TravelResearchOnline.com Blog

This week I’m going to look at five of my favorite companies and try to better understand what it is about their culture that has earned my loyalty. Not one of them is perfect, but each exemplifies one or more characteristics that makes them not just a good company, but a great one. From each [...]

Positioning a company, and retaining hard-fought-for positioning, depends on a strong core brand message, clearly articulated. The unique selling point differentiating your company from all others must be clearly and consistently articulated. Like any message, however, branding can be distorted and misinterpreted if not properly transmitted at its source. For a brand to be clear [...]

The consumers of this decade are smarter and better informed than the consumers of the past. Their computer screens are portals into an unbelievably deep and rich world of information. Beyond that, however, today’s consumers have grown up on television, radio and newspapers. They have seen and heard almost every permutation of marketing and sales, both [...]

This week and last we have been working on the concept of authenticity: the idea that clients will seek out and choose a travel agent with which they can identify with and trust. A credo of authenticity seeks to fulfill every explicit and every implicit promise made by the travel agent. However, authenticity without stellar [...]

Deep within most people is the capacity to inherently understand when a company mirrors their own values. People look for empathy, for a travel planner than has the capacity to best understand their own situation, to honestly assist them in making a buying decision. Great travel consultants think from a client-centric point of view. The [...]

How well do your clients understand what you do? The fact is, most of the public operates with a set of misperceptions about travel agents. Consumers, by and large, do not understand the distribution chain, the commission system or the role of the travel agent. This is, of course, the fault of our own industry [...]

Consumers look for authentic products and services that deliver on promises. It really is that simple. Except that travel agencies sometimes promise the wrong things. They promise the lowest prices. They promise hassle-free travel. They promise across the board expertise. Sometimes the promises are implicit rather than explicit, but the travel agency either intentionally or [...]

Why are you a travel counselor? Can you provide a short, succinct answer to that question? It is almost a trick question, because if the answer is about your love of travel, your passion for travel, the many places you have been, then we are probably on the wrong track. Your love and passion for [...]

Do your clients know why they do business with your travel agency? Do they have a clear picture in their minds of what your travel practice represents? How about you as a travel agent conducting your own travel practice either as an employee in an organization or as an owner of your travel agency? Can [...]