Travel Agent Professional Apr 2015

Travel AgentProfessional

April 2015Issue 35

The City of York –A Journey Through TimeBy Paull Tickner

http://issuu.com/action/page?page=13





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Travel Agent Professional TA

P2015

Ad In

dex

64 TELEMARKETING— Oh No, Not Again

By Les-Lee Roland

Owner of The Package Deal

66 GROUPS...

It’s all About Conversion

By Mitchell J. Schlesinger

President, MJS Consultants

10 The City of York –

A Journey Through Time

By Paull Tickner

14 Are You Waiting for Luck?

By Cindy Bertram

Cindy's Inside Cruise & Travel Track, LLC

April

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April 2015Issue 35

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Amadeus .........................................9

Auto Europe .................................IFC

Britain Greatdays.............................3

HostTravelAgency.com .................17

TRAVELSAVERS.............................13

Royal Caribbean Line ....................BC

April 2015 Issue 35

Travel Agent Professional has its roots in Home Based Trade, the firstmagazine of its kind, started by Joel Abels in 2004. Joel and Lenore Abelsran Travel Trade for nearly half a century – it was started by her grandfa-ther, John S. Lewis, and her father, Sidney Lewis, in 1929, and they tookthe publication over after her grandfather’s passing.

Under Joel’s direction, the company grew to be one of the travel agentindustry’s leading publications, reaching more than 45,000 agentsthroughout North America. It spawned a famous series of trade showsand three monthly magazines – Cruise Trade, Tour Trade and HomeBased Trade.

The Abels also garnered enormous respect – Joel received the NealAward, called “the Pulitzer Prize of the business press,” for his hard-hit-ting editorials.

On a personal note, after working with Joel for over a decade and stay-ing with him until the end, I grew to truly care for and respect the man.He was like a second father to me. Joel was old school, he stood by hisword and believed in his work. There will never be another.

While nobody can replace this industry legend, we’re hoping thatthis new publication, which reunites the original Home Based Tradeeditorial board, will be able to carry on his passion for travel andthose who sell it.

Ann M. Hoek

Travel Agent ProfessionalP.O. Box 120198

Staten Island, NY 10312E-mail:

[email protected]:

718.360.3153

Ann M. HoekPublisher/Creative Design

[email protected]

Bonnie WallingEditor

[email protected]

Alan CohenVice President Marketing

[email protected]

Meet Our Editorial Board

Paull Tickner,Creator of Special Interest Britain

[email protected]

Cindy Bertram,Cindy’s Inside Cruise & Travel Track, LLC

[email protected]

Mitchell J. SchlesingerPresident, MJS Consultants

[email protected]

Rusty Pickett, ECCShellback Cruises

www.shellbackcruises.com

Les-Lee RolandOwner of The Package Deal

Sherry Laskin, ACCTravel Writer/NACTA Webinar Moderator

www.cruisemaven.com

Sue Sh apiro, PresidentShapiro Travel [email protected]

www.shapirotravelresources.com

Joel M. Abels Legend In the Travel Industry

April 1927 to January 2007

April 2015

The opinions expressed in these columns are solely those of the authors and do

not necessarily reflect the views of Travel Agent Professional.

This online magazine is dedicated tothe memory of Joel Abels, Travel

Trade's editor and publisher. Joel andhis life's work may be gone, but with

your help it can live on.

Travel AgentProfessional

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Travel Agent Professional

April 2015

4

Well, there are coming out of the woodwork. No, not the

problem clients. It’s the telemarketers season.

Literally, not one day goes by without my phone ringing with a

pre-recorded message from Google. Offers to put me on the

front page of the listing. Promises that with this new place-

ment, my business will increase. The call closes with, press one

for more information, press two to be removed from the call-

ing list.

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By Les-Lee RolandOwner of The Package Deal

How many of you agents press two, and wind up

with more phone calls coming in. At first, I pressed

one, got hold of a human being, and I said my num-

ber is registered as a “no soliciting number”. I con-

tinued that I have written down the phone number

used to call me, and if I get one more call, I was

going to report it to Tallahassee where it is regis-

tered. The next day, I get the same call from

another phone number, and it goes on and on.

Also, when I am out of the office, my calls auto-

matically are transferred to my cell phone, so this

is eating up my minutes.

To add to this annoyance, I now get calls from

yodle.com. Since this was a person calling, I lis-

tened briefly, and interrupted the caller with ques-

tions. I must mention that this is one of the few

calls I get from a person who does not have an

accent. She even had a local area code to mine.

Soon she got flustered and said that no one ever

interrupts, and she has to read from her copy first

before she can answer any questions.

Her spiel was that yodel can increase my market-

ing, increase my placement on search engines, and

Forbes Magazine has given them great reviews.

She continued by asking me how many clients did

I want to hear from in a month. I threw out a

number — 3000. Without missing a beat, she said,

“no problem”, and yodel would promise an

increase of 25% to 85% each month to that figure

every month..

She didn’t even catch what I was saying. If I have

3000 individual clients calling each month, spend-

ing a minimum of 5 minutes on each call, well you

do the math. Is it possible? Having to qualify a

client, get background info, suggest places to visit

or cruises, do the comparisons, arrange the trans-

fers, insurance, sightseeing, answer their questions.

Give me a break-and be realistic.

TELEMARKETING —Oh No,

Not Again

5


I did, for research sake only, agree to watch their 2

minute video and what yodle does. The video didn’t

explain anything, and their website was certainly lack-

luster. It does have tributes from a pest control owner,

a lawyer, a doctor, and a couple of other categories. But

nothing at all related to the travel industry. Although,

the rep said they have lots of travel agencies, even the

chains. But when I asked for the name of even one

agency, or their website, I was told that they protect

the privacy of their clients, and she cannot divulge that

info. BIG FLASHING RED LIGHT!

Another sales bit was that yodle will help to pro-

tect my reputation. My agency will get a high mark

online and my reputation will get high ratings. BIG-

GER FLASHING RED LIGHT.

All I would have to do is sign up for them to build

my website, send in $260 a month (sale price) and

we would be rocking.

A new website, huh? I asked if there were links to

dozens of suppliers, cruise lines, tour operators,

etc. Would there be a link for passport and visa

info. What about promos that are constantly

changing, sales, my group space, and on and on.

What about a booking engine.

No problem, she said. All I have to do is furnish

the links, and they would set them up. I told her

that since they said they were the experts in web-

sites, and they are asking me to do the work in

providing all the links, how much time would be

involved. It could be done the same day!!!!

How about monitoring the constant changes? No

problem, they would do it often.

I told her at least three times, I didn’t have confidence

in her promises. Also, even more important, why

would I go outside MY industry to yodle to handle my

crucial online marketing. I told her that there were

very reputable companies who only handle travel

agencies and suppliers and understand the needs and

constant attention that we agents require. And, very

important, the cost is a fraction of yodle’s cost.

She still didn’t accept that — no I will not use

yodle.com’s explanation. She told me that she never

experienced a response like mine, since everyone

always signs up. She brought her supervisor on to

the call, and the only reason I stayed on, was to get

fodder for this column. The supervisor tried to

repeat her script. I finally cut him off, and said, do

not call me unless you have a sample site for a travel

agency for me to see. Or give me the name of one

agency so I can call for a reference. His response

was they have to protect the privacy of their clients.

Yesterday, a new person called four times, leaving a

message for me to call him for a special presenta-

tion. They really want my business, yeah, he really

wants his commission.

So if any of you agents get an unsolicited call from

yodle.com, you can listen to their info. But think

first of the value of using companies who specialize

only with the travel industry. Without any

endorsement, I will just mention Passport Online.

Compare their rates and their expertise.

And if any of you have contracted with yodle.com,

please contact me at [email protected]. I

want to hear about your success or remorse. Just

between you and me!

Now if it would be as easy to select a new cell

phone program.

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April 2015

With cruise ships in the mainstream prod-uct sector being built consistently in the3,000-5,400 passenger range, the ability togenerate group business is more criticalthan ever for these cruise lines. This pro-vides you with the opportunity to have

cruise line DSMs/BDMs fighting over yourbusiness and become a business resourcefor your preferred suppliers. How? It’s all

about group conversion, so read on.

By Mitchell J. SchlesingerPresident, MJS Consultants

[email protected]

6GROUPS... It’s all About Conversion

In the mainstream cruise market, group business has traditionally had an overall conversion rate

(actual group passengers as a percentage of group beds blocked per sailing) of around 10-15%. So

let’s imagine a cruise ship with 2,000 cabins and the revenue management department would like

600 cabins from groups on a particular sailing. This means, the company, through its group depart-

ment and sales force, needs to block 4,000 cabins at group rates to materialize the 600 cabins for

that ONE sailing using a 15% conversion. That is just for one sailing of one ship. Similar require-

ments for a full year would call for 208,000 group cabins blocked for that one ship.

You get the picture. The larger lines are processing MILLIONS of group cabin block requests

because the overall conversion is so relatively low. And that is because the majority of groups

blocked are speculative and NOT of an affinity group nature. On the other hand, affinity groups gen-

erally convert anywhere from 40-90%, which is why cruise lines will be very accommodating to

agents who develop a consistent track record of high converting affinity groups. It completely

changes how they manage a particular sailing or series of sailings because they are better equipped

to project how much group business is coming because of the stronger conversion ratio.

7


In the modern age of marketing and social media,

it is far easier to broaden the ability to attract

affinity business. Traditional “social” affinity

groups include a wide variety of organizations

from Rotarians, Knights of Columbus, to religious

(churches & temples) and social groups like the

PTA, soccer teams, little league and more. These

are excellent examples of local community

groups that can be attracted locally and then

expanded by connecting to branches in other

cities.

Another affinity group type, which I call, “Interactive

Activity” groups, have no geographic boundaries at

all. The internet has enabled people across the

country to communicate with each other about

special interests, hobbies and activities in which they

participate. Twenty years ago there was basically no

“Scrap Booking” industry. It is now a multi-billion

dollar industry and if you go to Google and search

for Scrap booking Clubs, you will see 7 Million hits!

And the same goes for quilting, photography, cook-

ing, wine tasting, various types of dancing etc. By

communicating across the internet, you can achieve

sizable groups, which convert at high percentages,

which is going to make you VERY popular with your

preferred suppliers.

In making your affinity business grow, it is crucial,

that you know 2 things about all of your clients

and even prospects who contact your agency;

what organizations they belong to and in what

special interests/activities/hobbies they partake.

These 2 pieces of information are the key to

sourcing the start of an affinity group, especially

for the interactive activity groups. A client who

quilts may have a sister who quilts in another city,

they both have friends and family who quilt, and

as the commercial use to say, and so on and so

on etc. It doesn’t matter where they live, they can

be attracted to come together to share their

passion for this activity.

Lastly, and this is crucial to making sure any affini-

ty group you put together is successful and puts

the seal on how much you can make your pre-

ferred suppliers appreciate you. It concerns noti-

fying and pre-planning the group activities with

the preferred supplier in advance to insure that

your groups are well taken care of onboard.

Cruise lines have a grid for every sailing that

outlines all the activities they have planned across

all the public rooms during the course of the

cruise, many of which are revenue generating.

These are very important to the cruise line for

obvious reasons, so your need of one of these

public rooms, meeting room etc., for your group

requires them to re-organize their schedule.

Remember something else, you are not the only

agent booking a group on that sailing and the

sooner the cruise line knows about your group, it

enables them to make sure that there are not

multiple groups competing for the same public

rooms, all of which interferes with their sched-

uled events and those that you are planning.

GROUPS... It’s all About Conversion

(continued on page 8)

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April 2015

1. DO make every effort to book your affinity

groups 12-15 months in advance of the sailing.

Why? You will probably get a less restrictive initial

deposit policy for the first several months.

2. advise the cruise line as specifically as possi-

ble what the group needs will be during the cruise,

immediately upon booking the group. This facili-

tates several important factors:

• If it is a large group requiring use of pub-

lic space on multiple occasions, the

cruise line can reorganize its schedule of

activities accordingly.

• If the needs are complicated (electrical

outlets, extension cords, lots of tables

etc.) it gives you and them plenty of time

to pre-plan.

• If the group department is organized, it

should prevent them from booking a

large group with similar space needs on

the same sailing. In essence, it is a race

for space and if you notify the line first,

they should work with you to insure

your group gets what it needs.

3. send the cruise line an activity grid for the

week as soon as you finalize one, so that if neces-

sary, it can be shared with the hotel department

and the group services manager on the ship.

4. focus your affinity group business with your

preferred suppliers as often as possible in order to

further strengthen your relationship.

5. DON’T wait to advise the line about your

affinity group. Advising the line at final payment

that you have 300 quilters coming is a recipe for

disaster.

6. DON’T schedule your activities smack in the

middle of port days. That appears to give you more

room on the ship, but to the line, it is preventing

guests from purchasing shore excursions and gener-

ate revenue.

7. DON’T schedule onboard events in places

which should generate revenue, but with your

group, won’t. A group activity held in a lounge

where there will be no beverage consumption is

seen as counterproductive to the cruise line.

If you develop a consistent track record as an

“affinity group producer”, one that produces

multiple groups per year that convert at very

high percentages and you pre-plan well, you

are going to become VERY popular with your

preferred suppliers and receive special atten-

tion from them, the more consistently you pro-

vide this business. There is a direct relation-

ship between the number of affinity groups

you produce, the conversion levels, how well

you pre-plan with your preferred suppliers and

the ultimate success of each group. In the end

this will make your affinity group business

more successful and more profitable to you.

And your understanding the perspective of

how your cruise partners view this process will

importantly strengthen your relationship with

them.

So here are some DOs and DON’Ts for affinity group handlingwith your preferred suppliers:

April 2015

Pa

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Paull Tickner has been designing and operating niche travel programmes for the UK and Ireland for over 30 years.

For more information E-mail Paull at [email protected]

10

Girls Getaways Topped and tailed with London, small groups of 8-10 will be delighted about the 4 night programme

that York can deliver for them. Based at the 5 star Grand Hotel www.thegrandyork.co.uk the ‘Sheer

Indulgence’ programme includes at least one visit to their luxurious spa, a close encounter with one

of their signature English Afternoon Teas, and some sophisticated retail therapy in and around the

Shambles, one of the best preserved medieval shopping streets in Europe. The side trip to Castle

Howard www.castlehoward.co.uk (Brideshead Revisited) also includes a shop 'n' ship visit to the

York Designer Outlet www.mcarthurglen.com/uk/york-designer-outlet.

Quilting ToursAlthough we don’t have International Expos as big as those in Houston or Paducah, thanks to the

growing number of non-stop transatlantic flights into the heart of England city of Birmingham you can

now fly directly to the annual (6th – 9th August) Festival of Quilts at the National Exhibition Centre.

You can then take the 2.5 hour train journey to York where highlights will be a VIP visit to the HQ

for the Quilters Guild of Great Britain www.quiltmuseum.org.uk and a special Broderer’s Tour of the

The City of York –A Journey Through Time

By Paull Tickner

Regular readers will know that I have a longstanding com-

mitment to helping travel agents to develop customised

UK tours for small groups with a particular interest. It

affects the way I see places and after a recent visit I’ve

come up with a number of new ways of looking at the

great heritage city of York www.visityork.org

ecclesiastical vestments at York Minster www.yorkminster.org This com-

bination works well as another 2 nighter linking London and Edinburgh

for the annual Scottish Quilt Championships ((25th – 27th September).

Shaking the Dust off the History BooksFew cities can bring history to life in quite the way that York does. The

Living History Experience begins at the Jorvik Viking Centre www.jorvik-

viking-centre.co.ukbefore a closer look at medieval York at the timber-

framed Merchant Adventurer’s Hall www.theyorkcompany.co.uk The

nearby Fairfax House www.fairfaxhouse.co.uk gives a vivid impression of

York in Georgian Times and the Chocolate Story www.yorkschoco-

latestory.com develops a theme for which the city is justly famous (sam-

plings are included!). The tour concludes with a special tour of York

Minster which is timed to include Choral Evensong at 5.15pm.

Railroad EnthusiastsPerhaps not a niche market that immediately springs to mind but to

appreciate its potential take a look at www.railmuseums.com/namerica

and www.attrrm.org and you’ll begin to appreciate its importance. If

there’s one near you or you have clients who are enthusiasts, you can tell

them about the very special tour that can be arranged for them at the

National Railway Museum (NRM) www.nrm.org.uk in York, the side trip

you can set up to the NRM outstation at Shildon and a steam hauled ride

on the North Yorkshire Railway.


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April 2015

York: City of FestivalsThe city truly lives up to this title in no uncertain manner with a Viking Festival (January), a Chocolate

Festival (April), an International Shakespeare Festival (It’s the Bard’s 400th anniversary in 2016), Early

Music Festivals (July and December) and their Christmas Festival (December). Refine the timing of your

visit to coincide with an event or celebration that matches your client’s interests and to see the full listing

take a look at www.yorkfestivals.com which includes early details of the 2016 staging of the historic York

Mystery Plays.

York for Cruise ExtensionsDon’t forget that thanks to the fast and frequent train services between London and York and with so

much to see and do, the city works extremely well as a 2-3 night pre or post cruise extension.

York pre ChristmasTo off season air fares and lower winter hotel rates in London, add 2 days at the St Nicholas Fayre, one of

the UK’s most popular Christmas markets made even more memorable when you add in a visit to pri-

vately owned Castle Howard and the Georgian Fairfax House both stunningly dressed for Christmas.

York and the Year of the English Garden 2016My eye has been taken by York as a base for customised garden tours. In addition to the wonderful gar-

dens at Castle Howard there are a number of other award winning, privately owned properties nearby.

2016 is also the tercentenary of our most famous Master Gardener, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown and there

are three fine examples of his visionary work on York’s doorstep.

Over 40 years of travel industry success Full staff of personal business consultants Unique protected territory system Excellent preferred supplier relationships Award-winning suite of marketing programs Social media tools Powerful technology solutions Proprietary cruise booking engine Website and mobile solutions Meeting and incentive resources Hotel program with rich amenities A full suite of corporate travel solutions Over 19 travel brands servicing you daily

We invite you to learn more about why our

The TRAVELSAVERS Difference.


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April 2015

In today’s world we hear the “lucky” stories. A

person who’s gone through some challenges,

then buys that lottery ticket and wins. Perhaps

a business colleague or friend who always

seems to “land on their feet” — a better

fitting job, and having success after success.

Does it involve being in the right place at the

right time? Or is there really a formula when it

comes to being a “lucky person”?

By Cindy BertramCindy's Inside Cruise & Travel Track, LLC

Not Necessarily Lucky, but Successful Thom, a business colleague and friend who has led successful businesses including a thriving consulting

practice, is launching a new company with partners. He doesn’t consider himself lucky. Thom has remained

open to new opportunities, from when he was a teen. He began at the age of 7 with his old-school grand-

father working in a produce market. By 14, he was selling for an apple farm, then flipping burgers at a fast

food place, and working a paper route while selling newspaper subscriptions on his route.

His sights on the business market began by age 15 when taking a job getting magazine leads from Chicago office

workers in the Loop. He liked that business environment and decided it suited him. Thom eventually was training,

selling, doing collections, and teaching his boss on figure accounting. By the age of 16, Thom had 4 employees, a com-

pany car and office in the downtown Majestic Building. After a jaunt to improve his French in France as a senior in

high school, he was off to college. Thom had 5 employees doing sales work during college before doing sales con-

tracting in Canada, Minnesota and Kansas City. And by 21, he formed his equipment automation company.

Thom claims he’s made more mistakes than most people do in two lifetimes. “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re

not learning or trying anything difficult.” He thinks you should just make new mistakes or you’re being stupid.

Throughout his career, Thom has sought out opportunities, avoids regimentation and believes in “thinking

out of the box.” He says, “What Box?” When speaking at professional events, Thom notes that as a child,

people were always taught three rules/lies:

Are You Waiting for Luck?

15


“If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”“Leave well enough alone.”“We’ve always done it that

way.”

Thom explains that those 3 rules kill innovation

and enforce stagnation. An avowed consistent

accumulator of knowledge and self-investment,

Thom completed the Executive MBA program at

Loyola University Chicago after turning 60. He has

traveled to eight countries over the last 3 years

and a total of about 16. He thinks there are things

you learn from other cultures that you can’t con-

ceive without seeing them.

Thom also has an ongoing entrepreneurial spirit

that needs new successes. His newest venture?

He’s the Founder of EATS Groceries, a “Social

Enterprise putting a Chain of Supermarkets in

‘Food Desert’ Communities.” Thom thinks provid-

ing a community benefit that could reduce the

projected half trillion per year in healthcare

increase by 2030 is a good cause. He doesn’t think

that creating “the first generation expected to die

younger than their parents” is acceptable. EATS

Groceries is launching in the 3rd quarter of 2015.

Thom doesn’t really believe in being lucky, but

believes if you are always aware of opportunities,

and select the ones that match your skills and

experience, some of them will be successful

enough to dwarf the failures. As he notes, “That’s

working the numbers, not playing them.”

Will Marre’s Pulse on LuckWill Marre, co-founder and former president of

the Covey Leadership Center as well as creator of

“The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” has spo-

ken and written on the subject of being lucky.

And Emmy award winning writer and renowned

speaker and trainer, Will is also Founder of The

American Dream Project where he helps leaders

with strategic innovation, leadership, brand strate-

gy, and social responsibility.

Will also writes an ongoing blog, “Wednesdays with

Will.” In a past blog titled, “How Lucky People Get

Lucky,” Will mentioned the subject of being lucky

came up while he was having a coaching session with

an executive. In their discussion, some key things sur-

faced. Will notes that your personal view of your

own luck is a good predictor of how successful a

person can be.

Will notes there are quite a few factors that can

create more positive opportunities. He also men-

tions that there are things people can control to

not only make them feel lucky, but also be more

fortunate.

First, he makes a point that “luck is the result of an

opportunity-seeking orientation.” People who are

“opportunity seekers” talk to more people and

have more open-minded communications. As a

result, this can “open new doors.”

A second point Will makes is that “lucky people

tend to be intensely curious.” They’re open mind-

ed, always love new information, and read about

diverse subjects.

Will then notes that lucky people “…are creatively

persistent.” But being “creatively persistent” dif-

Are You Waiting for Luck?

(continued on page 16)

fers from being stubborn. He further explains,

“People who are creatively persistent are always

looking for new ways to achieve their goals or bet-

ter their lives. These people hold tightly to their

vision but loosely to their plan.” Hard work by

itself, however, doesn’t produce good luck or hav-

ing good fortune.

Also, Will mentions that we do make our own luck

and being fortunate comes about when people are

creatively persistent, are open-minded, and see

opportunities.

Insights — Ken Muskat, Executive Vice President of

Sales, PR and Guest Services

Ken Muskat, Executive

Vice President of Sales,

PR and Guest Services

at MSC Cruises USA,

mentions, “I do consider

myself a lucky person

but that is related to

what I’ve been able to

accomplish in my career,

where I’ve been able to

travel, once in a lifetime

experiences I’ve been

able to have and people

I’ve been fortunate to

work with and learn

from.”

But Ken also notes that there are some key things

he has also done to achieve success. He further

explains that these were not related to just being

lucky, but working hard and keeping to certain

guiding principles. Ken expands, “Building strong

relationships with superiors inside and outside of

my key responsibility area, demonstrating my

strong work ethic and always asking for more

responsibilities provided me with opportunities to

advance quickly and lead high profile projects and

organizations. Building this trust factor and

becoming someone who the company can count

on as dependable was key in being given new

opportunities and accomplishing a great deal.”

When it comes to ideas and suggestions travel

agent professionals can do to create their own

successes in growing their businesses, Ken provides

a few insights.

Ken notes, “Similar to the guiding principles I have

always lived by, build strong relationships and a

trust factor. Travel Agents can do this by ensuring

they have a strong understanding of CRM (cus-

tomer relationship management) and tools in place

to know everything you can about your clients.”

He mentions, “Customize your marketing mes-

sages to the appropriate segments with messages

that resonate with that client and therefore make

the client think, ‘Wow, this travel agent really

knows me well.’ That will build the trust needed so

the client believes you have their best interests in

mind – and the client will therefore serve as your

biggest advocate driving new business to you.”

Don’t Wait for LuckI was once told by a career coach that I needed to

be “pleasantly persistent.” But I’d have to agree

with my business colleague Thom, when he notes

that people need to always be aware of opportuni-

ties, and then select the ones that match skills,

experience, and expertise. And like Ken Muskat, I

build the ongoing, genuine trust. Finally, I’ve adapted

the mindset of being an “opportunity seeker.” No

– I’m not going to stand around and wait for luck!

16

April 2015

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