamental to resolve doubts and queries. Although all of them provide support, it is important to make sure that it is effective.

Own search engine

A group with this capability already has a strong advantage. Generally, management groups use practically the same (widely available) search engines. A proprietary search engine is exclusive and specific in selecting offers.

Professional inbound agents

The creation of incoming agents is a widely used commercial strategy. Their professionalism and responsiveness is vital in order not to complicate the business.

Technology

Technology is not usually a management group’s strong suit. The online image can be mediocre without proper optimization. Look for the group that offers the best web technology, especially if you are an OTA.