Queenstown’s xtravel, fresh from scooping seven categories at the weekend’s Envoyage Travel awards, is launching into corporate travel.
Co-founder Tori Keating says she will use the same approach to corporate as she had to leisure travel— listening to her clients. While business and government travel has been hit by the sluggish domestic economy, she says, xtravel is optimistic about getting into the sector. “We’re not looking to work with giant corporations. We’re looking to work with small businesses who are making a difference and also to actually have their needs met.’’ The firm has three corporate travel consultants, one of whom would be based in Auckland and two in Queenstown. She says xtravel will release more details of the corporate travel operation soon, but she saw a gap in the market for a player that listened and was less transactional.
. . . The Secret Sauce
the awards xtravel and its staff picked up at the weekend was Division of the Year, and being named an Envoyage Icon which will allow her and co-founder Niki Davies to join other winners from other countries in South Africa later this year. xtravel also was the top seller for Air New Zealand and Emirates; while Keating was awarded the top seller for Intrepid Travel, which she says matched xtravel’s ethos of aiming to sell more authentic holidays that give back to the community. She says xtravel has been rewarded for its community work—from sending reading glasses to the Pacific, to baking for hospitals and sponsoring local sports teams. Although not the aim of the community work, engaged and grateful locals are also good for business, she adds.
. . . Expanding
Keating says some more traditional agencies were talking about tougher times across travel currently, but it’s not what her firm has experienced. There is a growing xtravel network from Papamoa to Wairarapa in the North Island and in the South Island it was in Hokonui, Dunedin, Invercargill and Wanaka. “The intention is to go where the demand is,” she adds.
