Introducing Portal Five

Dear Advisor Partners,

One of my favorite questions on our trip feedback form, is the question, “What would you like to see adventure companies do, as a whole, that they don’t do now?” I love this question because it can teach us so much. Those of you that know me, know that I am a disrupter at heart, some would even say arsonist when it comes to status quo business philosophy. This question is actually quite difficult to answer when you really think about it, and when it comes to clients, the answers are far ranging. Getting a trend in this answer is forever a work in progress, and often, the clients had such a great time, they really can’t think of anything to put down, which is what we hear the most. When it comes to advisors, the answer is loud and clear, a unified platform that speaks to all document creation software, from Axus to Travefy to Wetu, and “one place where clients and I can find everything we need.” There was also a resounding request for suppliers to not market direct to their advisors’ clients (which we never do). All of this was put into something I call the bad idea filter, essentially using the “Journey Curve” model Jay Golden, author of the amazing book “Retellable”, created. While Jay used it for storytelling, he loved it when I showed him how I use it to process ideas to help filter out bad ones and gravitate to the good ones. It was by chance then, that one of the team, Volker from the Africa team introduced me to the Safari Portal platform. Well, an ensuing series of conversations and demos with Sarah and Rachel from Safari Portal led us to realize that their platform was actually not the document platform others see. Rather we looked at the construction of the software and saw something more.

As we began to deconstruct the flow of that platform, we started seeing that this was so much more, it was an ecosystem, if we just changed the functionality. Portal Five was born, a unified communication hub that allows travel advisors, and their clients to access everything trip related before, during and especially after their adventure. Sounds a bit complicated with tech words, doesn’t it? Don’t worry, we have a really cool demo video to show you how it all works. Of all the features, I am excited about three parts that answer the points we heard form advisors. First, Portal Five is about you, not us, and the branding reflects that as does the Just for You section, exclusively designed for our advisors. Here, we can upload personal videos from you to your clients on a page exclusively branded just for you. The second feature is the Captured Moments page. Those of you who work with us know that we are always sharing photos and videos, where possible, that we took of your clients throughout their journey. Now this is shared in Portal Five for you and your clients to download. The last section, Hello Again, is the one I am most proud of. It takes an average of three years for a Big Five guest to repeat with us due to the nature of our experiences. Portal Five was designed with this in mind first, before we planned anything else.  This isn’t about marketing for the next trip. This is about keeping the conversation going from the life changing journey that just happened, because skirting past that is one of the biggest mistakes you and I can collectively make. Your client’s journey and the impact it had on them and on the people and places they were visiting cannot be understated.

I find it ironic that I am currently enrolled in a graduate course on industry disruption, at the same time we launch Portal Five. Are you ready to be a disruptor?

Enjoy the video.