http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress The Business of Travel, The Fun of Travel Fri, 30 Jul 2010 05:29:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress/2007/03/18/rx-vacations/#comment-1496 Leslie Fri, 23 Mar 2007 16:37:41 +0000 http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress/?p=94#comment-1496 This is interesting because the last few trips that I have been on all I could THINK about was work. Would my clients like this hotel? I wonder if anyone would want to do this tour? Is this place always this packed with kids? Now that you mention it, it WOULD be nice to disconnect. Thanks for the post. Leslie ]]> http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress/2007/03/18/rx-vacations/#comment-1458 Joan Mon, 19 Mar 2007 01:51:54 +0000 http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress/?p=94#comment-1458 I did take one vacation in my life time, where I completely disconnected from the realties of life, and it was a challenge, however wonderful. No time schedule, no cell phone, or computer, just relaxing to the sounds of the ocean, while reading a book and sipping fresh island drinks- brought out when a flag was stuck in the sand. A vacation I would recommended. And I desire to experience it again, with a special person this time. ]]> http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress/2006/12/08/comment-spam-driving-me-crazy/#comment-980 Timothy Lix Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:52:09 +0000 http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress/?p=92#comment-980 Hello, I came across your website on home based travel agents. I would like to be able to provide my website to your subscribers. My blog for travel agents is at http://www.timothyquiropraxia.com/travel_agent.html How would I go about doing this? Since your site seems very appropriate for what I am trying to accomplish Thanks, Dr. Timothy John Lix ]]> http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress/2006/07/20/two-seconds-to-get-a-client/#comment-264 Alan Sat, 16 Sep 2006 12:05:49 +0000 http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress/?p=75#comment-264 I tell people where to go ]]> http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress/2006/07/29/your-success-depends-on-specializing-in-the-long-tail/#comment-228 Eddie Rodriguez Sat, 12 Aug 2006 18:13:49 +0000 http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress/?p=79#comment-228 Dear Barry: "Specialize....or fail" - This is THE MOST IMPORTANT message anyone could share with a home-based travel consutant in the 21st century. I was very excited to see your article on "the NEED for specialization" come through in my RSS "inbox". (By the way, I receive your Blog's RSS Feed via the integrated RSS reader in the new Outlook 2007). Back to the topic: At our Host Agency we have, fairly recently, decided to focus EXCLUSIVELY in signing up new travel consultants who are interested in specializing in no more than 3 areas of the industry (be it "types of travel" or "destinations"). (In other words - so that it's perfectly clear - we've stopped signing up agents who want to sell "anything" to "anybody"). Of course, many individuals who approach us for the first time do NOT come with a clear idea about the need to specialize and how they can benefit from it. But - once we explain the MANY reasons behind our approach - those individuals who do join us and start building "SPECIALTY" businesses, start seeing - in a few months - the type of results that "average" travel agents may take years to achieve. Specialization IS the new (and old!) "secret to success" in this industry!! Barry, some time ago, we noticed the huge difference between the commission cheques we were writing to "specialized consultants" v.s the smaller cheques we were writing to NON-specialized consultants. We immediately decided that, by focusing (as a host agency) and building a network of "specialized business", not only would we be positively impacting the "bottom line" for the company and our connsultants...but also... ....that we'd be bringing to 21st-century travellers the type of "expert service", "superior knowledge" they now DEMAND and need. As to "why" most agents still "refuse" to specialize, I think that there are two main reasons: - Fear (caused by not understanding the benefits of FOCUS.) - Lack of the right information on how to go about specialization. (To help our consultants in this area, we have adopted Dr. Bennink's "The Travel Agent's Relational Marketing Roadmap" as the "official" marketing textbook/program of our agency. We highly recommed the program.) In closing, (this being my first comment on your Blog), keep up the good work and the good info. Best Regards, Eddie Rodriguez Passionate Entrepreneur www.blog.homebasedtravelagent.ca ]]> http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress/2006/07/25/travelscreamcom-a-great-idea-but-wheres-the-content/#comment-226 Daren Cole Thu, 10 Aug 2006 03:59:43 +0000 http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress/?p=78#comment-226 Barry- We thank you for your interest in travelscream.com, and appreciate the accurate representation of our current system. In creating this new service, our vision is to provide a comprehensive on-line community resource for the travel agent. We apologize for the delay in fulfilling our objectives of providing content and assure you we are committed to achieving the full potential of this service as quickly as possible. We’d like to provide an assessment of our situation and an update on our progress. We were truly a bit overwhelmed with the initial response to our launch in terms of interest from the agent community (thank you agents!), which led to a bit of a “chicken & egg” scenario with regard to supplier participation. We are achieving critical mass on the agent side, and are in the process of securing partner participation through a dedicated and experienced sales team. We expect to see our content increase dramatically in the next five to seven days. You will begin to see news feeds from PMG (Modern Agent), as well as supplier specials from a number of destinations, resorts and hotels over the next few weeks. We are working round the clock to register new partners and to load their content into the system. As with any new technology, we are adapting as quickly as possible to the special needs of our partners and that is taking more time than initially anticipated. We want to assure you that we are committed to the travelscream.com system and to providing the best online resource for the agent community to gather and share information. With regard to the RSS aggregator; due to similar feedback we plan to offer subscribers the ability to utilize their desired aggregator in the very near future! Again, thank you for your interest in and your review of travelscream.com. Feed back is always appreciated and welcome! Thanks again, Daren Daren Cole President TravelScream.com Darenc@travelscream.com ]]> http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress/2006/07/31/podcast-number-70-show-notes/#comment-225 Administrator Thu, 10 Aug 2006 01:55:21 +0000 http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress/?p=81#comment-225 Here's to 40 years! Cheers Leslie. Barry ]]> http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress/2006/07/31/podcast-number-70-show-notes/#comment-219 Leslie Wed, 09 Aug 2006 01:14:58 +0000 http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress/?p=81#comment-219 Love the podcast! I really like the fact that they deal with agents who have been in business for two week (like me) and agents who have been in business for 40 years (like I hope to be)! ]]> http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress/2006/07/29/your-success-depends-on-specializing-in-the-long-tail/#comment-216 Administrator Wed, 02 Aug 2006 10:52:22 +0000 http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress/?p=79#comment-216 Thanks Leslie! Barry ]]> http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress/2006/07/29/your-success-depends-on-specializing-in-the-long-tail/#comment-214 Leslie Tue, 01 Aug 2006 15:09:39 +0000 http://hometravelagent.net/WordPress/?p=79#comment-214 I think YOU RULE! My partner and I were JUST talking about how we were going to stand out from the crowd and now I think we may be on to something. Thanks for the wonderful site and all of the great information! ]]>