By Les-Lee Roland

Welcome to the Flips and Flops column. We are able to do what we do here because of your input and information. If you want a supplier or a res agent or DSM to get special recognition, let us know. If there is something amiss with a company’s policies or actions, share them with us as well. Let us know which booking engines and Web pages are hits and which are misses! E-Mail your suggestions to packagedeals@comcast.net.

I received an extraordinary amount of E-mails concerning Royal Caribbean’s 2006 brochures — the ones without deck plans. Obviously, RCI wants everyone to go to its Internet site to see and print the layout of the ship, one deck at a time.
Some agents say they will have to keep old brochures in stock, just so they can show the clients the cabin locations. I have, in the past, enlarged Xerox copies of certain deck plans and put them into plastic sleeves that I keep as permanent selling tools. This way, the cabin numbers can be easily read.
But better yet, RCI and Celebrity have a Travel Agent Guide 2005/2006, that gives all the details on each ship, all the itinerary dates, maps, diagrams of cabins, and, lo and behold, pull-out sheets of deck plans with cabin numbers that can be read. This reference piece weighs about three pounds and does not have info on Freedom of the Seas. But it is a great tool. Call RCI and Celebrity directly and order one for every agent, if they’re still available.
On the subject of RCI, agent Tony wrote that he had a group booked and the final documents he received were one set per cabin, even though the passengers’ surnames were different. When he contacted RCI, a representative said there is a $35 fee for re-issuing separate docs. Let this be a lesson for agents. If you need separate docs for the same cabin, make sure this is noted in the reservation when first booked.
Agent Diane Weissman reported a big FLOP faux pas. Booked at a resort for a Vacation.com conference, she was surprised when she later received the following message: “Thank you for your recent stay! Remember next time you choose to stay at the Walt Disney World Dolphin and Swan, book directly and earn valuable Starpoints. Check our special offers page for great deals and packages!”
This is the form follow-up they send to YOUR clients, as well. You book them, and the property encourages them to book directly in the future.
Louise West from Travel to You reported an Apple Vacations FLOP “for booking my client to Kauai in August, accepting full payment, and then telling me two days later that they did not have the condo space and would have to relocate them to a budget hotel at additional cost, causing me to lose the accommodation booking to the Internet.”
This apparently is not an unusual scenario. Laurie Saczawa of Adventures and Voyages said she used Small and Elegant Hotels to book a Paris apartment for $5,000 a week. With a signed contract and payment paid 60 days in advance, she was quite surprised when close to the arrival date she was notified that the space was no longer available, leaving her scrounging around for now very limited space. I guess contracts are not always valid, and who can you fight when you have clients ready to depart on their trip?
A FLIP to all companies that help to make agents look good to their clients. SITA has welcome signs, with your client’s names at arrival points. Classic Custom Vacations includes welcome letters with the documents with an area where agents can add their letterhead.
But, the biggest FLIPS of the month go to the many agents and suppliers who worked around the clock to aid clients in changing plans due to Hurricane Katrina and helped in so many ways in the relief efforts.