Home-Based Travel Agent - September 2007 - (Page 24)

News NACTA’s Travel Professionals 2.0 Conference will be held on November 28, 2007 at the Renaissance Ft. Lauderdale from 7:15 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Billed as a peer-to-peer travel professionals event, the conference will feature panels and working events where agents will learn and share useful strategies and tips with other travel professionals for building business. All agents registered with NACTA will receive a special rate for the conference. For information and to register, visit www.nacta.com or e-mail asknacta@aol.com. News From NEST The Network of Entrepreneurs Selling Travel (NEST)’s third annual conference, NEST Fest 2007, will take place December 2-4 at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, NV, segueing conveniently into the Home-Based Travel Agent Expo and Conference, December 4-6, also at Mandalay Bay. The NEST Fest 2007 conference agenda includes guest speakers, product trainings, sales and marketing seminars and opportunities for networking. NEST recently reached a membership milestone, when its 410th homebased agency joined the group. At press time, 65 new home-based agents had signed on since January of this year. The group has also expanded its product offerings by signing on several new preferred suppliers. Contact Rosemary Sarkis (888-245-NEST ext. 3007, rsarkis@jointhenest.com). 24 INDUSTRY FOR THE AGENT Conferences and Alliances Vacation.com Partners With Starwood, Adds Services Vacation.com, a subsidiary of Amadeus IT Group, and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announced an agreement to create an alliance that offers incentives, including marketing support and rewards, to agency members that book accommodations with Starwood’s nine brands: St. Regis,The Luxury Collection, Sheraton, Westin, Four Points by Sheraton, W, Le Méridien and the recently announced Aloft and Element Hotels. The new preferred hotel partner alliance includes the following benefits for Vacation.com members: marketing promotions, enhanced business building training opportunities, targeted market share and growth incentives. In addition,Vacation.com has added a number of members-focused activities and other benefits in the past year: creation of an inside sales team to assist member agents and the company’s business development managers; personalized contact with members Vacation.com has also partnered with The Travel Zone, a technology solutions company, to offer members access to the Agent RC platform at an exclusive Vacation.com member rate. Agent RC is an affordable web-based portal that provides host agencies with the ability to support and communicate with their networks of outside and in-house agents. The web-based portal is designed to allow travel agencies to recruit, manage and support an outside agent network. Visit www.joinvacation.com or call 800843-0733. New Online Program to Become a Niche Cruise Specialist The Niche Cruise Marketing Alliance, which represents 13 niche cruise lines, has introduced an online training program to allow travel agents to become certified niche cruise specialists. To begin the certification process, agents can create a Niche Cruise Academy account online at the company's web site, www.nichecruise.com. Once registered, agents select the Certified Niche Cruise Specialist course and begin their training. Agents will learn about all the alliance's member lines and come to understand each line's target clientele. The online training method is useful for agents who don't have the time for inperson training sessions (which are available) and those who are home based. To retain certification, agents must take and pass at least one Niche Cruise Academy HB online course every two years. through a program in which each Vacation.com staff member “owns” 25 member agencies; launch of the Mobile Training Unit to expand the reach of education programs; creation of Advisory Board Committees to focus on specific areas of importance; new hires in the technology department; and the launch of the aforementioned preferred supplier hotel program. Home-BasedTravelAgent SEPTEMBER 2007 http://vacation.com http://vacation.com http://vacation.com http://www.joinvacation.com http://www.nacta.com http://vacation.com http://vacation.com http://www.nichecruise.com http://vacation.com http://vacation.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home-Based Travel Agent - September 2007

Contents Editor's Note - Last-Minute Travel Publisher's Note - Communication is Key Your Lifeline Agent Spotlight Your Technology Industry News Hot Deals Home-Based Networking Preventing Legal Woes Destinations: Turkey Cover Story: Walking Ireland Destinations: Caribbean Destinations: Boston Cruises: Forecast Hotels Tours New Products

Home-Based Travel Agent - September 2007

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