ALG Vacations Expands Elite Rewards Program

26.03.2024 - 17:50 / travelpulse.com / North America

This article originally appeared in the March issue of AGENTatHOME magazine.  Subscribe here to receive your free copy each month.

Elite, the rewards program for ALG Vacations’ top agency producers, continues to expand, evolve and enhance its benefits. The plan lets advisors sell the best ALGV brand that makes sense for their customers – and agency – without worrying about how it will impact their earning status, said Jim Tedesco, vice president of sales.

Elite advisors earn rewards that help them sell more. They may receive access to special fam trips and early-access invitations to register for Ascend (the annual conference) or other in-person events. They also qualify for indestination rewards trips where they receive extra education. Each level has a “pick your perk” entitlement, enabling them to select the reward that they feel will help their agency the most.

Adding to the earnings potential, sales for affiliated brands – Amstar (a destination management company) and Hyatt Inclusive Collection – are weighted toward the Sapphire Select and Diamond Preferred Rewards levels.

The more transfers, excursions and Hyatt Inclusive Collection resorts an advisor sells, the more rewards they will earn.

Growth has been the story for Elite since it was launched a few years ago – both in number of participants and in the value of the benefits, Tedesco said. There are now six membership levels: Sapphire, Sapphire Select, Emerald, Diamond, Diamond Preferred and Crown Jewel.

The company’s sales team is focused on helping rewards members reach their next level. “Travel advisors have exceeded our expectations in moving up from year to year,” Tedesco said, adding that 100 new agencies joined the program in 2023.

The most recent addition to Elite is the Crown Jewel tier, which was designed so the top 20 individual offices supporting ALGV brands are recognized in additional ways.

“We appreciate the partnership with them and know that production levels they produce do not happen overnight, nor do they happen without strategy,” Tedesco said.

The Crown Jewel tier includes virtual meetings with ALGV’s executive team, additional recognition on the reward trip, extra agency promo codes and an invitation for every owner into the company’s Milwaukee office for a Crown Jewel Professional Development Day.

“We want them to meet our leadership and have the ability to talk to the people leading the teams they work with every day,” Tedesco said.

Most importantly, ALGV will bring advisors and executives together to talk strategy and share ideas, “allowing ALGV to gain feedback on how it can be a better partner as a result of where they feel the business is going or the strategies they feel they will need to have in place for 2024,” he said.

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