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Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts

Thursday, June 2, 2011

What is A home based travel agent?

Many people are unclear about the travel industry. Travel agents are often as be the same as real estate agents. A travel agent or more specifically a home based travel agent is an exciting career change or retirement option. Some people do it full time while many are doing it as a part time company.
A travel agent books travel for customers and suppliers paid a Commission on the reservation. For bookings which suppliers can a Commission not on numbers, a service charge for its time calculate also the client a travel agency. An example is checked out, when a hotel for a client to book the hotel then would send you a review of the Agency to the client. Before taxes and charges, most hotels pay 10% of the price of the hotel. A $100 per night hotel reservation $10 per night for the travel agency means that the booking is made. This hotel would the same cost, whether the customer a travel agent or books through the hotel directly. In many cases, the travel agency can get a better price. It costs the customer not use the travel if the travel agency does not charge service fees.
Can someone do this? To work with suppliers, you must have established an account with the supplier. Most require an agency that contains a number, IATAN, CLIA or arc. IATAN travel agent is available for international airlines network. CLIA is for cruise lines International Association. ARC stands for airline reporting Corporation. Each requires different things including the sales, money in the Bank, this membership experience or training in the industry and membership fees. Many will require $1,000,000 or more insurance mistakes and omissions.
For the average travel agency, membership, no way with some organizations and independent representatives or external agent is so that the agent is a team with an agency. There are not enough also benefits of working with an agency, because the most travel agents can earn Commission in higher and bonuses with a particular supplier. Working with an agency with many agents can increase the Commission percentages, which calls the agent for joint sales of all agents of the Agency. Support is also very important as a successful agent. Agents that work with others tend to feel more isolated and to learn, to do all solo. Because no agent can have experience, anywhere in the world or stay in any hotel or resort, others can advice you which is really helpful.
The future of the travel agencies will be always in question. The truth is that the industry has changed in many ways. Some changes have been for the better, some for the worse. Many airlines have cut commissions to travel agents. There are however many other suppliers, travel agencies more than ten years ago to pay. Cruises uses, only the rich and now people in every book income booked cruises. Every year people on cruises are going more and more. Most people say they want to want to go on a cruise at least once and many who go on their first come home to another book.
You can earn Commission on many travel reservations.
Hotels rental cars tour packages of cruises some airline tickets of international airline tickets travel insurance ground transportation including limos attraction tickets and train tickets
All people must travel arrangements at some point in time. If you need reservations road trips. Those who have to need on a business trip airline tickets, car rentals and hotel reservations. Families want to love holiday with their experience. People visit family and relatives. Most people who gain money say that they want to spend it to a pleasant stay. Newly married couples go on honeymoon. You are selling something, this is hard to sell. People contact you for help, you are not called them or approach them trying to Don?t want to sell it to them.
Awareness is the main thing have to do any travel agency. Most people put travel agents in the same category as real estate agents. You believe that it costs in addition to a travel agency use. This is not true. In many cases, a travel agency can get a better price than the general public by the supplier, working only with travel agencies. Many people know book not all options for a holiday. A good travel agency does. As soon as people paid as a travel agency gets trained, they are more willing to work with travel agencies. If a person who knows, if he or she can book a hotel and it costs the same price regardless, he or she will work with you. It is important, so that people know how to save time and money on their travel arrangements can help.
So as get you in the industry? Many people think they need to go to school or are certified. This is not true. You can in the industry and begin training. I recommend Don?t thousands on a travel School spend everyone until he or she knows this is a career, he or she really want to pursue. The truth is that you avoid the trained thousands spend to get. There are many courses to travel agent of suppliers. There are also organizations as ICTA (Institute of certified travel of agents), the courses offer how to get more years experience in the industry. CLIA also offers courses. There are some agencies, which will offer training. Even if you choose a career, you want to track that this is you have to not spend to be thousands, educated and competent travel agent. There are many courses you can take with suppliers and organizations to obtain a better education in travel. I really think that a Hands? is the best way to a better travel agency. Is your clients need to learn to find cooperation with suppliers and how the information an important part of becoming a good travel agency.
How is one an agency with work? There are a few organizations dedicated to independent travel agencies. NACTA and OSSN are the top organizations. NACTA is for the National Association of commissioned travel agents. OSSN stands for outside sales support network. You can search online for travel agency home based programs. I would never someone spending a lot of money, recommend this company to reasons. It is the key to the first try and see if it is something that you really want to do and training received, before you invest too much money in you. First you get in the industry and see whether it is really a career that is best for you.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Travel pre and post Internet

Travel Pre Internet:
I've been travelling for over 40 years - by thumb in my early days, by boots in the Scouts, a Lambretta came next and then my first old banger followed by newer old bangers to the beaches of the Costa Brava.
My thumb, boots, bikes and bangers took me all over Europe and the UK before finding that a charter flight to Spain on an old 'Connie' could get me to the beaches and bars a lot quicker and allow more time to enjoy the local travel opportunities by horse and cart and the occasional bus and train.
'Go West and Prosper' seemed to be a good idea so instead of taking an 8 hour flight I took an 8 day transatlantic crossing from Tilbury to Montreal on the Stephan Batory of Polish Ocean Lines ensuring that jet lag did not trouble my travel plans. Some years later I crossed the pond again on a ship but this time it was 5 times bigger and I travelled in style on the QE2 and dined in the Queen's Grill somewhat removed from my earlier experience. I highly recommend ocean voyages but cannot see myself on one of the modern cruise ships going from port to port with constant line-ups to get on and off to buy t-shirts. However, I have done 10 Windjammers and a Star Clipper cruise in the Caribbean which were all memorable (let's hope Windjammer Barefoot Cruises recover from their woes). But I digress.
I had read that Canada is a spectacular country, from sea to shining sea, and my entrance into the St. Lawrence River to Montreal and then heading west in an old Econoline van from the Great Lakes, across the Prairies to the Rocky Mountains before ending up whale watching off of the Pacific Coast of Vancouver Island was a trip of wonder to a bloke from London. Today the scenery is still spectacular and the best way to go is still by road so rent or buy a car, motorhome or motorbike, take the train or tour bus but remember the maps, a fly rod, good boots and take your time.
My favorite part of Canada / USA for adventure travel has to be Northern BC / Alaska, to hike the Chilkoot Trail in the steps of the goldseekers of 1898. The Northwest Territories to canoe the Nahannie River and the Yukon to drive from Dawson City to Chicken, Alaska. If you like the outdoors and can put up with a few bugs, cast a fly and scale a few hills or drive on endless dirt roads sharing the space with moose, caribou, elk, bears and eagles, then these are the places to put on your list. The pleasures and experiences in driving to Inuvik on the Dempster Highway or to Prudhoe Bay on the Dalton Highway or even the Canol Road can only be felt by doing them. I would have mentioned the Alaska Highway but now it is an easy drive unlike the aforementioned.
Today the costs of driving these distances may mean that sharing the journey with others is required, but RVing or simply vanning and camping is a great way to see beyond the horizon. Some enroute adventures now need to be booked in advance whereas when I hiked Denali and the Chilkoot Pass it was just a case of turning up, registering with the local ranger office and heading on out. A little more forward planning is needed for today's traveller and cost considerations of lengthy flights or drives have to somehow be countered with more careful planning. In the days of reasonable gas prices I would not even consider the driving or flying costs and have driven to Key West from the northwest coast, down the west coast to the Baja and to the west coast from New York. I once even flew my 1946 Fleet taildragger from the Pacific to the Atlantic and back using around 5 gallons an hour of avgas. Before the oil and credit crisis I drove from Rio de Janeiro to Lima, down to Tierra del Fuego and back to Rio covering over 15,000 miles of spectacular scenery and with no consideration about the cost of gas. South America should be on your itinerary too! Some other memorable drives that may now require a mortgage with the gas companies include London to The Nordkapp, Norway, Skippers Canyon in New Zealand and the loneliness of the far north of Australia and the amazing coast of Western Australia stopping by at Monkey Mia and Wave Rock.
We tend to forget that the real cost of travelling is often less today than over the 40 years of my travels. In 1977 my round-trip airfare from Canada to Australia cost over $1700 in 1977 dollars so today it is far cheaper to fly, even with the airlines gouging for fuel, extra baggage, no service and no pleasure. The 'Big Mac' method of price comparison as developed by The Economist newspaper gives us a good gauge for most expenditures of today compared to yesterday but my $1500 cost to get a private pilots licence in the 1970's seems cheap by comparison to today, but obviously not when using this Big Mac principle. Other travel costs are also far cheaper today but this should not mean that travellers should disregard the many methods of saving costs that can then be put to extended or improved travel experiences
Travel Post-Internet:
In my 40 years of travel I have had to use travel agents to make even the simplest of reservations and buy tickets, not even thinking to ask them if they had "been there, done that?" It was just a case of there being no other options to buying travel. Now we have unlimited choices and can seek out better travel agents, better prices, better selections and information about anywhere in the world for our travels - without even leaving home.
The Internet now gives travellers ideas and options of Where to go, When to go, Why to go, What to do, Who to book with and How to save money and offset costs. We can search and find experts for every travel option. If we are comfortable with the Internet we no longer have to go to a travel agent to make reservations and buy tickets except to book with some of the larger travel companies that still produce glossy brochures and offer all inclusive packages or tours that only sell through the agency system. The Internet also allows those of us who are smart enough to know when to seek out a top travel agent with knowledge, experience and expertise (KEE skills) of destinations and activities about where to find them. There is no longer any need to only use our local agents when we can find one somewhere else in the world. When we do not need 'the knowledge' and can do it ourselves we simply surf the web so that we can book directly with tour and travel operators wherever we have decided to go.
Some travel agents operate their own tours, some are both wholesale and retail, some limit consumer selection by only selling their 'preferred' suppliers and some have professional consultants with years of experience invested in gaining knowledge, experience and expertise and are worth their weight in gold to the savvy traveller. Beware though, as some are also called destination specialists and some of these designations merely require the agent to take a rudimentary test offered by tourism offices, destination marketing groups or even tour operators and in my opinion can harm the reputation of the travel industry. A specialist is not necessarily an expert.
Travel is probably the most used commercial aspect of the Internet and if retail agents want to harness this exciting medium to offer 'the knowledge' and their 'kee' skills to a global audience, not just their local community, they must embrace the changes that are happening. Travellers now have the ability to seek answers to the 5 W's of travel and the important 'How to' save money and offset costs by having information just a click away.
And then it occurred to me that even internet travel prices often include a commission element even when sold directly to the consumer. If we book directly with operators we should not have to pay full retail prices as we are doing for ourselves what a retail agent would normally do for us. A dilemma for the operator is that to show a both a retail and a cost price option could deter many agents from selling the services as travellers could use an agent for free advice and book directly with the operator to get a 'net of commission' price. Obviously this two tier pricing is not often available but travellers who do not need advice should also not be penalized by retail pricing. A new way had to be found and I think I have found it!
The need for fairer fare prices is why I developed the Top Travel Voucher program at The Top Travel Club and I even found a dot com for it. All travel selections on the site are at 'net of commission' prices for members who handle there own travel arrangements directly with the operators linked on the club website using our voucher program.
I am inviting travel operators from around the world to join this program, from B&B's, Motels, Hotels, Luxury Lodges, Eco Resorts, Beach Resorts and Tour and Adventure Operators who want to promote their products and services to travellers who are comfortable with direct bookings and reservations.
I am also inviting Travel Agents with knowledge, experience and expertise of destinations and activities to showcase their skills to a global audience of travellers and to the members of this new travel club. I am leery of 'specialist agents' and only want experts to showcase their services.
This opportunity is available to the travel trade at no cost except for them to offer net, wholesale or outlet prices to club members and visitors to the website using top travel vouchers. I believe this program offers fairer fare prices to direct-booking travellers. The operator would normally be paying commission anyway but now travellers get the savings because they make their own arrangements.
The Top Travel Club opened in mid-April 2008 offering thousands of top travel vouchers for travel in over 70 countries with around 150 travel operators onboard. Every week we add more travel operators with more choices for members. Currently you can get savings on accommodations, adventure travel, boat charters, culinary tours, hike, bike and dive tours, auto and RV rentals fishing lodges and guides, safaris, vacation rentals, single travel, women only and dude ranches. Members get the vouchers free of charge by paying an annual membership fee and non-members can buy the vouchers on the internet at Top Travel Sites at deeply discounted prices to the face-value. The future growth will include restaurants, travel clothing, travel insurance and the opportunity to access air ticket consolidators who want to deal directly with consumers.
The way I have travelled and the way I see travel is that consumers should have unlimited access to every travel opportunity with the ability to do their own due diligence or to find a professional who can offer quality advice and services at fair prices, and to find all of this without needing endless hours of searching.
To find out more about the new way of cost offsets for travel please go to The Top Travel Club and my apologies for some of the spelling (traveller / traveler) but that is what I was taught. As long as we all understand the meaning, vive le difference!

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Save money on travel costs through these 7 things to do

If you are on a business trip or a journey find joy, you, that the higher costs on to you have been redirected. Money put together these travel tips to save you. You can you as a business travel tips or pleasure travel tips.
No one wants to "more of our hard to keep to shell out" money or our company money earned. The changes we have must be made in accordance with above. So, it is more important than ever for consumers to know with price save travel tips, so that we can still afford to travel. Here, some good points for us are to know and practice.
"Discount offers", there are 1. in the Internet. Find you thoroughly to a little bit better find. However they may be not the best, you can find. Carefully review specials editions in your local newspapers in the Sunday or special.
2. Sharpen your pencils! Compare the costs of flying to follow. Many times flying is the cheapest way to go, if you add in the cost of fuel, meals, etc. The longer the better the airlines compare the trip. Time is also one of the issues that play an important part of planning available. Business travel tips are very important, because your employer business beschleunigte-and will be cost effective!
3. In smaller airports to check in. Several airports have many large cities. The smaller ones are often better prices and have cheap/free parking. You need your company in this market. Check in with near an airport in a nearby town. In most cases, you need to hire a car. Using a few extra miles enough will save. Many times, if you are on a business trip, can additional calls fit customers well between the smaller and larger cities.
(4) If it is legal, check where you are, the price buy 2 two way tickets each way. Discarding each half you don't need. The airlines are not satisfied with this practice, but where allowed, check it out. In this way, you can save money.
(5) Other travel tip! Be careful where you book your hotel room. You might get a poor room location. Hotels, you will assign a less attractive location if you get the room at a very reasonable price. The hotels are to admit this. But they do it and you can avoid a bad situation if you are working directly with the Hotel Web site.
6. Nine times on insurance of ten, purchase your rental car is not required. You can do this with your own insurance company to confirm. This is a business trip, you can check with your company insurance. But most of the time a "temporary replacement vehicle" is already covered. Also, many credit cards offer this.
7. Not likely for a business trip, but if you can, and days you can travel, the flexible booking, you can get bargains by "Last Minute". Keep in mind; If the seats or rooms to be empty, the airline or hotel make an income from them. Also at a low price, you improve their bottom line and you win by one a good price. Sign up for e-newsletter or browse the Internet for last-minute offers when you travel.
Keep in mind that you, as much as you can is cheaper. Stay informed and save!
This is very important!

 
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