AVASA Travel Group held its annual convention on February 28 and 29 in Sitges. At this 23rd edition, held under the slogan “Always Further,” more than 600 professionals from the tourism sector gathered.
Beroni, as AVASA’s technology partner, attended the convention once again this year and participated by giving a presentation on Friday and attending the workshop on Saturday. Josep Bellés (CEO of Beroni), Ingrid Graells ( Sales Director), Carlos Segarra and Marc Palau (Sales Department), Pilar Lara and Vicenç Quinquilla (Support and Training Department), and Josep Salvia and Artur Folguera (E-commerce Department) were the Beroni representatives who attended the convention.
The event kicked off on Friday morning with a panel discussion open to all attendees, featuring more than 200 executives from agencies and suppliers. The panel discussion covered a range of topics, from current concerns about the coronavirus outbreak to the pros and cons of online and offline sales, as well as the value of intermediation versus direct sales, among others.
A few hours later, that same Friday afternoon, professionals from several leading companies in the tourism sector led nine courses and workshops for nearly 300 travel agents.
Ingrid Graells, Commercial Director at Beroni, led one of these courses alongside Marta Sáez, Head of the Booking Department at the AVASA Group. Under the title “AVASA&GO and Booking,” Ingrid and Marta provided training to attendees on the latest updates to the AVASA&GO platform, developed by Beroni.
The AVASA&GO platform allows travel agencies to book flights and trains at the best rates and through the best deals offered by AVASA, as well as hotels and flight-and-hotel packages through direct commercial agreements between the agency and each provider. One of the major announcements made was the imminent launch of the Activities engine this March, featuring an exclusive product from Hotelbeds under its Beyond the Bed brand.
In addition, Ingrid and Marta discussed the Flight Engine, offering some recommendations and introducing the new feature that allows users to pay cash fares with a credit card—a payment method that was previously only available via bank transfer.
Another topic discussed during the course was Iberia’s NDC, as all of its content is available on AVASA&GO. Ingrid and Marta went over all the latest updates on this before moving on to the next topic: Automatic Quotes. These allow you to generate a quote for a client in just three clicks, customized with the agency’s corporate branding.
Friday’s events concluded with a dinner attended by Josep Bellés and Ingrid Graells, serving as a networking opportunity for the executives of the participating agencies and vendors.
The following morning, the traditional workshop began, during which vendors (a total of 99 companies) presented their products and services. Members of Beroni presented the three main lines of products and services we offer: management software, Wasabi-s’s self-booking tool for corporate travel, and custom website development.
On Saturday afternoon, AVASA presented all of its services to convention attendees during the AVASA Presentation, which took place in the auditorium.
To round off the event, attendees enjoyed a closing dinner, featuring a performance by the band Hotel Cochambre.
AVASA TRAVEL GROUP exceeded expectations at its annual convention, drawing a large turnout of both agencies and suppliers, and providing its member agencies with tools designed to enhance their competitiveness.
Congratulations to the entire AVASA team, and especially to Carlos López, for a job well done.
We are grateful and proud to be part of your convention, and see you next year!
Want to see the photos from the convention? You can check them out on our Facebook post.
