Photo: Christine James

More than 2,000 travel industry professionals from across Canada and the U.S. are at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas this week for the annual international conference EDGE, hosted by Travel Leaders Network, one of North America’s largest retail travel agency organizations.

The five-day EDGE (Educate, Discover, Gather, Evolve) conference includes a Luxury Forum where luxury specialist advisors get to meet one-on-one with luxury suppliers. Other highlights include educational workshops and professional development sessions, technology showcases and guest speakers.

The sold-out conference, which runs June 9-12, is always a hit with TL Network’s Canadian members, with a strong 190+ showing from the Canadian delegation this year.

As previewed earlier this year at Travel Leaders Network’s Toronto trade media press conference, SNAP air booking functionality is rolling out in Canada. It was just one of several announcements coming out of EDGE.

SNAP, the popular point-and-click tool, was previously limited to hotel and rental car bookings for Canadian travel advisors. With the new air booking capabilities, SNAP now enables Canadian travel advisors to provide end-to-end travel planning without the need for a GDS. SNAP was launched in 2024 and powered by Sabre.

Over the past year, a handpicked beta group of top Canadian advisors collaborated with Travel Leaders Network’s SNAP team to fine-tune the platform’s air booking capabilities. Their insights helped shape the tool to meet the distinct requirements of selling air travel in Canada.

Since its launch, Canadian members have embraced SNAP, using it to book hotel stays and car rentals while boosting their commissions, she added.

With the addition of air ticketing, SNAP now offers another revenue stream. Commissionable fares are clearly marked, and agents can store passenger profiles, track usage via the Agent Dashboard and send trip quotes directly to clients.

More updates from EDGE 2025

More news coming out of EDGE included a boosted cruise offering. With cruise bookings surging across all market segments, Travel Leaders Network is expanding its exclusive cruise space programs to include more than 8,000 sailings through 2027.

Travel Leaders Network’s cruise programs include Distinctive Voyages, a premium program with over 1,000 luxury sailings across 14 cruise lines, each featuring an onboard Host, Exclusive Shore Event and an invitation to a Private Welcome Reception. There are also Amenity Departure Dates, with thousands of sailings offering added value with perks like shipboard credit, specialty dining and prepaid gratuities. Plus, the Culinary Collection offers exclusive food and wine-focused sailings.

Travel Leaders has also expanded its members’ social media marketing options with Social Share Pro, now available to all Travel Leaders Network members in North America. The platform pushes curated, high-quality social media content featuring exclusive partner offers directly to advisors’ Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and other platforms.

EDGE attendees heard about the new functionalities for SNAP as well as Travel Leaders Network’s lead-generation tool, Agent Profiler, the SuperAgent program, CRM expansion and more.

Source: Travelweek