The boss of £1.2bn turnover technology giant Travel Counsellors has said AI can be used to their advantage.
Steve Bryne told the company’s three-day conference at the ACC Liverpool, that AI can enhance storytelling.
Earlier this year the Manchester-headquartered tech-enabled travel company reported record £566m H1 revenues after achieving 10 per cent year-on-year growth.
More than 1,500 people attended the event from November 7-9 and Bryne said Travel Counsellors was well placed to ride the technology wave.
“There’s a transformation in the way that people either buy or provide services and we need to turn it to our advantage,” he told BusinessCloud.
“In our world we know what our brand stands for and that’s personalisation and care for customers so how can we use that to enhance that personalisation and care?”
The company employs 2,300 travel counsellors and plans to grow turnover to £2bn.
He said social media enabled people to stand out from their competitors.
“The traditional ways of networking and winning business are just as relevant but social media can enable you to do that at scale,” he said.
“The key for us is to stand out from a really cluttered marketplace and that means sharing your personality,” he explained.
“Don’t just promote a destination and a product. Show the difference that you can make and enhance relationships.”
Bryne, who has been included in BusinessCloud’s Northern Leaders list two years running, identified ‘perseverance, resilience and hard work’ as the biggest differentiators for success.
“We try and help people as much as we possibly can,” he said. “We lose about 8 per cent (of travel counsellors) a year which is low for a home-based environment.
“The fact that we have people staying an average of 15 years after they’ve done their first two years is incredible in a self-employed environment. That’s because they feel part of something bigger than themselves.”
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Travel Counsellors invested £18m in technology in the last year and the figure is expected to increase to more than £20m over the next 12 months.
“The digital connection with the customer is supported by the human connection,” he said. “We want to provide the best of human touch and the tech.”
Travel Counsellors’ chief technology officer, Jon Bauer, used his conference speech to reveal the launch of a new AI assistant to its global network of agents.
The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Your Story, Our Journey’ and included speeches from Dragons’ Den star Sara Davies and travel presenter Simon Reeve.
The host of Saturday’s gala dinner was Vernon Kay and the evening ended with a surprise performance by the Irish band The Script, featuring singer Danny O’Donoghue.
The Script’s singer Danny O’Donoghue at the Travel Counsellors’ gala dinner