ALG Vacations Spotlights the Value of Travel Advisors at Ascend 2023

There is no shortage of people wanting to travel. The demand continues to spike upwards when it comes to booking trips, and consumers are eager to experience new destinations and plan meaningful vacations.

It might seem easy for a company to work directly with consumers, and some might wonder if travel advisors are simply a middleman with the sole role of making transactions. According to Mark Hoplamazian, president and CEO of Hyatt Hotels, this couldn’t be further from the truth. To him, advisors don’t just conduct administrative tasks. They build a sense of trust with their clientele which leads to those clients coming back time and time again for reliable travel advice.

“First and foremost, I have tremendous respect for the travel advisors because what they do is they get to know people and their clients at a personal level, and that level of engagement, empathy and understanding is invaluable,” Hoplamazian said at ALG Vacations’ Ascend conference. He added that for Hyatt and ALG Vacations, “having over 175,000 advisors as your partner base is just remarkable.”

ALG Vacations’ Ascend conference took place in Cancun and was attended by more than 650 travel advisors, 200+ suppliers and more than 100 ALG team members. It is no secret ALG values its travel advisor partners and in turn, is continuing to support advisors by providing new tools and resources.

Jacki Marks, Ray Snisky and Mark Hoplamazian (photo by Codie Liermann)

Service and Technology

Speaking to how COVID opened their eyes to the power of efficiency, Ray Snisky, group president, ALG Vacations, mentioned several new enhancements to their technology.

“The biggest initiative we’re going to make over the next couple years, which will kick off next year, is a multi-million-dollar investment to having our VAX platform, which is the leading platform in the industry, being much more flexible,” Snisky said.

ALG Vacations Executive Vice President Jacki Marks also talked about a new custom event page that’s on the horizon. This page will be something advisors can share with their groups, and the clients can simply go to the page and book their vacation within the group date.

“This is something we’ve been working on for several years, and advisors have been giving us the feedback on what they would like and testing it, so we’re expecting to release that in February,” Marks said. “It really is going to be a meaningful game changer, so we’re really excited about that and the support that we’ve gotten from the company to invest in that technology.”

In addition to new and exciting technology enhancements, ALG also has a service called “Exclusive Perks,” which includes negotiated benefits that advisors can offer their clients to help show their value. These perks include things like free beach beds at certain resorts and free Club Mobay services in Jamaica.

Advisors attending a workshop (photo by Codie Liermann)

Networking and Education

While hearing from ALG’s leaders is always a highlight for travel advisors, Ascend is filled with so much more, including a variety of workshops, a trade show floor and plenty of networking opportunities throughout the event.

“Of course, we know how to have fun. We know how to build relationships, but I always want to make sure that Ascend has quality in what [advisors] learn,” Marks said, adding that the company freshens up the workshops and provides new content each year based on advisor feedback. 

This year’s workshop topics included AI, public speaking, voluntourism, education on VAX VacationAccess and planning tips, among several others. 

“The Voluntourism workshop interested me the most,” said travel specialist Katherine Brandt. “I work with a lot of religious and community leaders who are seeking information on how to do more ‘church mission’ trips. The information provided to me from TeAmo and Amstar is very helpful to assist me in fulfilling the needs of an important client base.”

“This was my very first Ascend conference and I didn’t know what to expect,” Brandt added. “Whatever expectations I could have had, the Ascend conference would have exceeded them all. From the general sessions to the workshops, and on to that absolutely phenomenal supplier showcase, it was clear that the ALGV team put in herculean efforts to ensure the Ascend 2023 conference was successful.”

Farewell event at Hard Rock Cancun (photo by Codie Liermann)

Of course, it wouldn’t be Ascend without a little (or a lot) of fun. Between all the learning, advisors had their fair share of entertainment at the welcome event at Inclusive Collection’s Breathless Cancun Soul, the “50^th Anniversary of Hip-Hop” farewell event at AIC Hotel Group’s Hard Rock Cancun and at the various host hotels throughout Cancun.

The show of appreciation for advisors and investment in them was clear throughout the conference, but Snisky said it himself during his closing words: “We’re not done investing in tech, in education, in product, in air, in groups and all of you.”

Next year’s Ascend 2024 event will take place in the same spot from October 22-25, 2023, and early sign-up is key as the conference is known to sell out within weeks.

About the Author

Codie Liermann is the managing editor of The Compass. She began her career in the industry as a travel advisor prior to working as an editor. With a passion for creating valuable content for travel advisors, she aims to develop meaningful relationships with all types of travel companies in order to share their unique messages with the travel agency community.