One of the emerging new trends in the consumer travel industry is the utilization of private travel clubs to secure better deals and values. Although these clubs have been around for decades (e.g., American Express and AAA), we are now seeing highly specialized and focused travel clubs within targeted consumer communities and special interest groups.
This new travel club setup trend is being manifested in three key areas:
- As a loyalty program which an increasing number of businesses are leveraging to recruit and retain valuable customers.
- As an employee recruiting, motivation, and retention tool.
- As a new type of business venture which travel entrepreneurs are using to build profitable enterprises.
Whichever route you might be considering, if you are planning on launching travel club, you will need to understand the nitty-gritty specifics so you can orchestrate a winning business plan for growth.
Depending on your unique business requirements, you can now easily and quickly customize your travel club offerings to cater to a wide range of demographics without worrying about complex budgetary or technical budgetary constraints. So, let’s dive into some of the planning and marketing keys to start a travel club.
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Step 1: Start With A Clear Vision
Ask yourself – Why do you want to start a travel club? What’s your theme? What makes you different from any other travel club setup? Does it fulfill an organizational mission? Are you looking for a source of income?
During this step, it would be wise to scour the internet for ideas and/or talk to entrepreneurs who are in the travel business. If you are already in a travel business, you can start by thinking about how you can add value to your existing customers. Will a launching travel club make their experience more enjoyable or provide enhanced value?
Once you figure these details out, you can then decide whether to create travel club on your own if you have great industry connections, or you can leverage a professional white-label travel club setup provider (like Custom Travel Solutions).
Step 2: Develop A Business Plan
Do some market research to narrow down to a definable market community or niche. Since you will probably be spending a significant amount of time, money, and energy for your travel club setup, you need to get the basics right.
Make a list of similar travel businesses (if any) and evaluate travel club pros and cons, depending on your business needs. You’ll also need to develop a brand presence that includes a distinctive name, website domain, and social media identities.
Remember it is all about creating a conducive environment for your customers or employees by adding attractive travel club benefits and generating consistent value for everyone involved. By writing out your business plan, you can be more certain of your options as you develop and start travel club.
Step 3: Establish The Business
Once you have completed your business plan, you are ready to begin launching travel club. Start by doing the necessary paperwork and then begin laying the foundation by getting the word out to your network. If you don’t have a physical office yet, don’t worry. A travel club is technology-driven and can be operated online from just about anywhere.
Step 4: Customize Your Travel Club
Once you have a legal entity established, you can start building and customizing the benefits and features for your club. Whether you do it yourself or use a white-label travel club setup provider, the platform must be tailored to fit your business aesthetics and unique goals.
The advantage of a white-label travel club platform is speed to market with a completely customizable design that starts from a core template. This is very helpful so you don’t have to start from scratch or need huge capital to finance to create travel business.
With an easily developed marketing website that bears your brand name and logo, you can get started in no time. You can tailor the features according to what your customers might anticipate. The beauty of customizing a travel club is that you can serve a variety of things on one platter. You can even take advantage of mobile app integration that makes the booking process extremely user-friendly.
Step 5: Get Rolling With Marketing And Sales
Narrow down the potential marketing and sales opportunities that fit your budget and business vision. The most common options include building word-of-mouth campaigns (especially within an employee or consumer community), targeted social media and email marketing, online and print ads, newsletters, referral chains, seminars, and press releases. Make a list of your viable strategies and tactics and then prioritize them.
Make sure to partner up with supportive groups and/or businesses. Work continually to establish your brand presence in the travel space and keep working to boost your return on investment (ROI).
If you would like more insight, please feel free to download the Travel Club Builder’s Guide. If you have already completed your preliminary business plan, you can also request a private demonstration of our travel club setup. Good luck to start a travel club!
