Articles tagged “travel agents”

As much as we wish 2016 was a thing of the past, we took a look at the U.S. travel jobs growth for last year and found that while it wasn't all bad news -- and many jobs were added -- that growth wasn't as robust as the previous year because of global events and a litany of other factors.

It's one thing for a private equity group to own many fragmented hotel and travel assets. It's another to own a distribution platform to sell those products. Apple Leisure Group's new owners have to feel good about leveraging the company's scale and using its resources to help increase the viability of its existing assets.

With Lola's acquisition of Room 77's metasearch tech, Room 77 essentially becomes a consumer insights and hotel search test lab for Lola. Room 77's original founders have essentially exited the business: Google licensed its tech and hired the bulk of its employees, Expedia acquired Room 77's pioneering room-view tech, TrustYou bought Room 77's Checkmate hotel-messaging app, and now Lola picked up the remaining technology.

With dozens of online sources available to consumers, travel consultants need the ability to clearly articulate the benefits of consulting an expert.

There are fewer generalist jobs right now, but there's a demand from consumers for specialized knowledge in the field.

Are travel agents being leveraged to serve as teachers for machine learning artificial intelligence? Time will tell.

Thomas Cook’s disastrous merger with The Co-operative Group in 2011 gave it more than 1,200 retail shops at a time when the public was switching to online sales. Gradually it has been trying to reduce this number while at the same time improving those deemed to be in key locations.

In a funny twist of fate, the man who helped drive consumers away from traditional travel agents with Kayak is now building a business around them. By combining the convenience of an app with the human touch, English and company are hoping to hit a sweet spot.

Many of the mergers and acquisitions among leisure travel agencies have been sought after by big companies looking to grow their sales volume, for a variety of reasons. But an aging population of agency owners is looking for an escape hatch as well, adding fuel to the acquisition frenzy.

Travel agents have come a long way since the early days of travel. Despite the rise of online travel websites and do-it-yourself planning, savvy travel agents are doing better than ever with the help of their networks.