The Top 3 Things Your Travel Consortium Needs

So, you’re thinking about growing your travel business into a travel consortium. Or maybe you’ve already started your consortium. Regardless at what stage your business is at, if you are taking on the responsibility of multiple agents and homeworkers, there are a few tools that are going to be invaluable.

These things are often small changes your travel consortium needs made to adapt to your business model. It could be something as small as adapting your branding so its easy for your agents to utilise without your help. These tools or changes can be a simple matter of switching your prioritise, and many of them aren’t changes that even require extra spend.

Regardless of where you are in this, these are the top 3 things we think you should focus on first.

1. Find Software Adaptable to a Travel Consortium

The elements you need in a software platform is very dependent on the business. In saying that, there are some things we recommend looking for. Specifically for a travel consortium, having the capacity for multiple users is going to be essential to avoiding extra hassle or having to move or upgrade.

At PTS, we have unlimited users in the system for exactly this reason. For the members that are running a consortium, having those unlimited users is one of the core reasons they use our software. It means that regardless of how many homeworkers or agents they take on, they don’t have to worry about it costing extra money in software or stretching them across multiple platforms.

For this reason, it’s also important to look for user controls. For example, in the PTS system, the primary user of an account has the ability to manage restrictions and capabilities for the users under them. This means that your agents can’t accidentally access the wrong things or have to ask for your help with a task unnecessarily. It also means that each agent has an individual profile to take care of just their bookings and admin.

This isn’t just about efficient control for you, it’s about making the experience for your agents as seamless and smooth as possible. Many agents will choose to join a consortium to avoid some of the areas of business that they don’t feel equipped to deal with, so using a system that feels easy for them is key.

Of course, we’ve used our own system as an example here, but how these features best fit your business is only something you can know.

2. Avoid Restrictive Tools or Providers

This is obviously easier said than done. Many providers will have some restrictions, even just for legal reasons. The important part here is to find tools, providers, and suppliers that aren’t restricting the operation of your business.

This is especially important around suppliers. Since your travel consortium will be operating with so many agents, it is vital that you are able to use the suppliers that work for the holidays you will be booking.

Many travel business support platforms will have a set list of suppliers for you to choose from, and it can be a big problem for independent businesses. Ensuring your agents can use the best suppliers for their bookings will make a huge difference.

This is something we’re very proud to offer at PTS. All of our members are free to use the suppliers we have contracts with, or just choose their own suppliers and add them to their account for easy access. This freedom can be so make or break that it has become a core feature of our support.

3. Digitise Your Admin

When you have multiple agents working within your brand, finding the most efficient admin solution is going to save you a lot of time. It is also going to be the easiest to keep track of admin for you and your agents if it is also contained on a digital platform.

This is another task that the right software should be able to cover. For example, on the PTS software, we have seen members report a 40% reduction in admin time as a result of multiple tasks that they can automate, and everything being held in one place.

When you’re working solo, the amount of admin may not seem too unmanageable, but once there are multiple agents, even with separate user profiles, keeping that admin and paperwork as organised and contained as possible is going to save you a lot of stress. The ability to automate tasks can also be very helpful if there are some that will be the same across you’re entire travel consortium, regardless of user.

The most important thing when you’re running your own travel consortium, is adapting your support to how you run your business, not the other way around. You will have to make some changes, but these shouldn’t be huge differences in how you like to work. Your business is yours, and only you know how it works best.

So whatever kind of support your travel consortium needs, take the time to find the right fit for you, it will be worth it. And if you would like to discuss what might be the right fit for you, or if PTS could be a part of your support services, don’t hesitate to call us at 0207 190 9988, or email hellopts@protectedtrustservices.com.