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bi-monthly to all of our hotel partners worldwide. |
Agoura Hills, CA 91301 |
www.ccrainternational.com |
Director, Supplier Strategies |
Director, Supplier Strategies |
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Programmer/Analyst, RFP Services |
Database Analyst, Marketing |
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contact Supplier Strategies |
CCRA Travel
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For 2008 |
March Issue
In
This Issue: |
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 CCRA Website Traffic Jumps 60% |
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TravelCLICK released results from a survey that demonstrates travel agents continue to increase their reliance on Global Distribution Systems (GDS) promotions for hotel bookings. Conducted for TravelCLICK by Phoenix Marketing International, the online, biannual survey included 500 travel agents from 30 countries, representing the four major GDS systems—Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre, and Worldspan. The study finds that 41 percent of travel agents worldwide are using their GDS platform more often than in the past, while 30 percent are using the GDS shopping displays more often. When asked about their awareness of GDS promotional messages, 55 percent of travel agents recalled seeing promotional messages in the past three months. Of this group, 52 percent made a booking at a hotel shown in the promotional message they saw, while 68 percent requested more information by looking at the click-through screen attached to the promotional message, and more than 70 percent looked inside the GDS systems for more information. Among those agents who recalled seeing promotional messages, 80 percent felt that showing the best available rate offered by the hotel—even if it is not a negotiated rate—is the best way to get them to book a hotel while they are researching a hotel for negotiated rates. Top Five Facts to Feature in Your Travel Agent Ads
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A TravelCLICK survey report finds GDS hotel promotions have a growing influence on bookings.Top
Reprinted from HOTELMARKETING.COM (published March 13, 2008)
Net Trans, a company specializing in recovering hotel commissions for travel agencies and other hotel bookers have just completed their annual survey and for this year, agents were asked which of their suppliers are the most important as a source of income. More agencies named hotel commission than any other source. 86% of agents put hotel commissions as one of their three most important income sources, next on the list were airline commissions/overrides with 70% and transaction fees with 64%. The survey represents over 200 company responses from all over the world. There were clear geographical differences with the UK, Ireland and Germany scoring highest on considering hotel commissions as the most important revenue source. Martin Jorgensen, Chief Executive Officer of Net Trans, was delighted about the results: “Since airline commissions were cut, the focus on hotel commissions have increased manifold which we see in the huge increase of customers who wish to secure that they recover all of their commissions and have therefore joined Net Trans the last few years. This is reflected in 98% of larger agencies and TMCs considering Net Trans to be an important supplier, proving that recovering hotel commission is a focus area for the travel agency community.” Another result of the survey indicated that the main thing agents focus on when joining Net Trans is the increased commission and secondly the lower administrative cost. Martin Jorgensen commented: “Obviously the bottom line increase is the most visible and obvious but it is nice that people recognize both the lower in-house administrative cost, the savings on bank charges and the faster payments that NetTrans achieves for them”. Overall, the satisfaction levels with Net Trans services have increased in the last year. Jorgensen continued: “Our increased efforts in communicating and training our agents have meant that more of them make use of the product to it’s full extent and that has resulted in increased commission payments, in fact 99% of larger agencies and TMCs would recommend us to others. We will not rest on our laurels but aim to continue the improvement in our services in 2008.” |
Since airline commissions were cut, the focus on hotel commissions by travel agents have increased manifold. A new survey of 200 travel companies finds now that hotel commissions are the most important source of income for most agents, followed by airline commissions/overrides and transaction fees. Top
Achieving the maximum sales benefit of your consortia program participation relies on loading your CCRA rates so agents can find them. We interviewed our seasoned agents and customer service staff members about their GDS experiences. Here are their tips to help you gain the best GDS results: Advertise Best Available Rates Block Space Amenities Promotions and Special Packages Guest Services Staff Training CCRA Quality Assurance Reminder |
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CCRA International has been named an Allied Preferred Supplier for Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). As a preferred supplier, CCRA will present online hotel booking training for CLIA agents, and will promote the selling of pre and post cruise hotel stays.
The dynamic Cruise3Sixty trade show, with technology and destination training, and networking opportunities drew over 2,200 travel professionals, including 1,500 travel agents. Ten cruise lines showcased amenities and features of their new vessels. Dan Hanrahan, CLIA’s marketing committee chairman and the president and CEO of Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruises, announced that by 2012, the CLIA fleet will expand by 36 ships. The nearly $22 billion investment represents a potential increase in agent commissions of $300 million. CCRA aims to also increase hotel bookings in tandem with these cruise sales goals. Top
Reservation Center welcomed aboard over a dozen new travel agencies in the first quarter of 2008, to contract for 27/7 Call Center Services. These new Reservation Center client agencies are now also linked to the CCRA Hotel Program to book CCRA rates in the GDS. CCRA is pleased to work with the following corporate and leisure agencies located across the U.S.
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Associated Travel Group, based in Lafayette, LA
Tour Plan International, based in Richmond, VATop
As a result of increased advertising that CCRA places through our consortia and travel agency association partners, we draw significantly more individual agents to visit our CCRA International website. New agency members and a high percentage of independent home based agents are viewing the free Booking Portal training tools, the popular travel agent specials, and the 2008 Online Reference Guide. We see increased traffic following our trade show appearances, most recently at the Cruise3Sixty show in Florida and coming up we’ll exhibit at the Home Based Travel Agent Show in San Diego and the Virtual Home Based Expo. During the first week of the month when our partners such as Vacation.com and ASTA and NACTA distribute our monthly ad placements in their newsletters and websites, we also see high activity on our website. Weekly online trainings and new portal user sign-ups continue to grow as a result. Our weekly eBlast Specials and monthly eNewsletters are also distributed to a wider audience than ever before with an opt-in database of over 22,000 agencies. The weekly eBlast Specials continue to draw consistent click-throughs to the webpage links. Our most popular click-though link remains the Travel Agent Specials page, where hotels can promote special rates and Fam trips for travel agents.
Gaining in traffic and popularity is the Online Reference Guide, which was updated and expanded in January this year. Email and newsletter announcements for the Reference Guide were distributed by our consortia and association partners, boosting the unique page views an average of 63% for the month, according to our most recent Google Analytics Report.
Marketing Opportunities | CCRAtravel.com | CCRAinternational.com | ReservationCenter.net |
The unique page views on our CCRAinternational.com travel agent website has more than doubled since December 2007!