The Latest Consortia Events, Learning Opportunities and Updates

Ensemble is now a preferred partner of Fathom, whose cruise guests volunteer for community service such as this Dominican Republic cacao operation.
Ensemble is now a preferred partner of Fathom, whose cruise guests volunteer for community service such as this Dominican Republic cacao operation.

From conference news to supplier connections to personnel moves, here are some of the latest developments on the consortia front.

At the CoNexion 2015 conference concluded earlier this month, Nexion announced that it is expanding its business development opportunities and events. Building off the NEX-Door regional events launched this year, Nexion will convene six regional sessions in 2016, called Nexion on the Road. Each event is expanding to two days to correspond with ship inspections or area activities with Nexion’s supplier partners. Host cities will include Boston, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, New York, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

In conjunction with the Road program, Nexion is also adding to its networking resources even more with a new, formalized local networking group program, known as Nexion Networks. Locations were decided based on where Nexion has large concentrations of agents as well as results from a survey of Nexion members around the U.S. Nexion will also launch Boot Camp 2.0 in early 2016 as a follow-up, online session for agents who attend the three-day professional development program in Irving, TX. Boot Camp 2.0 is designed to help attendees “unpack” what they learn and apply it to their business through a collaborative and interactive virtual learning environment.

Nexion also highlighted its plans for a major technology upgrade set to take effect over the next three years. Agents will first begin noticing updates in 2016. Updates to existing programs include enhanced reporting capabilities targeted to individual business needs, upgraded automated commission processing allowing for more file types and matching functionality, and an upgraded SNAP! (Simple Nexion Air Program) booking platform. Perhaps the largest change to the current platform is the overhaul of the current WebView agent portal, which when launched will be called myNexion.

Signature has announced The Beekman, A Thompson Hotel as the next selection for its ‘FIRST’ hotel sales and marketing program for 2016. The Beekman will be the only ‘FIRST’ hotel in New York City in 2016. The program aims to drive sales and generate awareness for distinctive openings of notable properties, or major re-openings of existing hotels.

Ensemble Travel Group recently announced a preferred supplier partnership with Fathom, Carnival Corp.’s new social impact travel brand. Fathom will conduct product training sessions at the Ensemble Travel Group International Conference, October 25-29 in Orlando.

Vacation.com has just wrapped up its latest series of regional events designed to inspire its members and provide them with the opportunity to network with suppliers and their fellow agents. The “Think Bigger”-themed events, held in Seattle, Charlotte, NC, and Kansas City, KS, included customized interactive training for the consortium’s CruisePRO and hotel programs, supplier partner roundtable discussions, training sessions, networking opportunities with colleagues and support teams and a trade show with supplier partners. Attendees also received information on Vacation.com’s newest online tool, Agent Snapshot, which enables agents to introduce themselves and their travel experiences to consumers online.

During the recent Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas, Protravel International received an award as the network’s top producing agency for the 11th year in a row. Protravel was represented by a record-breaking delegation of 144 agents in attendance. In addition, Protravel’s Annette Sordoni earned the grand prize for her travel photo submitted for the Virtuoso “Advisor Photo & Video Contest.”

Barry Liben is stepping aside as CEO of Travel Leaders to focus entirely on Tzell Travel Group as its president and CEO. Liben will remain on TL’s Board of Directors. The consortium’s new CEO is Ninan Chacko, who is returning to the travel industry after six years as CEO of PR Newswire. He had previously worked for Worldspan and Sabre.