Stella’s Keith Stanley knows everything about behaviour!

With Stella and its parent having been in acquisition mode for a while, there were rumblings of discontent across the industry when they announced that not only that they were buying Travelscene American Express but also Harvey World Travel, exercising what appeared to be significant control over substantial domestic product though their traditional business but as a result of their retail acquisitions, now controlling a very large part of retail distribution.

The Mole met with Keith Stanley, the CEO of Stella Travel Services, [pictured right] for an exclusive interview to explore with him where the group was going and what his vision was for the future of Harvey World Travel and Travelscene American  Express.

Keith said that the brand strategy on the leisure side is very simple and is based on extensive research which very interestingly cast up core differences between the Harvey World Trave and Travelscene American Express brands.

Keith explained that the segmentation process they had undergone was not a traditional one in that if they had tried to segment on traditional parameters, they would quickly have gone astray because they realised that people behave differently depending on the trip, the purpose of the trip and even who they are travelling with.

He said, “We had to use behavioural segmentation and it is very hard to overlay traditional segmentation with the behavioural process, which I believe is the key to our future.”

“We found there were seven distinct segments with two quite close and others showing some very interesting behavioural characteristics.”

“We then overlaid on these, the customer attitudes toward the brands and from that we were able to position each of our brands and what is really interesting is that we were also able to place each of our competitors’ brands.”

“We have also gone back and had a good look and what we are doing now is starting to develop product with our suppliers that match the aspirations and behaviour of our segments and the brands we sell them through.”

“Harvey World and Travelscene American Express will remain as brands but we are exploring a new brand code named Platinum, for which we will be designing product differentiated to suit that demographic and that includes the look and feel along with the methodology, because we are aware that aspirationally there is a segment that is looking for better quality brand and we believe that this is where there is a gap.”

“We have a large number of people in this space and franchisees that want to join this brand.”

“The approach I have tried to take, along with Tracey Meade and she comes from another industry, is that traditionally the wholesaler comes to us with product to sell, but now we are going to them with what we want, because we are starting with the customer and asking what they want and then going back to the wholesaler asking them, can you supply this.”

“We believe that this will broaden the breadth of offering and while the same room or a flight might be offered through the brands it is what is wrapped around it that matters.”

“We also know that half the market prefers to buy through a travel agent and they will always be travel agent customers, with many doing their research and the booking through a travel agent.

“It is clear in the USA that people are going back to agents and while there are fewer agents than their used to be, they still have to be able to add value to the equation.”

“The entire market as moved up into the web space and they are now using the web as a tool.”

“The key here is that it is has surprised a lot of travel agents that the consumer is willing to pay agents to do the work for them and agents have to have the courage of their conviction to charge for their services.”

The Mole asked Keith about any integration issues around Harvey World Travel and Travelscene American Express, especially as the day of the interview was the first day of both operations working out of the same building in North Sydney.

Keith said, “The integration has been relatively smooth and overall I am very pleased with it.”  “We have begun to deliver some benefits to the franchisees and agents and we are working on the next phase now with the next series of launches in October/November around new brochures and that is all tied around the research.”

“I have presented the broad plans and we are now delivering, with integrated teams in either in place or in planning, in the areas of ticketing, air contracting, shared services for finance, property leasing, training and anywhere there is commonality.”

“We are looking at the brands and we see enormous value in the Travelscene and Harvey brand in a number of countries and we did the research in New Zealand, Australia and the UK – our three biggest markets – and interestingly, the Harvey brand in the UK and Australia sat in the same position and the level of brand recognition in the UK was very high.” 

“Even more interesting is that our UK operation Travelbag and Travlesecene also sat in the same space.”

In closing, Keith said, “The travel agent is alive and well and doing very well, thank you!” 

An exclusive interview with Keith Stanley, CEO of Stella Travel Services by The Mole