travel agent professional june 2012

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

dex

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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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:

[email protected]:

718.227.7541

Ann M. HoekPublisher/Creative Design

[email protected]

Bonnie WallingEditor

[email protected] Our

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

[email protected]

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


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


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


W

Sell more add on products and

h

With Leisure Pops you "Pick your Pops": meaning tyou turn on the Pop Campaigns they choose and get only those Pops when pertinent. With Leisure Pops you will never get a Pop that you have not asked for!

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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 ...


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


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


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

automatically be part of the conversation!

Our monthly T

Join us on Twitter

itt h t i t thl T T

Join us on Twitter

witter chat is your opportunity to provide


Participation is simple. Just use the hashtag

Tuesday, May 29Tuesday, April 24Tuesday, March 27Tuesday, February 28



Our monthly T


Participation is simple. Just use the hashtag

Tuesday, May 29Tuesday, April 24Tuesday, March 27Tuesday, February 28



witter chat is your opport nthly T Twitter chat is your opportunity to provide


MU12T#Participation is simple. Just use the hashtag


witter chat is your opportunity to provide







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


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.

TRAVELSAVERS is ownedby American MarketingGroup, Inc., the parent com-pany of 19 successful globaltravel brands. We have longstanding relationships withcarefully selected travel sup-pliers that you know andtrust, including top cruiselines, airlines, hotels, carrental companies and guid-ed vacation companies. Thisallows us to bring you extra-ordinary travel savings andexclusive offers, plus youbenefit from the personalattention and expertise of adedicated TRAVELSAVERStravel professional.

So before you set foot onyour next journey, contactyour local TRAVELSAVERStravel professional. Our trav-el professionals are commit-ted to fulfilling your everytravel dream, and are withyou every step of the way!

ROYALCARIBBEAN.COM

THE SEA KISSES EVERY SHORE.WE TAKE THE RELATIONSHIP EVEN FURTHER.

The sea is calling. It whispers your name, inviting you to a place more beautiful than anything you’ve seen. Where light dances on the waves, and the gentle sound puts you at ease. Where you can enjoy a piña colada, a massage, ice skating and rock climbing all in one place. Only Royal Caribbean International® delivers the one vacation that’s a full sea of possibilities.

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travel agent professional june 2012

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