Avoya has surge in non-cruise sales under new CEO: Travel Weekly

When Marc Kazlauskas was hired as CEO of host agency Avoya Travel in August, one of his goals was to increase sales of non-cruise products. Two-plus months into his tenure, that appears to be happening in a big way.

Marc Kazlauskas

During a media call on Oct. 22, chief sales officer Phil Cappelli said Avoya’s total transaction value has been up 20% to 30% since Kazlauskas took the helm, driven by a 92% increase in river cruise sales, a 69% increase in escorted tour sales and a 110% increase in air sales. 

He attributed the air sales bump to Snap, the simplified air booking tool Internova Travel Group created with Sabre.

Sam McCully, senior vice president of market expansion, said Avoya is also increasing focus on luxury sales.

“You’re going to continue to see Avoya forge some new ground, not just on an expanding portfolio of product, but also in moving up that value ladder into luxury in ways that we haven’t before,” McCully said.

AI implementation

Kazlauskas said Avoya will continue its focus on product differentiation in 2026, as well as technology improvements to help its independent advisors sell more travel.

That includes incorporating artificial intelligence (AI), especially for Avoya’s Live Leads system that shares incoming leads with advisors. Kazlauskas said AI will make that system smarter and better at matching leads with advisors, in addition to improving efficiencies for them.

“It’s about helping our advisors close more business, keep more clients and make sure that they are doing what they do best, which is sell,” Kazlauskas said.

To assist with the technology portion of Kazlauskas’ vision, Avoya recently onboarded Karl Treier as its chief technology officer. Treier has been a consultant with Avoya for the last four years and has four decades of experience in technology.

The host agency will make a “substantial increase” in tech investments, Treier said. AI components are expected to roll out in the year ahead, and the look and feel of advisor platform Agent Power will be updated.

Cappelli emphasized that AI will make advisors’ jobs easier, not replace them.

“It’s never going to know empathy, and it’s never going to know how to work with people on a direct level, and that’s what our advisor network can do better than anyone else,” he said.

Kazlauskas also talked about growing Avoya’s ranks, saying the host agency has increased its marketing spending “exponentially” and is focused on recruiting new-to-industry advisors who will benefit from its training programs.

Avoya’s largest conference ever

Avoya recently wrapped up its annual conference aboard the MSC World America. It was Avoya’s biggest conference to date with more than 600 attendees.

Avoya raised more than $24,000 for the MSC Foundation, half raised by the network and the other half matched by Avoya dollar for dollar. The foundation supports marine conservation and community aid.