Travel AgentProfessional
June 2012Issue 18
4 2012 The Joel & Lenore AbelsScholarship WinnerBy Sue Shapiro
6 Conferencing at Sea!By Rusty Pickett, ECC
June 2012
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Travel Agent Professional TAP
2012
Ad In
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64 2012 The Joel & Lenore AbelsScholarship WinnerBy Sue Shapiro, President
Shapiro Travel Resources
16 Conferencing at Sea!By Rusty Pickett, ECC
Shellback Cruises
10 Past the Point of No ReturnBy Scott Koepf
Vice President of Sales Avoya Travel/American Express
14 Clients For LifeManaging Travel Over Time By Mitchell J. Schlesinger
Vice President, Sales & Marketing Voyages to Antiquity
ShowcaseEnterprise ......................................................15
Well-Being Travel .........................................13
TRAVELSAVERS ............................................19
June
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Auto Europe................................IFCAvoya Travel/American Express......9Leisure Pops .................................11 Royal Caribbean Line ...................BC
Sabre ...........................................17Travel Planners Int’l........................5Voyages to Antiquity ......................3
Cover Image by Royal Caribbean LineAqua Theater
Travel AgentProfessional
June 2012 Issue 18
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 Home BasedTrade.
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 120202
Staten Island, NY 10312E-mail:
718.227.7541
Ann M. HoekPublisher/Creative Design
Bonnie WallingEditor
Editorial Board
Mitchell J. SchlesingerVice President, Sales & Marketing
Voyages to Antiquitywww.voyagestoantiquity.com
Mary BrutscherFormer Host Agency Owner & Travel Educational [email protected]
Rusty Pickett, ECCShellback Cruises
www.shellbackcruises.com
Les-Lee RolandOwner of The Package Deal
Scott KoepfVice President of Sales
Avoya Travel/America’s Vacation Center
www.joinavoya.com/default.cfm?ref=11583
Sherry Laskin, ACCTravel Writer/NACTA Webinar Moderator
www.cruisemaven.com
Sue Sh apiro, PresidentShapiro Travel [email protected]
www.shapirotravelresources.com
Paull Tickner,Creator of Special Interest Britain
ContributionsLee Rosen, CEO
Leisure Popswww.leisurepops.com
Joel M. Abels Legend In the Travel Industry
April 1927 to January 2007
September 2011
This online magazine is dedicated to the memory of Joel Abels, Travel Trade's editor andpublisher. Joel and his life's work may be gone, but with your help it can live on.
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June 2011
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4
By Sue Shapiro
2012
The Joel & Lenore Abels
Scholarship WinnerBy Sue Shapiro, President
Shapiro Travel Resources
There’s no better training in the travel
industry than becoming an intern and learning “on
the job.” That’s not so easy to do anymore which
makes the School of Tourism and Hospitality
Management at Temple so very valuable to their
students.
Lorena Morel, a senior at Temple and winner of the
2012 Joel and Lenore Abels Scholarship, is an out-
standing student who, while going to school, interned
at the Philadelphia CVB, the Hyatt Hotel at Penn’s
Landing and in the Spa at the Loew’s Hotel. The
experience she gained earned her a prestigious posi-
tion at Hyatt in their Management Training program.
Like the 5 previous scholarship winners, Lorena’s
academic and business experience propelled her to
the top of the list of all of the students who
applied for this year’s scholarship. Thanks to the
generous contributions of members of the travel
industry who remember Joel and Lenore Abels,
the publishers of Travel Trade Magazine, each year
one deserving student is able to help fund their
academic endeavors.
The endowed scholarship is ongoing. Reader’s
contributions, in any amount, are a way to give
back to the industry that has given all of us so
much. To add your contribution please send a
check to the Abels Scholarship, c/o Betsy Barber,
Temple University School of Tourism and
Hospitality Management, 1700 N. Broad St.,
Philadelphia, Pa 19122.
To so click on the link that follows:
http://sthm.temple.edu/scholarships/documents/abels-form.pdf
or copy and paste it into your browser. And thanks!
(L-R) Betsy Barber, Lorena Morel, Sue Shapiro
Travel Agent Professional
6
February 2012
By Rusty Pickett, ECC
Rusty Pickett, ECCShellback Cruises www.shellbackcruises.com
Conferencing at Sea!
As I write this we are on
day 7 of our annual
Vacation.com convention,
this year aboard Royal
Caribbean’s Oasis of the
Seas. It has been
spectacular. The
conference is the largest
travel conference ever
held at sea, with more
than 900 agents and,
along with the suppliers,
the show booked 780
cabins on the ship.
7
Travel Agent Professional
First the ship. For those that have never
been on Oasis or its sister Allure of the Seas, feel-
ing that the ships with nearly 6000 passengers on
board are just too big, I would strongly disagree.
Yes you have to like large — on a Vegas level, but
this ship, with its multitude of neighborhoods,
absorbs people like no other, so that you really
never get a sense of the total number of passen-
gers on board. The ‘getting on’ process is as good
as it gets. The Royal Caribbean goal is 15 minutes
from the curb to the cabin. I decided to time our
own process. We arrived at the curb at about
12:30pm, and 12 minutes later we were standing
in the Royal Promenade for the few minute wait
until the cabins opened at 1:00pm. Navigating the
Oasis is different from other ships, especially for
dining. The ship is totally electronic, and the
numerous touch screens around the ship tell you
anything that you need to know. The
Windjammer is relatively small, yet most folks still
think there are only two main breakfast and lunch
dining venues. As a result the Windjammer is fre-
quently ‘standing room only’ during peak periods.
The successful cruiser hits the dining button on
the touch screen, or on the interactive stateroom
TV, and finds those venues that are lightly loaded
and heads there. We ate breakfast at Johnny
Rockets, the Windjammer, and the Solarium
Bistro depending on the time of day and demand.
For dinner there are also many surcharge restau-
rants of superb quality. We ate at Giovanni’s
Italian eatery and Izunu Asian fusion. Both were
excellent, though our waiter at Giovanni’s was
sort of all over the place and not very organized.
The shows are superb — literally Broadway cal-
iber — and Hairspray and the Aquatheater show
are amazing by any standard.
(continued on page 8)
8
June 2012
On to conference. The ship has
a robust conference center and we
used that facility along with a couple
of clubs nearby and the main theater.
With the conference spread out over
extra days, the pace was less hectic
and there was more opportunity to
network with suppliers, both individu-
ally and in groups. It can get a little
strange for the suppliers, as Andy
Stuart commented that he felt weird
doing a Norwegian commercial on a
Royal Caribbean ship!!! The trade
show was held in the upper level din-
ing room, and although a little crowd-
ed, the suppliers seemed to like the
intimacy of the area in comparison to
the huge standard convention center
booth area.
Bottom Line: This was a superb
week, and talking to the folks at
V.com this morning, other cruise lines
want to try this too. We’ll see.
Special thanks to V.com and Vicki
Freed and her outstanding Royal
Caribbean team for putting together a
conference for the ages!
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I am currently in Las Vegas attending the Home
Based Forum, which has been wonderful. I am staying at
the Venetian (I know, I do not expect sympathy) and
was sad to see that “The Phantom of the Opera” will
be closing in September. I have seen the show a few
times and it is spectacular. One of the songs got me
thinking about our businesses (what a surprise!) and
actually leads me to a question for you to answer :
When have you committed enough?
By Scott Koepf
June 2012
Scott KoepfVice President of Sales
Avoya Travel/American Express
www.JoinAvoya.com
10
Past the Point of
No Return
(continued on page 12)
W
Sell more add on products and
h
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Leisure Pops saves you time and makes bookings extremely efficient by moving data for you. One click takes you to the chosen site, automatically logs you in, shops the site, and even moves data (client data into and reservation details back) making the reservation process fast and easy.
Leisure Pops helps you make more money as you will sell more preferred suppliers, more add on products and can easily and auto-matically participate in reward programs.
Everyone wins with Leisure Pops: Agents better service clients and make more money; Agencies and consortia get more preferred book-ings, Suppliers get more sales from preferred agents, and perhaps best of the all the consumer's interests are best served developing long term consumer - agent relationships..
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Leisure Pops:Your Ultimate Assistant
Leisure Pops sits quietly on your desktop and waits for an opportunity to help you. It can save you time and keystrokes, or remind you of preferred-supplier offers, or notify you when there is an opportunity to sell add on products like show tickets or travel insurance, or automatically log your qualified bookings into contest sites like Win With Amex, or Las Vegas Agent Rewards.
12
June 2012
To be successful in our business or
any business for that matter requires
a number of things including: passion,
knowledge, skills and commitment.
We all know what it takes to be pas-
sionate about what we do. We also
know that knowledge and skills are
imperative for success and require an
ongoing quest to keep learning and
improving. But how much commit-
ment is enough commitment? When
have you committed enough? Some may argue that
the measure of commitment is working full time
versus part time. Or maybe the level of commit-
ment is measured by a certain dollar amount
invested in your agency. Or perhaps the full com-
mitment occurs after a certain number of years in
the business. Although all of that may be true to a
degree, I think true commitment occurs when you
move from taking a ‘safe risk’ to risking beyond
your comfort zone.
We can apply the beautiful lyrics from “Pastthe Point of No Return” and discover thattrue commitment is when you go…
When you have put it all on the line you will indeed
learn the secrets of what you are capable of. This
same concept can be used not only in the evaluation
of your commitment to your business but to each
and every one of your customers. Do you get to the
moment where words run dry? Have you asked all
of the questions? Have you been authentic and vul-
nerable where the silence…the pause…will lead to
the sale? When you reach the point of no return
you are truly in a relationship with your client. There
is no woulda, coulda, shoulda said that will play back
in your mind if you have built a relationship with
honesty that has taken you to the final threshold.
If your business or your
relationships with your
clients are not where
you want them to be, it
may be because you are
holding back. Maybe even
just a little. To increase
sales and maximize the
success of your agency
you must go…
Past the point of no return.
Past the point of no return, the final threshold — what warm, unspoken secrets will we learn? Beyond the point of no return ...
You have brought me to that moment where words run dry, to that moment where speech disappears into silence, silence ...
Travel Agent Professional
30 Days and Counting Until...“Well-Being And Medical Travel Conference 2012”
May 22, 2012 (Oyster Bay, NY) – In just under 30 days on
June 20-21, the “Well-Being and Medical Travel Conference
2012” will kick off at The Phoenician luxury resort in
Scottsdale, Arizona (www.well-beingtravelconference.com).
“Travel and tourism has been making big news lately,” said
Anne Marie Moebes, Executive Vice President at Well-Being
Travel. “Brand USA, the new tourism marketing entity respon-
sible for promoting the U.S. to world travelers, was recently
launched. Earlier in the year, a Task Force on Travel and
Competitiveness was formed by Executive Order. And several
large corporations have announced their support of medical
travel for their employees. With consumer confidence now
starting to trend upwards, this is a good time for travel sellers
to learn how to add a medical and wellness specialty to their
travel offerings.”
The two-day Well-Being and Medical Travel Conference 2012
will provide specialized, in-depth education for travel sellers
about all aspects of wellness travel and spa vacations, as well
as selling to and servicing medical travelers. Travel sellers will
gain the tools, knowledge and contacts they need to profit in
this niche. Attendees will have opportunities to hear from and
meet with top-level executives from key organizations includ-
ing: medical travel facilitators, internationally accredited hos-
pitals, corporate wellness programs, tourism ministries, desti-
nation spas and resorts and other travel suppliers. Participants
will also leave the event with detailed action plans for selling
medical and wellness travel.
Showcase
To find out more about attending the Well-Being and Medical Travel Conference 2012 or participating asa sponsor, visit www.well-beingtravelconference.com or contact Debbie Press (888-854-0339 [email protected]).
Well-Being Travel is the go-
to resource for medical
tourism, bringing together
the medical and travel
industries in a breakthrough
partnership. The global
organization provides the
relationships, technology,
marketing, networking and
educational opportunities to
help travel agents get in on
the ground floor of this
rapidly growing niche that is
sweeping the world. Well-
Being Travel's alliance with
Companion Global
Healthcare provides an
instant relationship for travel
agents who are part of the
American Marketing Group
agency groups (TRAVEL-
SAVERS, NEST, TWIN, or
The Affluent Traveler
Collection) to become a
credible source to handle
the global medical travel
needs of their clients.
By M
itchell J. Schlesinger
Mitchell J. SchlesingerVice President, Sales & Marketing Voyages to [email protected]
In truth, you cannot manage travel over time, without fulfilling the necessities of the first
three (3) elements above. For the purposes of completing the series, I will approach this final article with
the notion that this is the case. At this stage, because presumably you have a robust database filled with
personal and travel information for each client and have implemented an aggressive customer service
plan, you are in a position to focus on literally directing where and how your clients travel.
In this role you are part financial advisor and golf caddy. Why?
• Personal finances are critical to consumers (especially now!!) and with the right relationship,
fully entrust the placement of these funds to financial advisors. Travel is the most frequent
high ticket expenditure consumers make, meaning they put their trust in you. The trust fac-
tor is what enables clients to rationalize a sizable travel purchase, similar to a financial invest-
ment.
• Golf caddies are very much like travel sellers. Those with strong, long term relationships
make recommendations based on their players historical ability to hit specific shots with a
club the player is most comfortable. Their job is to ultimately makes suggestions the player
can select from. Sound at all familiar?
The nicest car in the world will not run
without four (4) fully operating tires. Mastering the
practice of “clients for life” requires mastering the
four elements covered in this series:
• A database with a complete profile (demographics and psy-
chographics) of each client, their travel history and referrals.
• Understanding consumer behavior and managing the cus-
tomer relationship.
• Implementing a customer service plan including the 3 Rs
(recognition, referrals and rewards).
• Managing travel over time.
14 Clients For Life
Managing Travel Over Time
June 2012
(continued on page 16)
Enterprise Holdings Acquiring MintCars On-Demand
ST. LOUIS – May 17, 2012 — Enterprise Holdingshas announced that it has acquired the business of MintCars On-Demand, a car-sharing company serving morethan 8,000 members in New York City and Boston. Theacquisition closed today; financial terms of the transactionwill not be disclosed.
Enterprise Holdings, the most comprehensive serviceprovider in the car rental industry, operates the flagshipEnterprise Rent-A-Car brand as well as the National CarRental and Alamo Rent A Car brands. Founded in 1957,Enterprise has always focused on community transportationneeds, renting cars where customers live and work. In fact,the Enterprise Rent-A-Car network — with 5,500 branchoffices located within 15 miles of 90 percent of the U.S.population — has more than twice as many neighborhoodlocations as its nearest competitor and is renowned for offer-ing affordable, accessible and flexible local car rental ser-vice in towns and cities of all sizes.
Mint’s services will be offered under its current brandname initially. However, the Mint car-sharing vehicleswill immediately be incorporated into the local Enterprisecar-rental fleets in the New York City and Boston regions— and operated as a natural extension of the Enterprisehome-city business model, which already includes awide variety of car leasing, vanpooling and hourly rentalprograms.
By year’s end, all of Enterprise’s car-sharing servicesthroughout the country — including WeCar by Enterprise,PhillyCarShare and Mint — will be transitioned to theEnterprise Car Share brand name. “We have been antici-pating and meeting local transportation needs for morethan 55 years, so underscoring car-sharing’s connectionto the Enterprise name and legacy makes perfect sense,”explained Ryan Johnson, assistant vice president forEnterprise Holdings.
Showcase
Leadership and Strength“We also intuitively understand what ittakes to run a successful and sustainablecar-rental operation in a highly competi-tive marketplace, regardless of whethervehicles are being rented for an hour, aday, a week or longer,” Johnson noted.
Richard Ull, who founded Mint in 2008,agrees. “I’m very proud of what we’veaccomplished thus far in the New York andBoston markets in such a short time,” henoted. “But thanks to Enterprise’s industryleadership and financial strength, our businesswill evolve and jump to the next level – andour car-sharing members will not only haveaccess to a larger and newer fleet, but be sup-ported by a team renowned for its communityfocus and customer-service excellence.”
Ull, who has more than 10 years experiencein the New York parking business grew theMint network to more than 40 locationsacross Manhattan, Brooklyn and Boston injust four years. Ull now brings his knowledgeforward and will manage Enterprise’snewest car-sharing division, and help thecompany incorporate Mint’s “best practices”into its existing policies and procedures. Thisprocess will be managed carefully for thelong term, as Enterprise is known for takingits time with acquisitions and for ensuringthat integrations take critical operational,financial and personnel issues into account.Almost all of Mint’s staff members have beenoffered positions in their respective cities.
For more info go toTravelagentprofessional.com
Enterprise continues to expand world’s largest local car rental network, plans to quickly enhance Mint’scar-sharing fleet in New York City and Boston
Travel Agent Professional
16Your opportunity is to guide your loyal clients through the maze of travel alternatives because you:
• Have created a personal relationship with them over a lengthy period of time as their
demographics and psychographics have changed.
• Have learned to be a good listener.
• Understand their travel goals and aspirations, at each “life stage”.
• Know exactly where they have been, how much they have spent and…what’s next?
• Know their travel “hot buttons” and how they process them when making travel purchases.
Put yourself in a position whereby they seek your advice and counsel for travel alternatives before
making a final decision.
(continued on page 18 )
June 2012
The critical aspect is to use all of what
you have learned above to literally man-
age what they buy over the length of your
relationship with them. And it is a combi-
nation of what you can and should rec-
ommend to them and what they tell you
they are interested in and ask for your
opinion. In those cases, it is clearly up to
you (as the golf caddy) to present the
right assessments of the travel alterna-
tives compared to previous purchases so
that they can make a choice that they are
comfortable with and can logically ratio-
nalize after the purchase is made.
And recommendations shouldreflect their life stages:
For couples traveling with their children,
interactive travel experiences that the
kids will talk about for weeks after they
return and only want to know when they
can go again.
T & U
C L
The Technology & Marketing University is not your average industry conference.
Dive into intense product and
industry training
Be inspired by leaders who are
making waves
Take advantage of one-on-one time
with industry experts
Build your network of bright
professionals
Be treated like a Vegas star!
REGISTER TODAY sabretravelnetwork.com/tmu
2012 Technology & Marketing UniversityJune 4-7, Caesars Palace, Las Vegas
Join us on TwitterOur monthly Twitter chat is your opportunity to provide
thoughts on the conference and the hot topics that
will drive our theme.
Tuesday, February 28Tuesday, March 27Tuesday, April 24Tuesday, May 29Participation is simple. Just use the hashtag #TMU12
between 2 and 3 p.m. Central time and you will
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Tuesday, May 29Tuesday, April 24Tuesday, March 27Tuesday, February 28
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thoughts on the conference and the hot topics that
Our monthly T
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will drive our theme.
thoughts on the conference and the hot topics that
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thoughts on the conference and the hot topics that
witter chat is your opportunity to provide
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between 2 and 3 p.m. Central time and you will
automatically be part of the conversation!
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If they have a few extra days, an Alaska cruise-tour is a
more complete way to fully experience the wildlife along
with scenic beauty.
Based on spending 10-14 days in Alaska, a 10-14 day cruise
in the Med, Europe or Baltic. The length and cost are
comparable to the Alaska trip and allow them to rational-
ize the purchase.
As their psychographics change, specific destinations will
draw interest. For some destinations, travel can be done in
a sequence based on whether desired sights are inland or
along the shore. Italy, for example, is a destination best
experienced by both a land tour and a cruise.
In their senior years, trips are longer as they have more
time. Recommending suppliers they will feel comfortable
with is very important. Whether it is a national park tour
or cruise to an exotic destination, some suppliers simply
cater better to older guests than others.
The most important motivation for you to master manag-
ing travel over time is the “Annuity Factor”.
It is a fact that as clients age, (especially over the age of
55), the majority will have more time to travel, more dis-
posable income, all of which results in higher priced trans-
actions yielding substantially greater commissions. And a
stronger the base of longtime loyal clientele enables you
to more efficiently generate new clients from referrals.
There is a significant opportunity for professional sellers
of travel who come to fully understand how financially
valuable their clients are in terms of repeat travel and
referrals. And it almost impossible to underscore just how
important how the service provided by all the agency’s
team members impacts client loyalty. Those aggressively
embracing this philosophy will be rewarded with a dra-
matically stronger business and Clients for Life.
June 2012
18
Travel Agent Professional
TRAVELSAVERS Establishes Foothold in
ColombiaMay 31, 2012 (Oyster Bay, NY) – It was announced
today that Viajes Calitour has become the exclusivelicensee for TRAVELSAVERS Colombia with a networkof 17 offices throughout the country.
Established 30 years ago, Viajes Calitour is a leaderin its marketplace and has an annual sales turnover ofover $200 million USD. The agency specializes in cor-porate travel, meetings, incentives, conventions andtourism services. It is the main travel managementcompany for government institutions and officialdependencies in Colombia. The agency also sellsleisure travel, specializes in golf trips, and has beenauthorized by FIFA to be a travel seller (including sell-ing tickets to the game) for the 2014 World Cup to beheld in Brazil.
When asked why Viajes Calitour decided to becomean integral part of the TRAVELSAVERS organization,General Manager Ligia Escobar Ospina said: “We areproud to represent a leader in the travel business. Thechallenge we are embarking on is big, but we comewith the confidence of being in a great network that isproviding a great service and experience in this econo-my. We are happy to call ourselves TRAVELSAVERSColombia."
Rick Mazza, President & CEO of TRAVELSAVERS,commented: “Viajes Calitour is a well-establishedgroup in this region of the world and we’re proud tohave licensed them as TRAVELSAVERS Colombia.We’re helping to expand their regional success into theglobal travel arena. The new contractual agreement isan example of how TRAVELSAVERS is joining forceswith other leaders in the travel industry in emergingmarkets around the world as we take the TRAVEL-SAVERS philosophy and business model across inter-national borders.”
Showcase
To find out more about how to become part of the TWIN global network, independent travel agencies can visitwww.twintravelmanagement.com, email [email protected], or call 516-624-0500 x5080.
TRAVELSAVERSEstablished over 40 years ago,TRAVELSAVERS is an interna-tional marketing organizationwith 3,265 independently-owned, full service travelagencies in 24 countriesaround the world. Our travelprofessionals are among thebest in the industry today.
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