The secret ingredients to Excite’s success

The secret ingredients to Excite’s success
By Hannah Edensor


Ahh, we love secret ingredients to successful businesses, so get a notepad and pen and start scooping these for your own business.

According to Executive Director of Excite Holidays, Nic Stavropoulos, success boils down to the trust of the trade and the agents who use the Excite platform.

Earlier this week, Stavropoulos revealed to TW exclusively why agent trust is so important to them, and why it took so long to earn it.

Built to be easy to use and designed to look like a consumer interface, Excite’s platfrom has gained traction in Australia and beyond, with sales teams in the UK, New Zealand, and soon, the US.

Excite Holidays are confident in its American expansion despite the competition and their predecessors.

There are many companies that have tried to move into the US but we are set up for the travel agent work flow process. Super easy, consumer-like system for wholesale, best rates and availability and mark-up,” Stavropoulos said.

Indeed, launching into the US market was a dream for Stavropoulos. It will take place at the end of November and be spearheaded by one of Excite’s top salespeople from New South Wales.

“Trust is a delicate, valuable thing,” Stavropoulos admitted.

But while trust is king, Excite knows that agents shop around. At the end of the day, platforms are all selling the same Hilton hotel room.

“This is where agendas come in to play. So we never push anyone else’s agenda. We only push the cheapest rate. If we directly contract we’ll display that other rate.”

Other consortium platforms may push their own agenda, Stavropoulos added.

“That’s the strength of us being independent.”

Consumers usually walk into agencies time-poor, clueless, or with complex itineraries, Excite believes, and agents need to compete with online solutions.

“The biggest competitor for the agent is the internet. And technology is putting the power back into the consumer’s hands. Through our innovations and investment, Excite created the most consumer-like wholesale platform made for agents,” Stavropoulos said.

He also flagged expansion into new products beyond their remit of hotels and ferries. That could mean into the cruise space, flights or rail.

“It’s finding those niche products and making sure that if we do launch we ensure we are a successful player,” Stavropoulos revealed.

“There’s no-one doing it that owns their own technology – they’re the overseas players that have been gobbled up by bigger groups. The players that end up investing in tech end up leading the industry and taking advancements.

“We do the right thing by our clients and that resonates with them. That’s allowed us to gain some serious loyalty, but then, you’re only as good as your last booking.”

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