Ensemble: Advisors Seeing the Next Golden Age

24.09.2024 - 18:57 / travelpulse.com

With a crowd of nearly 800 attendees, Ensemble’s 2024 Horizons conference went off with palpable excitement at Vegas’ Resorts World last week. And the message was a bold one for the attendees and supplier partners who came together with a brimming energy around the theme of this year’s summit: “The Power of You.”

The consortium has had a lengthy history in the industry since its 1968 launch in New York as “Giants,” – a group of competing travel agencies that understood that survival meant standing as one and leveraging that unity as a core business proposition. That concept continues as advisors have faced all manner of disruption and rise like prize fighters to stay in the game. It takes a village, it takes a consortium, and Ensemble today is stronger than ever.

“We learned from among you, the best part of your job are your clients. We also learned that, at times, the worst part of your job are your clients,” said Ensemble president Michael Johnson during the 2024 Horizons keynote. “And, all kidding aside, you told us the top three reasons to work with us are training, marketing and our relationships with our different partners. Most of you are selling travel on a daily basis and – news flash! – it’s getting harder and harder.”

But, he added, "There's never been a better time to be an advisor.”

Surveys conducted by the Ensemble leadership identified the complexity of booking travel these days to be the biggest pain point for member advisors. It found that half of the advisors use multiple platforms to book a single trip, and 74% juggle various tools for hotels, cruise insurance, and other travel needs. This fragmentation creates inefficiencies and frustration, hindering an advisors' ability to focus on what matters most: selling travel. The survey also shed light on advisors' growing awareness of generative AI, with only 14% said they were unfamiliar with it, while 45% are aware but haven't used it. A promising 41% of the advisors surveyed noted they have already employed it, primarily for marketing and content creation.

“Think of us as your travel iPhone,” he added, showing a variety of apps in one place arranged on an iPhone screen. “Our apps are based on your feedback.”

Ensemble is simplifying things by enhancing its Agent Digital Experience (ADX) platform in three key areas: training, marketing, and preferred partners. New this year is an emphasis on booking air within the platform, allowing advisors to see commission rates and add in overages and discounts as needed toward a complete one-stop package. As air is often the most complicated piece of a booking and subject to forces that can leave clients hanging, the consortia introduced Air Concierge this year.

This new optional feature brings in a team