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Posted In: The 365 Guide

Engaging Facebook Posts: Open Questions

Engagement is the art of pulling your Facebook friends and fans into the conversation. When a Fan Likes, Shares or Comments on your Status Updates, your brand receives a higher profile and is exposed to new people. Engagement is the real measure of the success your Facebook Page is at any moment enjoying.

Open questions are one of the best ways to invite engagement. Ask a question not answered by a “yes” or a “no”. Center your questions on travel, but make your question non-threatening and certainly not overtly commercial. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted In: The 365 Guide

5 Engaging Types of Posts for Facebook

Want to build an enthusiastic group of followers on Facebook?  This week we are going to look at five different categories of posts almost certain to  gain followers.  We are also going to give you examples you can use immediately. Your goal is to create “engagement” – likes, comments and shares to increase the number of people exposed to your brand.  With a bit of strategic thinking, you will be adding to your fan base quickly. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted In: Editorial Musings

4 surefire tips for selling on Facebook

To continue with my social media theme from last week, I wanted to harp a little more on Facebook. Last week I stressed that engagement was critical to the success of any Facebook page no matter the number of fans or likes you acquire.

And once you have the fans and are engaging them, the next step is to sell them something. There are several methods and I will list four of them here. Feel free to print this out, cut out the tips, and tape them on the side of your monitor along with all the other sticky notes. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted In: Editorial Musings

If you have not heard of the term “social media” in the past three years, it is time to come out from the rock you have undoubtedly been living under. While social media is in a constant state of evolution, one thing is certain—it is here to stay. You can take that to the bank! Most travel professionals are using social media in some form; yet most are also misusing it. Over the next few weeks we will take a look at what works and what doesn’t. If you are in Boston for the Home Based Travel Agent Forum next week, be sure to catch my panel discussion for more ideas. But for now, I want to discuss the biggest mistake you can make when it comes to social media. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted In: Agent Perspectives

“Get Off My Facebook Feed”

Have you been shouting at your computer in recent weeks, “Get off my Facebook feed!”? A recent trend on Facebook is for someone in your friends list to either set up or start posting in an open group. They have names such as “You are from…”, “You went to…”, “You grew up in…” etc. and your friends are posting in those groups…frequently.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted In: Point-to-Point

Grandma’s Lessons for Facebook Etiquette

I absolutely love brussel sprouts!  I’m also a sci-fi nerd and mourn the day Battlestar Galactica ended.  I have elevated the perfect espresso shot to nirvana status and I cannot stand any type of seafood.  Like any other human being, I am a complicated mix of thoughts, ideas, opinions and more.  Some people think I’m a freak, and others love me for my weirdness.

 My quirky life was rarely discussed outside my circle of friends and family until something amazing happened:  Facebook!  Now, I can reach out to others just as mixed up and wacky as I am!  I can connect with brussel sprout supporters and latte lovers the world over.  The trouble is, everyone is watching, including clients.

 How can I express my views without alienating friends, or offending clients that may not share my passions?  By listening to what my grandmother told me when I was a kid:  “If you can’t say it nicely, don’t say it at all.”  I would add one more tip:  find another place to say it. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted In: Point-to-Point

The Edge Of Excellence: Facebook is kindergarten

I keep telling people, “I’m not a social media expert!”  Don’t get me wrong; I speak about social media–a lot.  It’s one of the most common topics I’m asked to address and lots of people say my approach to social media has worked wonders for them.  Confused?

I have never considered myself a technology wizard, nor an Internet guru and definitely not a social media master.  That doesn’t mean I can’t tell you how to get better results from all of them!

You see, I believe the secrets to succeeding with all this stuff, and whatever stuff may come along after it, are not hidden in bits, bytes or HTML gibberish.  You already know the secrets and you learned them in Kindergarten:  have fun and be creative, be nice, and share.

My real passion and my purpose are described in entertaining detail Read the rest of this entry »

Posted In: Agent Perspectives

MAKING FACEBOOK “CLICK”

I’m certainly no expert at marketing my travel practice. However, I have found that using Facebook and other social media networking sites are extremely beneficial to the success of my practice. I started working with facebook around the end of 2008 but didn’t begin to really use it until mid-2009. I started with about 20 friends in about 30 days. When I really thought about what I had, it clicked in 2009 and I “worked” it. Sixteen months, over 1,670 friends and over 300 fans later, I see the success! The trick is you must interact with your friends/fans about topics OTHER than travel on a regular basis. Doing that, they get to know YOU and that’s when you begin to build relationships and trust.

What is my success? Right now for 2011, I have 15 group cruises, 5 individual cruises and more vacation packages than I can handle alone. I also have 2 group cruises Read the rest of this entry »

Posted In: The 365 Guide

In the world of social marketing platforms, Facebook holds the unique position of most visited, most utilized and most full featured. Next week, The 365 Guide will go into depth with the possibilities of marketing on Facebook as it promises to be the most significant social media for the small service business like travel agencies. Today, however, we are going to focus on a broad overview and some key aspects of getting started.

The mechanics of getting started are not as overwhelming as it might seem. Start slowly,  spending time learning Facebook as a media. As a business person, you can not treat Facebook as a consumer might – you must have more than a passing acquaintence with Facebook as a media if you are going to use it professionally  in your marketing efforts.  From the outset, think continually about the tenor of your online personality. Facebook “helps you connect and share with the people in your life” as the company’s tagline simply states. Joining is very easy, just sign up with your name and email address. However, from that moment on, keep in mind that you are on a mission and there are some important considerations as you project your business persona Read the rest of this entry »

Posted In: Agent Perspectives

My first interview with Lisa Watson went great. She was easy-going and her dedication of work to the creation of FyndTravel was obvious. However, a dead computer on my end took all text and recordings with it to the scrapyard. Chaos happens, I suppose.

We tried again and, as expected, I found the conversation just as enjoyable and informative.

Lisa started our conversation by pulling up a screen share Read the rest of this entry »

Posted In: The Rosen Report

I’ve been at a lot of travel agency and press conferences since the year began, and heard a lot of interesting stories from travel advisors and suppliers. Here are a few I found particularly interesting.

Five years into the business, Susie Flores is among a new batch of advisors redefining the way travel is sold. A cruise lover who always had “that itch to be part of the business,” the mom of four took the leap in March 2019 and became TikTok’s full-time “Cruising Susie.” Even when Covid-19 hit and the world closed, she hung in there, pushing through wherever she could and posting over and over, “It’s going to be okay, the cruise lines will come back.’” Read the rest of this entry »

Posted In: Ex Fida Bona

Is Your Use of “That” Photo Legal?

The growth of sites such as Unsplash, Pexels, and Pixabay have so revolutionized the stock photography landscape that giants like Getty Images, which owns Unsplash, and Canva (Pixabay and Pexels) are now major players. It all seems most attractive. A no-cost registration gives the travel professional millions of images to use on their website, Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms without laying out any money at all. It is the best of all worlds for the travel marketer.

Or is it?

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted In: The Rosen Report

Sailing for a week with 500 or so travel advisors and partners for the KHM Group Crystal Awards Cruise, I heard a lot of presentations onboard Celebrity Reflection last month. And a surprising number of them shared the same advice for travel advisors in 2024. Whether you are a new advisor or a Crystal Award winner or even a supplier, I heard over and over again, the key to success in this busiest of years is to zero in on your top customers Read the rest of this entry »

Posted In: Top Headlines

LABADEE, HAITI - February 4,, 2019: Labadee is a port located on the northern coast of Haiti. It is a private resort leased to Royal Caribbean for the use of passengers of its three cruise lines.
RCCL’s Adventure of the Seas in Labadee

 

Royal Caribbean has canceled excursions from Labadee, its private island in Haiti, but is keeping the island open.

“Out of respect to our local communities surrounding Labadee, Haiti, and to ensure our guest and crew safety, we’re temporarily adjusting our tour offerings,” RCCL told passengers.

Passengers on social media reported cancellation of jet skiing, kayaking and walking tours, as they were asked to remain within the resort at all times.

The cancellations follows days of violence in the country, where armed gangs roam the streets and Americans are being evacuated. The Department of State in July issued a Level 4 travel advisory (“do not travel,” the highest warning level) citing “kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and poor health care infrastructure,” and this morning sent in a Marine anti-terrorism unit to guard the US embassy in Port-au-Prince.

Travel advisors, meanwhile, are reporting minimal concern among clients, though some are not getting off the ship in Labadee and some are calling to express concerns about the Dominican Republic. The DR shares the island on which Haiti is located but has closed its border.

Many also mourn for the people of the island.

“I have a real heart for Haiti; I have helped missionaries and aid workers with flights in the past, and I have seen how they are helping the orphanages and people there,” said travel advisor Margie Lenau of Wonderland Family Vacations LLC in Grand Rapids, MI, who rued the earthquakes and hurricanes and political violence that have upended the island’s stability.  “The question we get most often is whether it’s okay to travel to the Dominican Republic. I tell my customers that Haiti and the Dominican are two very different countries, and there is a mountain range and some distance between them. So far Dominican has kept away from the violence.

”The world can be a dangerous place. With the cruise lines and with travel advisors, safety is always number one. It’s nice to know that cruise lines and tour operators are keeping track to keep travelers safe.”

Labadee, RCCL’s first private island, is 130 miles from Port-au-Prince. Independence of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas, Symphony of the Seas and Odyssey of the Seas are scheduled to stop there in coming weeks.

*Editor Update 03/14/24*

As of now, RCCL has cancelled all stops to Labadee due to the current unrest in Haiti.

Michael Bayley, RCCL CEO, stated on Facebook “We have suspended calls into Labadee, Haiti for the next 7 days and will continue suspension on a rolling basis with 3 days advance notification to our guests sailing on itineraries impacted and changed as we monitor and evaluate the situation in Haiti.”

Posted In: The Rosen Report

It’s not often you get to spend a week at sea with two of the best cruise executives in the industry. Of course, I took the opportunity to talk travel news with Katina Athanasiou and John Diorio during the KHM Travel Group’s Crystal Awards, sailing Celebrity Reflection in the Caribbean, and they were gracious enough to chat with me Read the rest of this entry »

Posted In: The Rosen Report

We Need Certification, Travel Advisors Say

Second in a series on the influx of new travel advisors in the industry. Check out part one here.

Justin Hinkle has spent more than a decade dreaming of owning his own business. Despite having an MBA, a Master of Science in Systems Engineering and a corporate job as a systems engineer for a ballistic missile defense system, he was searching for something more meaningful, something that put him in charge of his own destiny, something that better fit his personality. And something that incorporates his absolute favorite thing to do, travel Read the rest of this entry »

Posted In: The Rosen Report

First in a series on the influx of untrained newcomers to the industry

“I am looking to join a host agency and feeling a bit overwhelmed,” reads a recent Facebook post. “I am looking for a smaller agency that is personable, honest, and helps you reach your goals. That is either low-cost or free. Sells cruise lines as well as Disney, all-inclusives, and more. Offers CLIA. High commission split and no requirements on how much you sell.” Signed, Anonymous.

We’ve all seen posts like that and cringed. And last week, Angela Hughes addressed it in an open letter to the industry—and to those looking to enter it—that I thought was worth sharing Read the rest of this entry »

Posted In: The Rosen Report

New York, NY. “We’re in the renaissance of the travel advisor in the distribution channel, driven by the general public,” Travel Leaders Group president John Lovell told a group of trade reporters last week.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted In: The Rosen Report

Travel Advisors Find New Marketing Twists for 2024

Sure, sure, you are so busy that you just have no time to even think about marketing. Yet, marketing is the foundation on which all businesses rely. Smart travel advisors with whom we spoke are blocking out time on their schedules to do some outreach, finding new ways to connect, and turning to SEO algorithms and Pinterest to “meet clients where they are.” Read the rest of this entry »

Posted In: The Rosen Report

“I’ve been in travel for nine years and this is the busiest January I’ve had; every day there’s a new lead from social media,” says Megan Amelio at Bridie Travel in Chicago. “Literally, every day there’s a new post on our local Facebook groups and Google looking for a travel advisor.”

“It’s January 17, and I’ve already booked what I booked in all of January 2023, and I’m nowhere near done,” says Cheri Smith. “I can hardly keep up with the requests.”

They are not alone Read the rest of this entry »

Posted In: The Rosen Report

A change in US Department of Labor (DOL) regulations should have travel agencies taking a second look at their relationships with independent contractors, travel lawyers say. While the new requirements are relatively easy to meet, their details spell trouble for some agencies. TRO reached out to travel attorneys Mark Pestronk and Tom Carpenter to get their take on what it means—and their advice on what to do Read the rest of this entry »