International travel becomes a bit more complicated when navigating with a DUI (Driving Under the Influence) conviction in your client’s rearview mirror. DUIs, seemingly straightforward in their nature, can actually vary significantly in their impact on travel opportunities, depending on the destination and the severity of the offense.

While some nations may treat a DUI as a minor offense, akin to a misdemeanor, others elevate its seriousness to that of a felony, especially if it involved harm to others or property. This distinction is crucial, as it directly impacts a traveler’s eligibility to enter certain countries. Read the rest of this entry »

The growth of sites such as Unsplash, Pexels, and Pixabay have so revolutionized the stock photography landscape that giants like Getty Images, which owns Unsplash, and Canva (Pixabay and Pexels) are now major players. It all seems most attractive. A no-cost registration gives the travel professional millions of images to use on their website, Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms without laying out any money at all. It is the best of all worlds for the travel marketer.

Or is it?

Read the rest of this entry »

Before your client becomes a repeat client, before they ever book with you at all, they have to know you exist. Before your client becomes a repeat client, before they ever book with you at all, they have to know you exist. In fact, the most difficult and expensive part of any marketing strategy is building brand awareness: alerting prospective clients who you are and what you do. Too often, travel professionals market not according to a plan, but impulsively, with a heroic “give it a try” mentality. That certainly is one way to market, but tends to be error-prone and expensive. Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s delve into a few best practices and a few legal issues that confront travel agency newsletter publishers. Many of the best practices pertain to any email marketing, but they are worthwhile repeating to keep you and your agency in good standing both with your clients and with some important third parties!

Best Practices

When formatting your newsletter, try to avoid complicated CSS style sheets. Many email readers, notably Outlook 7.0 are not kind to CSS and will play havoc with the appearance and layout of your newsletter. Have your designer use simple “in-line” html tags instead. Read the rest of this entry »

Travel trade insurance company Trawick International provided a useful snapshot of each major cruise line’s pre-trip health and safety requirements in a TRO webinar last week.  The webinar provided information current as of last week, though fast-moving protocols may potentially change tomorrow. The webinar will be posted on TRO’s Webinar Page on Monday afternoon, August 8th. Read the rest of this entry »

Your prospect said YES! They are ready to work with you. You’ve successfully turned a lead into a prospect, and that prospect is now a new client. Woo-hoo!

So, what’s next? Now that the customer is excited to work with you and is ready to sign on the dotted line, how do you get them on board and well-positioned to become a loyal, long-term client?

Do you have in place a process to welcome him to your business? After you’ve booked his trip, do you have a way to manage how you communicate with him, to make the most of your time, and to get the most from this new relationship? If you don’t, or if you think your existing process could be improved, coming across this article is, indeed, a lucky find! Read the rest of this entry »

In life, I’m all about not really caring what others think or say about me. I live my life, in my own way, with my own standards; and make my own choices, without worrying about whether anybody else agrees or not!

In the business world—it’s a totally different story: What others think and say about me can either contribute to my success or ensure my failure. It is absolutely essential that I care about what my clients and industry peers think of me!

How about you? Do you really know what your customers think about you and your agency? As an owner, it’s vital that you understand how they feel about you and the service you provide. Regardless of how hard you work to be the best travel advisor you can be, in reality, you cannot be all that unless your customers think you are. Read the rest of this entry »

Everybody is talking about fees, fees, fees.

Yes, we all know that when you charge a fee, you:

1. Make more money
2. Garner the type of clients who value your expertise
3. Weed out the tire kickers
4. Demonstrate your worth
5. Create an accurate perception of your value
6. And so much more…

But, nobody is talking about scope creep! What is it? How does it affect your profitability? And, how can you get rid of it altogether?

Scope creep is not a term that’s often used in the travel industry. Other service providers have been using it for years, and it’s high time that we start thinking about how it applies to us, as travel pros, and how it affects our bottom line!

I define scope creep as what happens when a client changes the game. Plain and Read the rest of this entry »

Over the past few weeks, we have seen some exciting announcements from Europe about travel regulations for international travelers. Greece was the first European nation to announce that it would allow international travelers to visit, if they can show proof of vaccination against the COVID-19 virus. Then, Italy announced that it would be opening immediately to international travelers, who also can show evidence of immunization. The announcement by Italy and Greece marks a huge milestone for international travelers who want to frequent Europe.

On the domestic side, New York has announced that it hit its COVID-19 vaccination milestone, which allows it to end all restrictions put in place during the pandemic. You can now travel to New York City and enjoy all of the activities the great city has to offer, without any restriction. Read the rest of this entry »

More and more people are getting vaccinated across the United States each day, and countries across the globe are starting to reopen for American travelers who are vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. As reported by the New York Times on April 25, 2021, tourists from America who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will be able to visit the European Union over the summer. This is exciting news for all of us that have been waiting anxiously to begin traveling again. Read the rest of this entry »

As of November 3, 2020, twenty-five Caribbean countries have reopened their borders to travelers and have implemented COVID-19 travel protocols to protect travelers and citizens. Each Caribbean country has different regulations on COVID-19 and, as a travel resource provider, we inform our clients of the existing rules and travel restrictions. One of the best resources that I found was the COVID Controls website. This website allows you to see the current status of each country’s COVID-19 Read the rest of this entry »

In my last article, I spoke about the basics of contract law and how it applies to travel agents and independent contractors. In this article, I will discuss the obligations imposed by agent and third-party suppliers to the clients by contract, statutes, and common law. Statutes are created by Federal, State, and local bodies and can impose certain duties upon the agent and third parties that can affect the contract terms. Therefore, it is important to always have a severability clause in all contracts. The severability clause means that if one section of the contract is deemed invalid by law, the entire contract is not abrogated, and the rest of the terms and conditions remain valid. Read the rest of this entry »

Before COVID-19, many travelers felt that purchasing travel insurance was an added fee that was not needed. They were not worried about their non-refundable deposits for airfare, tours, or accommodations being affected by something out of their control. With the ongoing pandemic, travelers now seek protection more than ever for the non-refundable portions of their trip. What caused this behavior change?

In a word, uncertainty. The world we live in today is filled with questions that didn’t exist a few months ago. Will my travel provider be in business? What happens if an outbreak of COVID-19 occurs at my destination? What if I get COVID-19 on my trip? Read the rest of this entry »

Chargebacks, cancellations, refunds, vouchers, impossibility of performance, Acts of God, and now COVID-19, as well all sorts of other terminology that most travel agents have never had to deal with, have shaken the Tourism Industry as never before. Agents, tour companies, and suppliers are dealing with events simply unimaginable and unforeseeable, resulting in the need to turn to the legal industry and governments for solutions. Those solutions, when viable, revolve around laws, previous case histories, and, most important, contracts and the interpretation of the terms and conditions contained or implied in those contracts. Read the rest of this entry »