Collette sets out to help agents save time while earning more money
One of the first things that Ron Lonsdale will tell you is that multi-day, guided touring has evolved and Collette has been part of that evolution. Today, its tours are far different than they were in day’s past.
And that’s a message that Lonsdale, Collette’s vice-president – along with Brett Walker, GM & international business operations and the Collette team – have been delivering to Canadian travel advisors on a regular basis, telling Travel Courier: “We’re trying to educate the advisor on Collette’s tours today and make them fully aware of all our value propositions.”
During a recent Travel Agent Appreciation event the company hosted in Toronto, Lonsdale also told TC: “We want to recognize and thank our valued advisors for the time and effort that they invest into our partnership and to reinforce how we’re investing in technology; how we’re servicing and supporting them; how we’re giving them the tools to make them more efficient and allowing them to sell in this environment.”
In this respect, Lonsdale points to how busy travel advisors are these days, observing: “We want to help them save time and make them more money and I think what our infrastructure is allowing them to do, is that we pick up the phone in [less than] a minute and they can do a booking in 18 minutes and on average it’s $2,300 [in commission].”
Plus, there’s the ancillary revenue that advisors can earn.
“They can sell extensions. Purchase our air or our travel protection plan,” Lonsdale said, noting that with Collette’s travel protection plan, advisors’ clients “can change for any reason right up to 24 hours prior to departure,” and as for air, “we pay them [advisors] commission on air;” which also comes with a transportation package “where we pick up their [advisor’s] clients from their door [the client’s] and take them to the airport and it’s a private sedan service and that’s also in destination where it’s arrival and departure.”
The impact of travel advisors
Asked just how important travel advisors are to Collette’s business, Lonsdale responded: “They’re an integral part of our business, to its success and to the growth of our business. And we know after the pandemic, the silver lining is, you know, advisors know how to navigate, [they know] the new travel restrictions, saving their clients time and just their knowledge and experience and, again, that’s why we want to reinforce our new University program and give them this suite of tools that’s going to allow them to better serve their clients.”
Rolled out last fall, Collette University was launched as part of the tour company’s Encompass 360 Campaign, with other elements of the program including its Travel Advisor Portal, My Collette and its Travel Advisor Resource Guide.
Lonsdale explained that Collette University was based on feedback from advisors and the synchronized learning program features a number of different modules – ranging in length from two to 12 minutes – and takes about 90 minutes to complete if the advisor does it all at once, but that’s not a requirement. “Advisors can do it on their own time and at their own pace,” he said.
He continued: “The other thing we’re doing is encouraging advisors to go onto our Travel Agent Network (TAN). It’s a peer-to-peer group and we’re putting current and relevant information there – sales tips and tricks, virtual webinars, tour releases. It’s a closed Facebook Group – peer-to-peer – and it’s a platform to connect with other advisors.’
Lonsdale also emphasized the help that its BDMs can provide to advisors across Canada, telling TC: “The BDMs can help with local engagement, community outreach, work with advisors and agency owners on their business and marketing plans, do in-person training and consumer events.”
“The other thing is, we’re finding over 40% of our revenue is on Groups and the BDMs can and are collaborating with advisors and encouraging them to host groups or look for group opportunities within their communities.”
Small makes a beautiful group
Small groups are big business for Collette and its travel advisor partners these days, with Lonsdale telling TC that 40% of its revenue is generated by Groups in general, but Explorations (Collette’s small groups product) accounts for “50% of our revenue.”
“Explorations is definitely trending up,” observes Collette’s Brett Walker, noting that “right now, 47% of all the passengers booked with Collette [are booked] on small groups.”
Lonsdale is also quick to point out that Collette’s small groups “are not just tours where we cap [the number of passengers].”
“These small group tours are designed in a particular way where it’s off-the-beaten paths, secondary cities, you’re experiencing more of the antiquities, culture and flavour of that destination,” he explained.
Asking the obvious: how’s business?
When asked the simple question: How’s business? Lonsdale responds: “We’re [up] 28% over last year (2024) and I think we’re outpacing the U.S. when it comes to Explorations because I think Canadians are more adventurous.”
Canadians, he continued, “like more exotic destinations; they want to experience new destinations; have unique experiences you can’t Google; and I think we’ve got to the modern traveller – into their minds – and I think the product – we have our own buyers and designers in the destinations, led by local experts and tour directors and I think we’ve positioned ourselves as premium – you know 4, 4.5, 5-star experience.”
“And we’re East-West,”Walker adds. “We’re an East-West [operator]. If we had any South, it would be a different story. Generally, the South that we do is Costa Rica and it’s doing incredibly well.”
Walker continued: “But there’s an old adage – which is so true – ‘if you do good in Europe, it’s a good year,” and Europe and Asia and anything that touches South Africa right now” is doing well.
Lonsdale also pointed to the South Pacific as being a strong performer, telling TC that: “Now we know what’s going on with the geopolitical situation and tariffs, I think consumers are looking at where they could go where they’ll get value.”
He explained: “If I look at the Australia-New Zealand dollar; if I look at the Baht, the Rand, the Yen – the Canadian dollar is strong [against these currencies].”
Walker also makes the point that these destinations or regions are “welcoming environments.”
“It’s a turbulent time and boy, oh boy, if you’re doing business cross-border right now, unfortunately, it’s difficult. But other parts of the world, every region or destination we’ve mentioned to this point have been unaffected. In fact, we’re doing well and our dollar is doing very well. Our dollar has held up,” he said.
For Lonsdale, the fact is that: “Canadians want to connect with culture and immerse themselves with local communities. I think what we’ve done is — with our purposeful pacing where we’re focusing on a country or region of a country – is we’re spending more time in those areas or destinations than on the coach so they can experience it like a local.”
As for the answer to that original simple question, Lonsdale told TC that: “We stabilized in March and now there’s [been] an uptick. And I think the other thing is we have guaranteed dates and pricing for 2026 and into 2027. For 2026, we have 82,000 guaranteed seats and we’ve probably sold 8% of the inventory. For 2027, we have close to 28,000 seats and we’ve sold over 2% of the inventory — and we’re seeing advanced bookings.”
As for final thoughts, Lonsdale told TC: “We talk about customer excellence. We talk about agent and partner-centricity. And we put the agents first.”
