Home based agents are the fastest growing agency population in the Leisure Travel Industry.  As their name would imply, these agents are not found in your traditional retail travel office but instead wield their consultative expertise from the comfort of their own homes.  Home based agents are able to act and compete as large, brand name retail travel stores by aligning themselves with host agencies which provide them with the education, tools, insurance and negotiating strength needed to succeed in this market.

This developing home based agency population presents the travel supplier with a difficult question…Who are these “At Home” agents and how do I reach them?   CCRA International was one of the first travel service providers to recognize these “At Home” agents and has been successfully partnering with the largest home based agency associations NACTA and OSSN for many years.  Recently we’ve amplified our “At Home” agency reach by initiating new marketing partnerships directly with nationwide Host Agencies to endorse and promote the CCRAtravel.com Booking Portal and CCRA International Hotel Program to all of their offices and their thousands of home-based agents.  These Host Agency partnerships are an extension of our long established consortia partnerships.  Communicating to agents through their agency owners, as well as through their associations, strengthens CCRA’s positioning as the preferred Hotel Program for tens of thousands of agents nationwide.  We are pleased to have our CCRAtravel.com Booking Portal and Hotel Program endorsed by eleven of the leading host agencies today including: 

Host Agency	# of Agents Registered on CCRAtravel.com
Coral Sands Travel	238
Dugan’s Travel	300
Travelstar	1296
Travel Planners International	1825

Client (or Agent) acquisition at the “At Home” level for a travel supplier would be cost prohibitive from a time and resource perspective.  Travel suppliers interested in tapping into this “At Home” market can do so through the marketing programs CCRA International has refined over the years.  Our marketing vehicles are successful not only because we recognize and have been working with the “At Home” agency market since its inception, but because many personnel at CCRA International are “At Home” agents and employees ourselves.    

Stay tuned for more exciting host agency announcements in our upcoming Check In newsletters as our Global Membership Services team continues to succeed as the unrivaled champion of the “At Home” agency pursuit.

In a society where personalized service has become practically obsolete, travel agents have made an impression on consumers seeking one-on-one attention. In fact, recent articles in Smart Money, the New York Times, and the Philadelphia Inquirer show what ASTA has known all along-travel agents are here to stay because they bring value to the travel equation.
                               
Articles indicate a rise in travel agent usage, despite the projected increase in Internet bookings. In fact, research reported by these sources show many consumers are using the Internet to conduct travel related research but turning to agents to book their travel. Current trends indicate, "The proportion of consumers planning to use the Internet in the next three months to research travel continues to outnumber those intending to book online by nearly two to one. Overall activity, however, has declined over the past three years" (Modern Agent).

"The research recently reported is very much in line with our experience that travel agents are doing well and business is booming," said Cheryl Hudak, CTC, ASTA president and CEO. "Over and over again; we find consumers reaching out to travel agents for personalized service and for the knowledge and resources they offer as experts."

U.S. travel agents' total annual sales are between $120 and $130 billion and rising. That is a lot of travel, and when you consider that travel agents still sell 51 percent of all airline tickets, 87 percent of all cruises, 81 percent of all tours and packages, 45 percent of all car rentals and about 47 percent of all hotels, it demonstrates that agents have the power of customer loyalty.

There is a host of compelling reasons consumers choose to use a travel agent:

Convenience: One-stop shopping with an agent who can save clients money, as well as time.

Customer advocacy: An agent is there to act on a traveler’s behalf to see that restitution is made if a problem arises in any aspect of their travel.

Expert guidance: Travel agents, unlike a Web page instruction, have an expertise in deciphering myriad travel information and codes. It's what they've been trained to do and they do it every day.

Personalized service: Instead of an impersonal call center voice, a travel agent is at your service. They get to know you, what you want and what you value in your travel experience.

Professional advice: Travel agents are there to make sure you get where you want to go, for the best value.

Time: Instead of checking many travel Web pages, which provide rates and fares for the companies that have contracted with them, why not go to one source who has access to all resources at his or her fingertips. Consumers can save hours of time at a computer screen.

Unbiased information: Agents work for their clients, not for a travel supplier. It makes sense that a happy customer will be a repeat customer.

ABOUT ASTA
ASTA’s (American Society of Travel Agents) mission is to facilitate the business of selling travel through effective representation, shared knowledge and the enhancement of professionalism. ASTA seeks a retail travel marketplace that is profitable, growing and a rewarding place to work, invest and do business.

Remember to load your hotel’s complete description and amenity information when you load your hotel rates into the GDS, Wholesale channels or Hotels.com.  This will show your hotel’s information on CCRAtravel.com.  This is a great marketing opportunity to show travel agents what your hotel has to offer.  When agents click on your hotel name, a separate screen will appear showing  a full description of your hotel's amenities, location, meeting facilities, room descriptions, etc.  Use this opportunity as a way of getting travel agents' attention when it matters most... at the point of sale. 

Hotel Description Loaded	Hotel Description NOT Loaded

A recent poll from breakingtravelnews.com named these cities as the top spots for fall:

CCRA booking statistics support the survey results. In the past year, CCRA travel agents collectively booked over $200,000,000 in rooms in these nine cities: 

Please visit www.ccrainternational.com/partners and click on Booking Statistics to learn more about where the CCRA travel agents have been booking the most business.

As travel industry professionals, we are all acutely aware of the techniques used to lure in the unwary travel consumer. But now with the acceptance of consumer generated content (CGC) and social networks such as Facebook and YouTube, obvious marketing copy may become increasingly redundant. With many facets of human life, trust is the powerful emotion by which we base our decisions. We order a drink at a bar and we trust that it will be mixed correctly. We read an online press release because we trust that the author has qualified knowledge. Trust is the emotion we look to continually satisfy, and buying travel is no exception.

Classically, travel purchasing decisions were based on brochures and travel agent advice – in both instances professional sales speak. Now with the rising number of peer group reviews and content from sites like Tripadvisor, a travel marketer’s spin is more easily exposed than ever before.

The winds of change are now favoring the consumer, as recent EyeforTravel research of young UK professionals revealed. 72% said that their online travel choices had been influenced by other consumer reviews, and 64% occasionally use CGC in their buying cycle. This statistic is backed by a recent boo.com survey, which found that one in every six Brits will post a review following a holiday.

Quite simply, people believe people who are like themselves. People want to hear the opinions and unbiased critiques of like-minded individuals (classic word of mouth). This is the trust component of the decision process being satisfied.

With social networks and consumer content being so readily accessible, satisfying trust is the new industry standard – not marketers’ spin. The implications of which are enormous now that over 60% of European online consumers take part in social computing activities such as blogging, reading and writing reviews, or taking part in social networking sites.

Embracing both these new marketing trends should be an obvious strategic progression. It’s clear that we are not in the midst of an elaborate fad. With the huge access to travel consumer reviews, profiles, preferences and behaviors, social networks and CGC cannot be ignored. The trust factor offered by one’s peers is a hugely powerful sales tool, posing the ultimate question, are social networks set to become the travel booking engines of the future?

Hear YouTube, Tripadvisor and boo.com at Sales and Marketing in Travel Europe. Berlin, October 23rd and 24th www.eyefortravel.com/smeurope2007

CCRA International had a successful experience this month at THETRADESHOW, Travel Retailing and Destination Expo, presented by ASTA, in Las Vegas.  As the preferred Hotel Program Supplier to ASTA members, CCRA was a presenter and exhibitor at the annual event for the world’s largest association of travel professionals.

“We got a very positive response from agents in regard to our consolidated worldwide hotel inventory offered in the CCRAtravel.com Booking Portal, and the newest booking portal features such as integration with travel agency TRAMS software,” reports Patti Free, CCRA Vice President of Global Membership Services. 

Patti Free and Nancy Freigher, CCRA Account Manager for ASTA, conducted a hotel booking seminar for ASTA travel agents, and presented custom group trainings within the three-day trade show setting. ASTA reports that this year’s event drew over 2,000 registered attendees, or a third of their 6,000-plus members located nationwide. 

Patti Free also spoke at the International Chapter Presidents Council annual meeting, presenting “CCRA International – A World View” to International Chapter Presidents and the ASTA Board of Directors. ASTA Attendees included Cheryl Hudak CEO, Bill Maloney COO, Cheryl Ahearn, Vice President of Sales, and Paul Ruden, Chief Council.  International Members included Uniglobe Sky link, Tanzania; Ysivuahas, Madrid; Gyro Travel, Kenya; Castle Transport, Dublin; BTG (Business Travel Group) Russia; Toucan, Peru; Magister Tours, Istanbul; First Travel Lufthansa City Center, Phnom Penh; Unitravel, South Africa; Lifestyle Holidays, Mumbai; and Destination Travel, Beijing.  ASTA international members especially like the fact they can package FIT hotels with their own offerings. One of ASTA’s 2008 Strategic Initiatives is to increase International Membership.

Supporting ASTA’s efforts in promoting and leveraging the travel trade industry in congress, CCRA International hosted a table at the 2007 Advocacy Dinner.  Joining our table were VIP guests: Ken Gagliano, President of Travel Planners International; John Hart, COO of IT Group Network; Gary Fee, President and CEO of OSSN; Danette Hose, Director of Partner Marketing and Member Retention for ASTA; Anita Pagliasso, President of Ticket to Travel; and from CCRA - Jim Day, COO; Patti Free, and Nancy Freigher. 

CCRA looks forward to joining THE TRADESHOW again next September, in Orlando, Florida.