ARMED with more resorts now in various locations than just Hawaii, Outrigger Resorts will aggressively recruit travel agencies to its side, launching its rewards programme in Asia-Pacific in mid-2015 in multiple languages.
Outrigger Expert Agents earn points that are redeemable for cash when they book clients into an Outrigger property or complete an Outrigger destination online training course. Clients will also enjoy a welcome amenity in the agency’s name and gifts specific to the geographic market.
This reward programme has existed since 2009 and currently has 8,000 members, but primarily agencies in the US, Canada and Australia. Outrigger’s vice president sales & marketing Asia-Pacific, Mark Simmons, said the chain is looking to bolster the number of its expert agency consultants globally to 15,000 in 12 months and 18,000 in 18 months, 30 per cent of whom will be agencies from Asia-Pacific.
In this region, China and Australia are key markets and Outrigger is further massaging their growth with the opening of new offices in Beijing and Sydney this year. China, Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore, India, Japan and South Korea will be among the markets where “the big bang” to get expert agency consultants will happen, said Simmons.
“Travel agencies and wholesalers contribute 50 per cent, and in some cases 80 per cent, of business. We don’t see this going away, and this is why we are launching this programme and forging strategic relationships in which we do joint marketing and give brochure support. The OTAs are also another channel, so our approach is two-pronged,” said Simmons.
He pointed out that a resort product needs agency specialists as invariably the clients are couples, honeymooners, families and the likes for whom other vital components must be packaged.
“We also have more products now in destinations that are aspirational for Asian clients,” added Simmons.
Outrigger has been buying up properties in Asia-Pacific and gaining several management contracts in the region. It now has three resorts in Thailand, two in Fiji, four in Australia and one in Mauritius. Among five properties it fully owns in Asia-Pacific are the Outrigger Laguna Phuket Beach Resort and a new resort debuting in the Maldives in 2015.
In the pipeline too is a resort in Hainan, opening in 2016, and another in Vin Huy (Hoi An, Vietnam), opening in 2017. It parted company with Bali recently “due to product issue”, said Simmons, but added “we’ve got a few properties cooking in Bali”, as well as in “the Philippines, Japan, Micronesia, Australia and Thailand”.
The expansion is a far cry from just a few years ago when Outrigger is synonymous only with Hawaii, where it has no fewer than 35 resorts. With a more global footprint and with Hawaii itself an aspirational destination for Asians, Simmons believes travel agencies and wholesalers will quickly latch on to Outrigger to increase their revenues.
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