by Patti Free, Vice President of Global Membership Services

Several mid-year forecasts released this month are predicting a busy summer season for hotel sales.  This is exciting news for you and for CCRA.  

What’s in store for the travel market, according to industry surveys? A high occupancy rate and a very high demand for rooms are expected, according to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers report.  All major hotel markets in the U.S. are predicted to see growth in the second half of 2007, and booking will keep increasing from there, according to a U.S. Lodging Report by Ernst & Young.  Also reported is that corporate travel and high-end luxury hotel stays will increase significantly, with the ADR in the luxury market continuing to climb. 

Savvy travel agents, and we hope that’s you, already count on hotel booking as a growing percentage of their sales.  If you haven’t already, it’s time to start marketing yourself as a hotel booking expert, and making the most of the CCRA booking portal capabilities. Now more than ever, you can earn more money with less effort when booking hotels. 

Here are a few trends, identified in a 2007 survey of Americans’ travel habits, that may help you plan your selling strategies for the busy year ahead:

Word of mouth referrals remain the most trusted source of travel information. Over 80% of leisure travelers say they are extremely confident in the recommendations of friends and relatives.

Sales Tip: Create a referral incentive for your clients. When you have a very satisfied client, encourage him or her to “tell a friend.”  Send them a thank you with several of your business cards or consider some other follow-up communication that they can pass on.  

Online reviews and blogs are increasingly popular information sources for consumers. Four out of ten leisure travelers reportedly read online reviews of hotels and destinations.

Sales Tip: Invite vacation reviews and post them on your website. Create a fun blog or message board on your website and invite traveler feedback or offer links on your website to existing travel blogs.

The majority of leisure travelers now go exclusively to the Internet when planning a future vacation.

Sales Tip: Clearly, you need an effective Internet presence to reach today’s travel client. Not only should your website be useful and optimized for search engines, but you may want to consider online advertising, and sponsored search engine links.

Please read on for more sales and marketing tools, booking portal tips, and exciting property news.

Survey Source: Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell (TPB&R)

Congratulations to a few of this month's successful Net Rate bookers. These are some of  the most recent examples of Net Rate bookings and their actual commission mark-ups that we've seen so far in June.

Bar-son Travel Unlimited - booked a Net Rate at the Inn of Chicago Miracle Mile and earned a 23% commission of $167.76

Nelson Yuen, Independent Agent - booked a Net Rate at Castle Hilo Hawaiian and earned a 23% commission of $152.97

Cassidy Moore, Independent Agent - booked a Net Rate at Sainte Claire Larkspur Hotel in San Jose, CA and earned a 49% commission of $150.00

Joyful Journey - booked a Net Rate at Radisson Edwardian Vanderbilt Hotel in London and earned a 20% commission of $97.66

Travel Time LLC - booked a Net Rate at Princess Hotel and earned a 17% commission of $81.57

Silvestri Travel - booked a Net Rate at Tryp Apolo in Barcelona and earned a 20% commission of $48.58

Creative Getaways - booked a Net Rate at the Radisson Opryland Hotel in Nashville and earned an 8% commission of $38.67

Karen Willis, Independent Agent - booked a Net Rate at the Miami North Holiday Inn and earned a 23% commission of $31.82

Where will you be booking? Read on this month's Top Destinations for Net Rate Bookings.

If you haven't yet broken the barrier to higher commissions and faster pay through Net Rate bookings, June is the time to start. Our Booking Portal programmers researched top vacation spots of the month, and made sure that more Net Rates are available in these key destination cities. For guaranteed Net Rate availability, keep this list handy. You can also look forward to more designated Net Rate destinations next month.

CCRA was on hand to give the latest pre and post-cruise hotel booking tips, as well as demonstrate the power of the CCRAtravel.com Hotel booking portal.  CCRA demonstrated the expanded Net Rate inventory in Port Cities worldwide, secrets to finding the highest commissions with CCRA Net Rates, and the amazing income potential with multiple room booking.  If you missed out, please join a weekly online training session soon. 

More than 1,100 travel agents and hundreds of travel industry suppliers gathered in Seattle June 4-7 for the 23rd annual Travel Trade CRUISE-A-THON. This year marked the first time the event was held in Seattle. In fact, it is the first time in 23 years that this key convention for the travel industry has been held in any city other than Miami/Ft. Lauderdale or Vancouver, B.C. Seattle sightseeing tours welcomed the visiting travel agents and other cruise industry representatives.

Thanks again to CCRA International's sponsor, Carey International, who supplied $100 Gift Certificate prizes toward a chauffeured service.  Our lucky Prize Drawing winners were Bill O'Dell of Darlyne's Travel Service and Lori Hugo of Travels and Beyond, Inc.

Phoenix Travel, Leisure & Entertainment announced the results of its fourth annual Hotel SCORES™ global study of over 11,000 Frequent Guest Program (FGP) members. Hilton HHonors is again rated the world’s “most preferred” hotel FGP, with 16.1% of travelers placing it atop the list of 31 programs.

InterContinental Hotels Group’s Priority Club Rewards is the second most preferred program (12.6%) in the world and Marriott Rewards (11.5%) ranks third. While Hilton HHonors is most preferred worldwide, there are significant differences by geographic region. Detailed rankings are available here.

For this year’s study Phoenix Marketing International interviewed travelers in nine countries; the United States, Canada, France, Germany, The United Kingdom, Australia, India, Japan, and China. Respondents must have spent at least one night in paid accommodations in 2006 and must be active in at least one hotel Frequent Guest Program.

“With location, room quality, and price relatively equal, Frequent Guest Programs have a major influence on the traveler’s lodging decision,” stated Greg Diaz, Vice President, Phoenix Travel, Leisure & Entertainment Practice. “In countries with a strong national brand presence there is also pride in national brand FGP programs. The French are loyal to the Accor Mouvango program, the Japanese prefer ANA Hotel Members, and the Indians have a decided preference toward Taj Inner Circle.”

About Hotel SCORES™
Hotel SCORES™ is a syndicated annual tracking study which measures awareness, membership, usage, and preference of 14 domestic Frequent Guest Programs and 17 European and Asia-Pacific based Frequent Guest Programs. In its fourth year, the study surveys 3,500 past-year U.S. travelers; 1,000 past-year travelers each in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, China, and the United Kingdom; and 500 past-year travelers in India.
Source: Phoenix Marketing International

CCRA International is proud to include Hilton, IHG, and Marriott in the CCRA Preferred Hotel Partner Program.

Author: Chang Wee Teo

Leading internet search engine, Google, introduced their AdWords program in 2000. AdWords is a low cost advertising program designed to give small businesses exposure online. Users can choose simple, text based ads or catchier, interactive image ads in a variety of banner sizes.  Over the years, Google has enhanced and expanded AdWords to provide business owners with more advertising options to ensure every business venture, regardless of size or product, can benefit from the program.

AdWords' Pay Per Click advertising, website and business owners can choose key search words relevant to their product or service. Their advertisements may appear along with Google search results related to their website and advertisers pay a predetermined amount each time a visitor lands on their site through the ad. The proven system makes certain that ads only appear on appropriate pages, meaning more visits and more sales for advertisers.

AdWords' site targeted advertising offers even more advertising flexibility and success.  AdWords users can select websites that are related to their product or service and place a bid for ad placement on the site. Site targeted advertising allows businesses to get the most value out of their advertising dollars by reaching a broad range of prospective clients who all share an interest in the advertiser's product.

AdWords' Partners ads can appear on industry leader, Google, as well as their partner networks, including AOL search, Netscape, and Ask. The ads may also appear on websites that are closely related to the advertiser's site and on a variety of other websites that display ads near related context to increase traffic to their site. Most AdWords advertisers see a large increase in visitors to their online business, which, in turn, means more sales and more profit.

Through Google's professional training course, our internet marketer became an expert in AdWords. His understanding of how pay per click advertising works and his expert knowledge of the AdWords program helped him to bring in numerous new business prospects for a mere fraction of most business advertising budgets. Several other low cost methods of online advertising also factor in to his internet marketing.

Choosing revenue generating keywords that offer the best value for the budget, as well as writing successful ad copy with relevant, sales driven results are key to success.

Once his expert knowledge of AdWords began to bring visitors to his website, it was time for the successful marketer to put his Secret X Factor to work.

The first thing this successful marketer did was use his special attribute to create a name for himself. He gained the trust and respect of every prospective client with his secret recipe for success, significantly expanding his customer base and his profits.  With his special marketing weapon, he could meet the needs of his clients by promoting the items they want to buy.

The hours needed to run his expanding home business helped this successful internet marketer learn even more important aspects of building a lucrative online business. He learned low cost ways to delegate the tasks associated with his business. As a successful entrepreneur, he learned to manage his time by subcontracting freelancers, especially for jobs that would cost himself a great deal of time or where his work may lack the quality someone more experienced in the area could provide.

This cutting edge internet marketer's goal in business has always been to provide not only his longtime customers, but each and every prospective client as well, with the best service, the best products, and the best advice. With his Secret X Factor formula, his AdWords expertise, and plenty of hard work, he has built a successful and profitable home based business centered around this goal. 

CW Teo started http://www.eLearningGetRich.com as a Home Based Business. He targets to become an outstanding Internet Marketeer in no time. Affiliate Program: http://www.GotoSuccessUniversity.com