Freshly back from a cruise, Les-Lee has alot of things to get off her mind this week. Smart marketing and education efforts by cruise line partners and cooperation from competitors all earn a big Thumbs Up from Les-Lee. Cougar Cruises? Not so much. Hotels that don’t pay travel agents commissions as promised? That would be a No Thumbs Up for you! If you want to report something well done by a supplier, a res agent, or rep, we are happy to give them some coverage in TRO’s Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down. If you have a problem with airlines, tour companies, etc. or getting commissions, maybe we can assist. Contact Les-Lee at packagedeals@comcast.net.
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THUMBS DOWN for an international hotel, Rome’s, La Residenza, who promise commissions and then don’t pay. Agent, Joan Kolbert from Gemini Travel in Mt. Kisco, NY, reports “They said they needed our bank name, address, bank account number, routing number and swift number in order to do a electronic money transfer. After getting all that information and sending it to them, I never received an answer from them although I wrote them many times requesting an answer. I would not want other travel agents to put in the time to make clients arrangements without getting paid. There are plenty of good hotels in Rome that will be happy to have the business and will pay what they promise to pay.”This is an ongoing problem- booking clients overseas and keeping our fingers crossed that we will get paid. I wonder if the reverse happens, an agent in Germany waiting for a commission from Orlando???? The easiest thing to do is to work with supplier, but many clients find out about hotels on the internet and ask us to book them.
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THUMBS UP for the service on Holland America. When a table of passengers commented to their waiter that the flower arrangement in the ladies restroom was much nicer than what was on their table, they were surprised ten minutes later. The flowers they admired were brought to their table and remained there throughout the cruise. Someone was thinking and on the ball. That little gesture went a long way.
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THUMBS UP for taking a stand and also taking some heat. Carnival Cruises has turned down future Cougar group cruises. Who would think “cougar” would have a new meaning in our vocabulary. Older women dating younger men. A group of 300 sailed recently on Carnival and their agent has been told that Carnival won’t book them again. Guess too much AWRRRR in the hot tubs. And I don’t want any comments about the reverse- older men and younger gals. FYI, my hubby is almost 30 years older than me, and we’ve been together for over 30 years. So AWRRRR right back at ya.
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THUMBS UP for Royal Caribbean. For a forthcoming Asian sailing, they called the agent to ask her to inform her American clients that the majority of passengers were Asian, so English would not be the first spoken language onboard. Her clients said ‘no problem’ and praised the attention to this detail offered by the agent. In fact, this should be a DOUBLE THUMBS UP, since some other cruise lines would try to contact the client directly, bypassing the agent.
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THUMBS DOWN for the confusion about visas for Argentina. After the announcement came out that US passengers would need a visa, agents were getting conflicting info. Did that mean cruisers flying in and out – as in Brazil? For the record, US tourists will not need a visa for stays less than 90 days.
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THUMBS DOWN for people trying to beat the system with luggage fees at the airport. You may have seen them, taking their suitcases to the gate and then being told they’re too large for carry-ons and the gate attendant takes them to be checked. Guess what- sometimes it is at no charge. Seems the attendants cannot take cash!! This is happening too often now, and airlines are looking for ways to stop it.
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A THUMBS UP for some of the review modules for Princess and Cunard. If any agent thinks he or she knows it all- take these exam questions and see if you score 100%. I actually did a few yesterday, and now I am excited about escorting my group in April. New things are happening onboard! Plus policies that agents had criticized previously have been changed to be more agent and passenger friendly. Thanks for the education – and for the shipboard credit just for completing the review.
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THUMBS DOWN to the tour operator who has itineraries not in their brochures and not on their web site, but only available if you call into the res dept. If the company’s rep calls you to tell you about these offerings- listen. But this is also the same tour operator selling directly to the public, so they may know something you don’t. “Who is it?”, you ask. Let’s just say that it is a female name. No, don’t do a Seinfeld, it doesn’t rhyme with a body part.
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THUMBS DOWN for lack of consistency. How come a single supplement on one cruise line doubles the port charges, and on another one, it does not? Are there any regulations for this- guess not. And we’re all learning that gov’t fees can be more than that. Some companies change the wordage now to gov’t and processing fees. I am trying to educate my clients and tell them the cost of the cruise and the amount of the extras. When they see a 7 day Caribbean cruise at $500 ppdo has port and taxes and processing of $250 and up, they have a better understanding of the value of the cruise – $35 a day.
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THUMBS UP for the economy, suppliers and tourism boards. Now you’re asking what that means. When things were slowing at the end of last year, more companies were trying harder to get the word out about their products. Faxes increased and deals were abundant. And some suppliers are now back on the road doing presentations. As much as I love webinars, I do enjoy the one on one meetings with destination suppliers.The road show sponsored by the Italian Board of Tourism showed a camaraderie of suppliers who are competitors of one another, but their goal was to better educate the agent. Bravo!
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