A major contributor to Helloworld’s (HLO) improved financial results announcement yesterday came from their in-house wholesale brand portfolio.
With a global portfolio of brands including: Qantas Holidays, Viva Holidays, Insider Journeys (Previously Travel Indochina), Rail Tickets, Harvey’s Choice & The Cruise Team (Australia), Go Holidays (New Zealand), Qantas Vacations, Travel2 & Islands in the Sun (USA), and Insider Journeys (UK & Asia) the business continues to head in the right direction.
Impressively, adjusted EBITDAI for the wholesale segment for 1H15 was $3.8 million representing a sizeable improvement of $1.7 million (Up 81%) on 1H14, whilst overall the Wholesale segment including Wholesale Australia, Wholesale NZ, newly created Insider Journeys (previously Travel Indochina) and Wholesale USA collectively generated a TTV of $300.9 million.
Revenue margin increased from 11.5% to 12.7% whilst operating costs decreased by 18% due to a continued focus on productivity improvements and operational efficiency.
The smiles are back: Fiona Dalton Qantas Holidays, David Clark The Cruise Team, The girls from helloworld Paramatta Westfield, Peter Egglestone GM Helloworld Wholesale
Quite a change of fortune given it was only eighteen months ago that then GM Michael Londregan exited the business with Peter Egglestone taking up the reigns of what many onlookers were quick to express at the time – a business on the edge of the precipice.
Since then the Helloworld in-house provider has risen again, with particularly Qantas Holidays in Australia winning back the confidence and sales of Helloworld and independent agents through much improved agent support, significantly reduced call wait times and agent training and initiatives that have all brought back the love for the Helloworld retail sibling.
The Qantas Holidays and Viva Holidays product ranges in Australia continue to be evolved to meet the needs of a rapidly changing customer with new ways of doing business being created for the agent network.
Clearly, listening and collectively involving the agents in the process has gone a long way to rejuvenating agents’ appetites and involvement as strategic partners rather than just customers.
The new Insider Journeys Brochures
Increasing consumer demand for tailored ‘Insider experiences’ has also fuelled the growth of successful Asia specialist, Travel Indochina which rebranded to Insider Journeys in February 2015.
Whilst perhaps perplexing to some as to why the well established 21-year-old brand decided to rebrand now, their rationale was that it was a consumer based insight and decision and one that has now given them scope to potentially expand the brand operating beyond the limits of Indochina.
Insider Journeys adopts Travel Indochina’s legacy and essence of tailored travel experiences for providing authentic interactions with local communities and unique stories.
In a time where the wholesale market is seemingly becoming increasingly saturated, Helloworld Wholesale’s results show there’s still good numbers to be had with the right leadership in place, customer engagement and a keen eye on the numbers.
