Travel Agent - September 15, 2008 - (Page 8)

FROM THE EDITOR On YTB: You Can’t Make This Stuff Up AFTER SEVERAL PRODUCTIVE DAYS AT VIRTUOSO’S ANNUAL TRAVELMART IN LAS VEGAS A FEW WEEKS AGO, I WAS HEADED HOME. FEELING CHIPPER, I GOT IN A CAB AT THE BELLAGIO AND IMMEDIATELY STARTED CHATTING WITH THE DRIVER. WHEN HE HEARD I’D BEEN AT A CONFERENCE FOR TRAVEL AGENTS, HE BRIGHTENED UP. “I have a friend who’s sort of in that business,” he said. Sort of in that business. Uh, oh, I thought, super-sensitive to the fact that I’d just spent nearly a week with some of the most professional travel agents in the industry. “Yeah, he’s with one of those companies where you sign and get discounts on travel and you get your own website.” “Are you supposed to get others to sign up, too?” I asked. “Yes, that’s even better than selling travel!” he said. “My friend is always trying to get me to sign up. I tell him when he starts making money on it to let me know. So far, he hasn’t. I can’t think of the name of it it’s the big one ” When I uttered the letters, “Y-T-B,” he yelled, “That’s it!” I mentioned that YTB was currently having some trouble, and that the California attorney general was accusing the company of being a pyramid scheme. “Oh, I know,” said the driver. “My friend is always signing up with these get-rich-fast companies. The problem is, he’s the only one working at home so he needs to make money.” And so a life of free travel becomes the American dream, where a cab driver, who’s also the father of two with a wife who doesn’t work, hopes this latest scheme will be “the one” to hit big so he can finally rise above holding down two jobs just to make ends meet. Who can blame him, really? The truth is, to become a truly successful travel agent you have to put the time in. At Virtuoso’s TravelMart, 1,344 travel agents from 393 agencies met with more than 1,500 preferred suppliers who had flown in from all over the world to meet with them for an entire week. This was more than a casual networking confab; suppliers moved from table to table in four-minute intervals, giving agents in attendance a boiled-down spiel on their properties. Meetings at TravelMart this year started at 5:30 in the morning because the day was so filled with appointments. Days ended at around 11 p.m. That’s just one example of how a professional group of agents does it. Signature, Ensemble, American Express,Vacation.com and countless other organizations have annual meetings that are 90 percent work and just 10 percent play. These meetings are typically the icing on the cake that follows a year of training sessions and other types of professional engagement provided by the consortia. When I reached McCarran International Airport, I asked my cab driver if his friend had at least benefited from any free travel as a result of his membership with YTB. He said he had gotten a free night at one of the top Las Vegas resorts but that he hadn’t received any trips that gotten him out of town yet. “He’s still driving his cab,” he told me. At Virtuoso’s TravelMart, Ruthanne Terrero (far right) meets with (left to right) Trevor Owen and Jennifer Fox of InterContinental Hotels & Resorts Europe and Stephen Neil and Barbara Gallay of Linden Travel RUTHANNE TERRERO, CTC VICE PRESIDENT OF CONTENT/EDITORIAL DIRECTOR 8 | TravelAgent September 15, 2008 CONNECTING YOU For more from Ruthanne Terrero, visit www.travelagent central.com/edletter http://www.travelagentcentral.com/edletter http://www.travelagentcentral.com/edletter

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Travel Agent - September 15, 2008

Travel Agent - September 15, 2008 Online Now Contents Agent Insider From the Editor Hawaii Europe Pacific/Asia Las Vegas US Airways Vacations - Atlantis, Paradise Island Specialist Central & South America Mexico Caribbean Cruises Cover Story: Merge Mania France by Rail Weddings & Honeymoons Gay & Lesbian Travel Tours Agent Profile Triptailor Vacations Agenda: Fam Trips, Deals & Incentives, Calendar Vegas Week Insights on Singapore Travel Leaders Builds New Alliances The Latest from the Caribbean A Sneak Peek at a New Ship Classified Marketplace In the Spotlight Editorial Index Advertising Index Trendwatch Special Supplement: Thailand Travel Planner

Travel Agent - September 15, 2008

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