Forbes Travel Guide (FTG) announced at its Summit this week in Monaco that it is taking its successful travel advisor portal and using it as the template for a new, fully fleshed-out platform called Meridian. The portal launched two years ago as part of then-newly hired Senior Vice President of Travel Industry Outreach Richard Lebowitz’s plan to improve the company’s engagement with the travel advisor community.
The initial phase of outreach included the launch of that portal, travel agency endorsements and opportunities for recognition and invitations to the annual FTG Summit.
What to Expect From Meridian
This year, however, that portal is being upgraded into Meridian, a platform that will let advisors plan, book and customize trips (flights and activities included); keep track of clients; set reminders and schedule recurring tasks; and connect with clients via instant messaging. FTG also sees Meridian being an “AI-powered assistant,” recommending personalized journeys based on client details, automating select tasks, creating blog and social media posts, and more. Like the existing portal, it will also connect advisors with hotel general managers or other top executives via an automatic email that comes from Lebowitz’s email, simply asking the hotelier to thank the advisor for their business; it does not require the hotels to “VIP” these clients or provide any special perks—not even “an extra blueberry,” as Lebowitz joked.
Most notably, however, Meridian will debut later this year what Forbes Travel Guide touts as the industry's first advanced commission payment service. While the launch date has not yet been set, Lebowitz told Luxury Travel Advisor that, ideally, advisors would be paid their commission in advance of the client’s stay. FTG would pay out of pocket to the agencies, then accept the commission payment from the hotel when it would typically be paid out.
It’s all part of a developing relationship between FTG and the advisor community. So, while programs like the advanced commission payment plan is not “an easy, quick slam dunk,” as Lebowitz said (in terms of implementation, which won’t occur before summer at the earliest), he added, “we have a commitment to do this.” To us, at the very least, the idea is without a doubt a “slam dunk.”
An Evolving Relationship
Lebowitz also noted there may be applications of Meridian that are currently not on the docket that may need to be added, such as ways to track conversion rates or ways to compare performance versus previous periods. It’s part of the reason the 80 advisors have been invited to attend The Summit, where FTG is also hosting a Travel Professionals Pavilion—giving advisors and general managers a place and free time to network—for the first time. “They're up there now, hopefully telling our guys, ‘Have you thought about this?’” Lebowitz said.
In a general session where he announced the new platform, Forbes Travel Guide CEO Hermann Elger said, “We believe, most importantly, in one distribution method: our travel advisors, the best partners.”
In addition to Meridian, Elger said that Forbes Travel Guide has now endorsed 54 travel agencies, up from 44 last year. Of the roughly 750 attendees at The Summit this year in Monaco, about 80 are travel professionals—including travel advisors/independent contractors, agency owners and CEOs, and those in other management roles. The 80 travel professionals mark the most in the three years in which advisors have been invited to The Summit (about 50 travel professionals, as FTG calls them, attended each of the last two years).
Recognizing Travel Advisors
Forbes Travel Guide on Thursday also awarded its Travel Professional of the Year, given to James Turner, CEO of 360 Private Travel, based in Seven Oaks, U.K. The agency comprises over 200 employees with offices in the U.K., Europe, the U.S., Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.
We asked Lebowitz what earned Turner the award. He said, “He does everything to remove obstacles so that [his team] can sell. He gets them. He understands that to be a major stress. He changed his business model. He's expanding now in seven countries. He's focused on growth without compromising service.” Speaking about Turner, as well as previous winners Sam Leiberman and Helena Andrén, Lebowitz added, “These are people that are passionate about what they're doing, not only for their team, but for the industry. They give back.”
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