Vacation Planners is refocused and back in growth mode

Travel Weekly

2 days ago

In March 2024, Travel Planners International (TPI) made waves, announcing the launch of an agency franchisor, Vacation Planners, joining a select few in the travel agency space.
A year later, the company took a months-long marketing and recruitment break as it reevaluated its place in the market.
Now, Vacation Planners is again actively recruiting travel advisors. Its five existing franchisees have hit nearly $1 million in combined sales this year, and it is in the midst of a 30-day onboarding process with a sixth franchisee who signed on in mid-June.
"In business, when you launch, you think one thing," said president and chief marketing officer Jenn Lee. "You get down the line a little bit and you reevaluate. We were in a reevaluation and a relaunching position, not just from a branding standpoint, but also our internal processes to support our franchisees. We've learned a lot over the last five months."
Jenn Lee
When Travel Planners International (No. 35 on Travel Weekly's Power List) introduced Vacation Planners, Lee -- who had been TPI's vice president of industry engagement and support -- moved to solely support the new brand as its president. But earlier this year, TPI leadership made a change: Lee was named president and chief marketing officer of both brands and has been on a mission to unify the two ever since.
"As we were implementing, it became almost a division between TPI over here and Vacation Planners over there, when it really should have been like a Globus family of brands type of setup," Lee said. "When I came back in as president, it was to create that consistency and continuity between the two brands from a marketing standpoint, but also from a vision standpoint. So now we're able to bring it back a little closer."
From a marketing perspective, the brands now present a unified approach.
For instance, Lee said, advisors will always see the TPI logo and the Vacation Planners logo together. The two share space at events. Webinars are offered to advisors with both brands.
"Everything that we do that's advisor-facing, that's industry-facing, will always be TPI and Vacation Planners," she said, calling it "one company with two propositions."
Both brands now use the tag line "Sell travel your way," an indication that advisors can choose the hosted path with TPI or to become franchise owners with Vacation Planners.
When she returned to TPI, Lee recognized a need to increase staff.
Last month, TPI brought on vice president of sales engagement Calvin Rodriguez, most recently a key account director with Carnival Cruise Line, and Vacation Planners hired operations manager Kara McCarty, who came from IBM, where she held project-management roles.
"I needed someone to take over the day-to-day operations [at Vacation Planners] and lead our marketing team, which is the team that does the done-for-you marketing for our franchisees," Lee said. "We do every aspect of their marketing: their landing pages, their flyers, all their social media, ask for reviews, all that. We really needed to refine that process."
Now, Lee plans to more actively position Vacation Planners in front of the industry with increased marketing.
It is seeking experienced advisors, not those who are new to the industry, and is talking with interested agents.
"They want to see the proof is in the pudding," she said. "They want to talk to our current franchisees. What's working? Why did you sign up? What motivated you to buy a franchise, and what is it that you like most about it?"