Home Based Travel Agent - October 2008 - (Page 20)

News NEST Offers Fall Virtual Training The Network of Entrepreneurs Selling Travel (NEST) is offering a new series of virtual training webinars for home-based agents, available this fall. The one-hour sessions will take place two or three times a week over a secure server. Suppliers provide sales and marketing strategies tailored to their products and benefits, which will help homebased agents increase their revenue. To find out more, NEST agencies can log onto the Agent Extranet at www.inthe nest.com or contact their local service director. To learn more about joining NEST, home-based agents can visit www.join thenest.com or contact Andrew Wainer at 888-245-NEST, ext. 3008. NEST is holding its fourth annual NEST FEST 2008 “fiesta” conference in Xcaret, Mexico, on November 13-16. The event will take place at the Occidental Grand Xcaret, with pre-fam opportunities in Cancun and the Mayan Riviera. Nexion Launches PowerUP! Program Spurred on by an April study by PhoCusWright called “Travel Agency Distribution Landscape,” host agency Nexion (www.nexion.com) has come up with a program for “empowering agents to run their business successfully with full 20 INDUSTRY FOR THE AGENT Training Opportunities and Support for Home-Based Agents access to selling and earning commissions from their first day.” Called Nexion PowerUP!, the program focuses on four goals: a greater understanding of the travel industry and its history; business planning and legal issues; basic travel knowledge; and using Nexion effectively. The PhoCusWright report stated that home-based agents were a “surging phenomenon in the agency world.” But according to Nexion General Manager Jackie Friedman, not much was being done to recruit new agents,which was worrisome considering that so many agents are nearing retirement age. “Recruiting at Nexion has always been focused on seasoned, highproducing travel agents,” said newly appointed Director of New Agent Development Robbi Hamida, “but times are changing, and we see the need to cultivate strong relationships with serious, experienced businesspeople who may be relatively new to our industry. We know how to help them become powerful, successful agents.” For a one-time fee of $495, agents will receive a four- to six-month training course. According to the company, “Agents within the program will be on a 70/30 commission split until they have reached the industry standard of $5,000 in earned commission. Nexion plans to make PowerUP! available to existing Nexion members for the same price as new members and will allow those agents to retain their current commission split.” For more information, visit the website. ASTA Reports Growth in Agent Service Fees Since 1999, the percentage of agencies that collect any type of service fee has increased steadily and has now leveled off in the mid-90 percent range, a new 2007 Service Fee Report released by the American Society of Travel Agents (www.asta.org) says. A key finding of the survey is the continued expansion of service fees collected beyond just those for air bookings. Half of the respondents now have service fees for hotel, rental car, trip planning and rail tickets. Just three years ago, fewer than one-third of agencies charged service fees for any of these segments, according to the report. “As ASTA’s research shows, there is pressure on all sides to cut costs and increase revenue, whether you’re talking about travel agencies or suppliers,” said ASTA President and CEO Chris Russo. For additional information, contact Melissa Teates at mteates@asta.org or visit the research page on ASTA’s website. HB Home-BasedTravelAgent O CTOBE R 2008 http://www.inthenest.com http://www.inthenest.com http://www.asta.org http://www.jointhenest.com http://www.jointhenest.com http://www.nexion.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Based Travel Agent - October 2008

Home Based Travel Agent - October 2008 Contents Editor’s Note Publisher’s Note Your Lifeline Agent Profile New Technology Industry News Hot Deals Charging Fees Cover Story: Divers’ Destinations For the Traveler - Cruise - Groups For the Agent - Cruise - Groups Top Hotels in Italy For the Traveler - Destinations - China For the Agent - Destinations - China For the Traveler - Destinations - Caribbean For the Agent - Destinations - Caribbean For the Traveler - Destinations -Las Vegas For the Agent - Destinations - Las Vegas Home-Based Agent Expo New Products

Home Based Travel Agent - October 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.