The brand XL Travel has earned distinction in the South African travel industry. Its owner-managed member agencies are recognised for their combination of a commitment to excellence, service delivery, entrepreneurial flair, and good pricing due to the group’s procurement power.
But one of XL’s greatest strengths is the depth of experience of its members. Some of South Africa’s largest and most-respected agencies are founding members of the group. Many of those members were present at the XL Travel Power Up Conference, held at Banana Island Resort Doha by Anantara from October 18-22.
168 delegates, both XL agents and suppliers, gathered to discuss the industry, learn from the conference sessions, network and then party the night away. It wasn’t all work and no play – delegates were taken on walking tours of Doha, a miracle of modernity in the desert. Lunches were sponsored by Amadeus, Avis and XL Travel. Hollard and Qatar Tourism sponsored the dinners, some of them offsite in Doha. Every single meal was a culinary adventure – the cuisine on the island and in Doha was consistently of a very high standard at all the venues.
Themes
One of the themes at the conference around which there was plenty of discussion, was how best to drive the optimal utilisation of technology in the business.
Several times, the point was made that the future belongs to those who embrace the new tech. For XL agencies, embracing this new tech includes encouraging the use of the traveller app, XLgo; driving the use of AI to perform repetitive tasks in the agency and also encouraging the understanding and use of the NDC platform in the members’ businesses.
XL’s incredibly efficient traveller app, XLgo, is a huge benefit to any traveller. The app delivers itineraries, messaging, duty of care, expense-tracking and real time notifications on the go, among many other benefits.
Marco Ciocchetti, XLTravel CEO, said it was important to get onboard with the new technology fast. In a world where the customer is constantly exposed to new technologies, those who don’t embrace these new tools could find themselves outrun by those who speak the same language as the client and deliver the client’s desired tech-driven solutions, fast.
Riaan van Schoor, Agentivity CEO and an expert in travel industry tech, said in his presentation that, looking ahead, agents could expect very great change at high speed and high volume. The key topics in the immediate future will be NDC, AI, Speed, Pandemics and Investment in Technology.
“The consumers who are propelling the speed of new tech adoption are your clients,” he pointed out.
Concerning NDC, Van Schoor said it was here to stay. The investment by airlines in NDC is the biggest spend ever in airline history. He said the integration of NDC was real and it was happening now – barriers were being removed. Airline adoption is accelerating – more than 60 airlines are now on NDC. “Riyadh Air (a new state-owned Saudi carrier) will be all-NDC,” he said.
Looking beyond NDC, Van Schoor sees the emergence of Offer Order – a system in which the agent could supply the information on the client’s need and receive an airline offer in return. “Booking classes might even not exist after this,” he said.
“AI will make your job easier.” He added that AI helped agents deliver good personal service quickly and that was what clients paid for.
“The skills you have today are not the skills you need tomorrow. Service is agents’ golden ticket. The opportunity is enormous.”
Life coach, Jonti Mayer’s presentation too, related to implementation – of good habits. “If you don’t create your future deliberately, you will end up drifting into your past…Tell me your habits and I will tell you your future – habits determine your future,” said Mayer, going on to describe the importance of bringing the right, positive habits into one’s life and business.
Banana Island
Anantara’s five-star Banana Island Resort Doha was a great choice for the conference. Its 141 sea-view rooms (including suites, beach and over-water pool villas) are set on a crescent of golden beach just off the coast of downtown Doha. Access to the mainland is by private air-conditioned boat.
The resort has a surf pool, cinema, bowling alley, mini-putting golf course and an Anantara Spa offering holistic healing and technology-driven treatments.
