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We all know that the publicity surrounding the recent attacks throughout Europe and the Middle East are spooking travelers who are either cancelling their planned holidays and/or putting vacation plans on hold.

Cruise lines, hotels, tour operators, and others combat this with new pricing deals and incentives in hopes of luring travelers back to their destinations. That’s always good for us travel agents. But the smarter travel agents do something more. They re-direct their marketing efforts. Read the rest of this entry »

They see it on television and they read about it on the internet. It’s a topic of discussion during dinner. You know what I am talking about: The “T” word… Terrorism!

No doubt about it, we live in a world where recent, violent, and tragic events have changed us all for ever.

As a travel expert and industry veteran, I have seen this type of client fear and concern before. Do you all remember Pan Am 101? Travel in general came to a screeching halt. Hijacking of airlines was all but of unheard of back then.

Keep in mind that the American people are perhaps the most resilient people in the world and as history has proven: we see what happens, we get shaken up, but them we move on.

Fast forward to today… Read the rest of this entry »

Well, it is that time of year. The geese fly south and the bears go into hibernation. And believe it or not, so does TRO—but just for a little bit. As the year winds down, we ease up on our daily publishing, spend some time with our families, and focus on the loose ends that invariably exist in our own travel businesses.  About a month ago, we all celebrated Thanksgiving. Now we are in the midst of the December Holidays—Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and a few others I probably left off; but I want to take this time to offer my personal thanks to some individuals who have made working on TRO a true pleasure. Besides, my thanks can stay up for two weeks! Read the rest of this entry »

As anyone who has sold cruises over the past few years will tell you, the commissions earned are falling. They are not falling because of reduced commissions. They are not falling because of reduced fares. They are falling because of the increase in the Non-Commissionable Fee or NCF.

As an agent that prides himself on offing transparency and value to my clients, I see two problems with the NCFs.  First, the very idea that I have to explain the acronym to a client takes away from a smooth and fluid selling process. An agent should not be discussing commissions or non commissionable charges—ever! The mere fact that the word “commission” must be discussed is just plain wrong. Secondly Read the rest of this entry »