Wholesale F.I.T. tour operator Avanti Destinations, based on the West Coast in Portland, Oregon, has opened a sales service center in Manchester (UK) in order to increase the number of hours that the company’s trained consultants are available to US travel advisors.
Avanti has been selling custom-crafted independent travel vacations for U.S. clients since 1981 exclusively through travel advisors, not directly to consumers.
“More travel advisors are working remotely and communicating with us electronically, as well as the traditional way by phone,” explained Paul Barry, CEO of Avanti Destinations. “In addition, the number of travel advisors in the eastern half of the US who work with us has been growing substantially. Having a service center in the UK – five hours ahead of the East Coast and eight hours ahead of our headquarters in Portland – means that the time we are available to advisors has greatly expanded.
“The Manchester office is open from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. local time. For the first few hours of their day, they handle email and web-based communications that came in overnight from US advisors, which helps free up our Portland travel consultants who begin at 6 a.m. Pacific. Manchester starts answering advisor phone calls at 2 p.m. UK time/9 a.m. Eastern, but in 2024 the Manchester travel consultants will expand the hours they spend answering advisor calls, with the goal of starting at 12 noon UK/7 a.m. Eastern. With Portland answering calls until 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern, this means we will be giving advisors 11 hours a day to contact us by phone, 20 hours a day for electronic communications,” said Barry.
Trend Towards More Electronic Communications, Fewer Phone Calls
Barry also noted that since the launch of the company’s new booking platform in the fall of 2021, the volume of phone calls from advisors has been reduced to one-third of what it was before the launch, while both the number of inquiries and bookings have increased.
“The new AI-enhanced booking platform is allowing advisors to quickly and easily generate ‘inspirational’ custom F.I.T. itineraries on their own, tailored to the client’s interests, destinations, and hotel style. This gets the conversation started with clients, and then advisors can also use it to refine the itinerary and price it. Putting this tool in advisors’ hands, accessible 24/7, has greatly streamlined communications and the entire booking process,” said Barry.
For more information or to book custom-tailored, multi-destination independent travel 365 days a year throughout Europe, Asia, the South Pacific, North Africa, the Middle East or Central and South America, log onto the revamped advisor portal https://book.avantidestinations.com or call 1-800-422-5053 to speak with an expert travel consultant.
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