Nexion Travel Group has announced a number of new happenings and developments at the start of the organization’s annual conference, CoNexion, taking place this week aboard Royal Caribbean International’s Harmony of the Seas. Everything from new member benefits to new marketing programs and technology solutions are being introduced this week to the more than 500 travel professionals in attendance.
In addition to the just-announced rebranding of the company and associated name change from Nexion to Nexion Travel Group, other developments include:
Continued implementation of Nexion Travel Group’s integrated technology solutions: Available by the end of the year, new on the technology front is the financial solutions rollout of myNexion, a Nexion-provided business operating system that expands members’ current CRM system into a full booking management and accounting solution. The dashboard provides visibility into sales opportunities and sales performance plus auto-synchronization of GDS bookings, supporting members who use each of the four primary GDS applications.
Also, Nexion Travel Group members will receive a new business to consumer website solution via Travel Leaders Network’s Leaders Edge, which will be tightly integrated with members’ operating systems. The Leaders Edge website solution includes full integration with the Agent Profiler lead generation tool, which enables consumers to search for a travel advisor based on a variety of criteria including advisor specialties and certifications. The website solution also features options to customize and build member-specific content based on the advisor’s preferences.
Major new integrated marketing campaigns to drive consumer demand: The Escape quarterly publication that was introduced in 2018 will continue in the coming year with additional components including a new Escape Insider customized monthly publication. Each issue of Escape is focused on varying themes, such as experiential travel, luxury travel and holiday travel, and is part of a strategic integrated print and digital consumer marketing campaign. Elements include a high gloss print publication along with a robust suite of digital components, including digital display on advisors’ consumer websites, emails sent to clients before the magazine arrives in homes and shortly afterwards, as well as layered social media posts that link back to a digital version of the print publication.
Beginning in 2019, clients will also begin receiving the monthly Escape Insider, which is a customized print and digital campaign with a more tactical and offer-driven focus. An associated direct mail campaign, along with a bi-monthly e-newsletter with the same offers in the printed piece, as well as additional last-minute exclusive travel deals from Nexion’s preferred supplier partners, will round out the campaigns.
Expanded educational and professional development opportunities: Nexion Travel Group will host a record 10 Regional Conferences in 2019 with events in select cities including a new consumer night, and events in other select locations featuring one-on-one appointments with preferred supplier partners.
Additionally, the organization has announced its lineup of Specialty Events, including Corporate CoNexions, Leap into Luxury Travel Forum, Group Travel Sales Summit and the Luxury Travel Sales Summit and Master Marketing Symposium for 2019.
Nexion Travel Group’s mentoring and coaching programs anticipate continued growth in the coming year, as well. Those include the NEXstrides business coaching program, Coaching for Success one-on-one business coaching and Agents Connecting Together mentoring program. These are in addition to the Nexion Veterans in Travel Program launched earlier this year, which is supplying a number of scholarships through Nexion’s Travel Leaders of Tomorrow program to military veterans interested in becoming professional travel advisors. The number of scholarships is expected to increase in 2019 as the program enters its first full year of operation.
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