Throughout the pandemic, Apple Leisure Group Vacations (ALGV) underscored its commitment to travel advisors, declaring 2021 The Year of the Travel Advisor for their efforts in going above and beyond the call of duty.

So it should come as no surprise that ALGV stressed its enduring relationship with agents during the company’s Apple Vacations Premium Retreat at the Dreams Natura Resort & Spa in Cancun, which runs from May 12-15.

The silver lining of the pandemic is that it made travel advisers more resilient, and therefore in a better position to be more successful in the future, noted ALGV Group President Ray Snisky. “Travel advisors were there for their clients during this difficult time period, getting them refunds and rebooking them and those kinds of things,” he said.

“We’re seeing agents look at a new way of doing business and focusing on their unique talents. Some of them are going from brick-and-mortar storefronts to being part of another agency or becoming hosts. There’s a whole new transition on what’s the best way for them to lead their businesses to be successful.”

Snisky advised agents not to “rush back to being exactly who they were before the pandemic” but rather “think more creatively and innovatively, like a startup.”

Going forward, it imperative that agents “really engage the customers” in the experiential nature of their vacations, he said.

As a case in point, Snisky noted that 75 percent of passengers book one or more excursions – which ALGV pays commissions on. “It’s vital for agents to get out of their comfort zones and really engage their customers ahead of time so that when someone’s remembering their children swimming with dolphins or a sunset cruise with their spouse, they tie that to the advisor,” he said.

“Excursions is one area that advisors could really make additional money on” with such companies as Amstar, said ALGV Vice President of Sales Jim Tedesco. “They can sell the Amstar vouchers and they make commissions on the vouchers and their clients can take those vouchers directly to the desk at the hotels and have some freedom and flexibility to decide what they want to do on site.”

At the end of the day, Snisky drove home the point that the company has historically put agents first. “It’s the foundation of our company then as it is now and will be in the future. We are incapable to be the company we are without them. They are the lifeblood of everything we do,” he said.

“This company was founded in 1969 with an investment in travel agency relationships. “Those relationships are our No. 1 priority today – and they will be in 2069.”