kabarsula Christian Hunter: record Travellers Choice rebate reflects ‘virtuous circle’ of member support bandar SLOT INDONESIA

Travellers Choice managing director Christian Hunter says the co-operative’s record $2.85 million member rebate – revealed this week off the back of a $3.11 million pre-tax profit for 2025/26 – is the product of what he calls the group’s “virtuous circle” of member support.

Speaking with Travel Weekly, at Cruise360 at ICC Sydney, Hunter said the strong first three quarters of the financial year had cushioned the group against uncertainty in the fourth.

“We expected it was going to be a really strong year with the first three quarters that we had in the bank, and then the big question mark was going to be how the final quarter was impacted, and it wasn’t really impacted as significantly as we thought it might be,” Hunter said. “It’s really put the icing on the cake – so it’s not a record profit, but it’s a record distribution back to the members, which is great.”

Hunter said the co-operative model meant member support for preferred partners flowed directly back into rebates.

“We have preferred partners. The more the members support our preferreds, the more they get back in return. I call this our virtuous circle – the more they support, the more they get back, and the more they want to support because they can grow what they’re getting back. We’re going to see some fantastic returns this year, and members getting significant multiples of what they’ve paid in membership fees, returning back into their bank account.”

On membership pricing, Hunter said Travellers Choice had introduced new categories at different price points and inclusions, but had held its core fee at pre-pandemic levels.

“What we did was change the model, so there are now different categories of membership which have different price points and different inclusions. But our core membership fee is currently at the same level it was in 2019 – it hasn’t gone up since the start of the pandemic. It’s about supporting the members – they’re small businesses, cash flow is important to them. So it’s about supporting them to keep money in their bank, but then delivering more back with their performance.”

Network growth continues

Hunter said the group had welcomed 24 new members over the past two years and expected continued growth, though he declined to put a figure on current conversations.

“There’s always lots of conversations, and we’ve had really good growth over the last couple of years – we had 24 members join the group in the last two years. I don’t want to put specific numbers around it, but there’s conversations afoot. We know that transitioning into different groups doesn’t happen overnight – it’s not a decision that’s taken lightly, and it can take a number of years before they make the step. But what we consistently hear is, ‘I don’t know why I didn’t do this years ago – it’s the best move I ever made.’ We expect more of that.”

He pointed to a recent Canberra expo as an example of members collaborating for the group’s benefit.

“We had an expo just last weekend in Canberra, where we got four of our members in the ACT to put on an expo together, and they had nearly 3,000 people through the doors. That’s a great example of individual businesses working together for the greater good of everybody, which is also good for the group.”

AI system moves into beta

Asked for a preview of announcements planned for the forthcoming Travellers Choice 2026 Conference in Perth, Hunter kept details close but confirmed the group’s AI initiative – first announced last year – is now being tested by agents in market.

“They’re all top secret at this stage,” he said of any pending announcements.

“We’ve been working on our AI, and now part of the system is in market – a sort of beta-testing version that the agents are using. But we’ve got a lot of development happening, and there’ll be some new releases in the not-too-distant future which will absolutely revolutionise the system they’re currently using now.

“We think it’s going to be a game-changer.”