Are Cruise Lines Testing The Agent Pain Threshold?

Richard Earls,
Travel Research Online

Cruise line non-commissionable fees continue to be a major retail travel topic. Cruise lines say they’re more noticeable now with discounted pricing, but some agents believe the lines are testing the pain threshold of the agency community for what are effectively commission cuts...read on

UA Fires Shot Across The Bow

John Frenaye,
Travel Research Online

Make no mistake: United’s move to shift credit card merchant fees to travel agencies is a clear indication of the future of the industry, a clear affront to consumers and nothing more than a masked fare increase. Travel agencies cannot sit idly by...read on

Booking Fees Added To The Endangered List

Chris Rivers, Open Jaw

What’s next? Paying customers for the privilege of making their booking? OTAs dropping service fees on air bookings puts additional strain on the industry. If you aspire to be an online player you better be well stocked with non-air product or you may want to reclassify your company as a charity...read on

It’s Time To Pick Your Business Apart

John Frenaye, Travel Research Online

What makes money for you? What breaks even? What do you do that represents a losing proposition? Figuring out what works and what doesn’t is critical to travel agency success. When you get below the big picture, the pieces of the puzzle come into sharper focus...read on

Recession Is Just A Moment In Time

Steve Tracas, Travel Trade

The president of V.com is offering words of assurance to beleaguered retailers, saying that “travel is hard-wired into the human experience” and the current recession “is just a moment in time.” Recovery will come with pent-up demand, Tracas says....read on

Is Good Enough Good Enough?

Arnie Weissmann, Travel Weekly

For the travel industry, you would think that hospitality would be the dominant force in our collective psyche. Yet in a customer service survey of 116 major companies, including 23 from travel, Southwest Airlines was the only one in the top 10. Are travel companies settling for adequate service?...read on

Get An Attitude To Stand Out

Richard Earls, Travel Research Online

Agencies with attitude are the ones that stand out from the crowd. The agency that takes ownership of its practice carries an attitude of assurance and is always in motion, marketing harder, training harder and in constant contact with clients...read on

Wake Up Call - Warning: Article Contains Brutal Honesty

John Frenaye, Travel Research Online

Are most travel agents mediocre salespeople at best? Is the retail travel business lacking desire and passion? Would it benefit suppliers to shift to a net environment and let the middleman fend for himself? A travel agent queries a senior supplier executive, and he doesn’t hear good news...read on

Selling Countries Like Soap

Richard Turen, Travel Weekly

Countries seeking to attract tourists have begun to understand that their name is a brand that stands for something. It is a relatively new approach to tourism marketing and there are still some bugs to work out. Why, for example, if Canada has the 2nd best ‘country brand’ on the planet, can we not attract more visitors? ...read on

For Travel Agents, Complexity Spells Opportunity

Arnie Weissmann, Travel Weekly

The more airlines unbundle and cruise lines differentiate cabins, the more complex things get for consumers. And when consumers are confused, the services of travel agents become more valuable...read on

Mistakes Are Made For Learning

John Frenaye
Travel Research Online

Making mistakes is ordinary and expected -- once. When you fail to learn from that, you run the risk of wasting time, energy and money. Whether you forgot to call a client back or missed a final payment, you need to find out why you messed up and ensure it doesn’t happen again...read on

How I Learned To Love Air Canada

Lorne Gunter, National Post

Air Canada still carries a lot of baggage from the bad old days of airline regulation. But U.S. airlines have become buses with wings, and AC looks like a limousine service by comparison. I never expected to say it, but Air Canada has become a good airline...read on

Will IATA Get The Message On PaxIS?

ABTN

The Amadeus court victory earlier this week marks a major milestone in the battle against IATA’s PaxIS. But will the association get the message? IATA needs to accept that it is just one of many players in the industry, not its supreme power...read on

Speaking With One Voice

Arnie Weissmann, Travel Weekly

Despite the massive size and economic importance of the international travel industry, lobbying efforts are undermined because the industry doesn’t speak with one voice. A pledge of cooperation between the WTTC and the UNWTO could help change that...read on