Recommend March 2012 - (Page 8)

agent speak pass it along I’d like to make a suggestion that will help me as an agent use your articles more easily. I’ll say up front that I’ve not found a way to do this, but maybe it’s there and I’m just missing it. We’re a cruise-only agency, and I’d love to forward some articles to clients, but to do so I have to forward the whole magazine, including ads on maximizing my proﬁts, how to introduce our clients to a particular line or vendor, and information like phone number for the vendors. What I’d like is to send just a particular article. Is there any way to do this? For example, in the one I was reading yesterday, there is an article on the Celebrity Silhouette (February 2012)—deﬁnitely something I’d like my clients to see. So I sent myself pages 16 and 18, ﬁguring I could copy/paste the info into one article to send on. However, I received two e-mails with the entire magazine. I’ve run into this before but had not had time to follow up. Am I doing this incorrectly? We like the magazine, but it’s not of much help this way, so could you please pass on this suggestion, or tell me how to just forward a particular article? Rosemary Roberts GalaxSea Cruises & Tours Every article from the magazine is available online as a standalone feature. If you see an article you like, you can go to recommend.com issue archive, click on the cover, scroll down below the digital edition and ﬁnd the article of interest to send to clients. I editor’s notes villa rentals Your magazine is always full of interesting information about new offers and services for travel agents, so I thought I’d let you know about a new website which I joined. Villa rentals are always complicated to arrange, but the International Association of Villa Rental Agents is a members-only website which I’ve joined that has made it a lot easier. It has a great search tool and allows me to turn around requests in minutes because the brochures are automatically branded with my name and logo. It seems good so far, might be interesting for you to take a look. I wonder what other agents’ experiences have been like? Thanks again for providing a great service, looking forward to the next issue. Molly Barcia Peritas International Agents: are you a member of the International Association of Villa Rental Agents? Drop us a line and tell us and Molly what your experience has been like and what you think about villa rentals as a whole. Responses, opinions and comments are welcome at agentspeak@recommend.com. Recommend reserves the right to edit letters submitted to Agent Speak. It’s our blustery March issue and if you’re looking out for fair winds in your 2012 sales projections, you won’t want to miss this month’s features on European river cruising and small ship cruising in the U.S. The demand for cruising product has become literally insatiable, prompting more and more new builds for all of the destinations the river cruise companies serve. AMAWaterways, Avalon and Uniworld all have new builds on the Mekong this year and their inventory is ﬁlling up fast. Viking River Cruises is putting six new Longships on European rivers over the next ﬁve months. They’re also adding two new builds in 2013 and two more in 2014 for a total of 10 new ships in the line’s inventory. And here’s the thing, they’re already booking them. Uniworld is putting another new ship on European rivers next year. Its bookings in the North American market, by the way, are up over 40 percent this year over last, making it their best sales year ever. AMAWaterways is up more than 24 percent this year and they have a new ship in Europe, as well, in addition to the Mekong and Africa. Avalon, too, is seeing its best sales year ever. And don’t discount domestic river cruising either with one river cruising company—American Cruise Lines—offering more than 30 itineraries throughout the U.S. They offer excellent travel products for families with a wealth of activities and historical attractions that can be shared with multigeneration vacationers. If your clients want to step up to a yachting vacation without the hassles and expense of owning a boat, there’s American Safari Cruises, which can take them to some of the hottest destinations in Alaska, on the Snake and Columbia rivers, even the Hawaiian Islands—all destinations that are perfect for the active vacationer who wants a taste of something unique. American Safari Cruises, too, is bringing another new ship on board its inventory in 2013. It will debut in Alaska during the summer sailing season and then head down to the Snake and Columbia rivers in the fall and spring. There’s also new product on the Mississippi, with next month’s debut of the Great American Steamboat Company’s Steamboat American Queen, the largest paddle wheeler ever built that will offer, among other things, Epic Civil War voyages. The point is, if you’re not selling river cruises, you’re missing out on some very lucrative sales and commissions so it’s time get on board and check out our river and small ship cruise features in this month’s issue. all-inclusive resort guide Still another must read, must save, and for that matter—a great pullout to give to clients—is this month’s All-Inclusive Resort Guide-The Caribbean & Mexico, an in-depth listing of all-inclusives with all the information you’ll need to sell these resort brands. next month We’re going to be bringing you the new Panama Specialist Program, full of information on new product and loads of information on how to sell Panama as the hot vacation destination it’s become. We’re also going to be bringing you an onboard feature on Lindblad Expeditions’ fascinating Galapagos program, a pair of New Zealand vacation options, a tasty feature on Brussels, a look at paradise in Hawaii, plus a whole lot more. In the meantime, have a great read.—Rick Shively 8 march 2012 recommend.com http://www.recommend.com http://www.recommend.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recommend March 2012

Editor's Notes/Agent Speak
Hotel Desk: Vikram Chatwal Hotels
Tour Talk: SITA World Tours
From Zambia to Zimbabwe
Small Ship Cruising in the U.S.
All-Inclusive Resort Guide: The Caribbean & Mexico
Alaska: New Action in an Old World
Sandpearl Resort, Clearwater, Florida
European River Cruising 2012
Pantanal: The Brazilian Serengeti

Recommend March 2012