Secret Double Agents

Winning the hearts and minds of travel agents is one of the keys to running a successful hotel chain. Agents are barraged by faxes, brochures, and advertisements from hotels, airlines, rental car companies, cruise lines, and destinations. The information changes daily as rates are revised and promotions generated. If a hotel wants to get the attention of travel agents, it must break through this information overload and promise something more.

To increase booking activity for Radisson Hotels during slow travel periods, Gail Recker of the Carlson Marketing Group created a “hurdle” promotion to motivate travel agents. Using the Radisson travel agent database, Gail created a specific “confidential” and achievable goal for each agent’s booking of Radisson hotels between March and May. The goal varied based on an analysis of the agents’ past activity with Radisson. Upon reaching the goal, the travel agents would be rewarded with “double points” for bookings made through August. The points earned by the travel agents would put them into a sweepstakes drawing. Eight agents would be selected in the drawing for an all-expenses-paid, 2-week trip to one of several exotic spots as a training exercise.

Because the reward for agents offered double points, the program was called Secret Double Agent, with spylike teasers and a mission for each travel consultant.

Phase 2 of the promotion focused on the slow travel period just before the holiday season, with successful agents being rewarded with double points for future bookings made in October and November. Radisson and Country Inns & Suites general managers received a mailing to alert them to the programs.

How the Hurdles Were Determined

The program was launched by sending a self-mailer with customized hurdles to 80,000 U.S. and Canadian travel agents. The hurdle levels were determined by segmenting agents into 10 tiers based on past booking patterns, probability, and liability. A control group of 20,000 agents was identified that was not included in the promotion. This gave Carlson the ability to measure the incremental value of the program.

The Radisson database, which had been built up over 9 years, included 250,000 travel agents worldwide. The database was used to communicate monthly with the agents.

The goal of the program was to increase incremental revenue from the 80,000 targeted agents by between $1.5 and $3 million over a 6-month period. The results were far greater than anticipated. The incremental revenue increased by $4.5 million, with 15 percent of the targeted agents reaching their hurdle and receiving the double points as an incentive.