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.

FLOP to NPC and other commission processing companies that charge a fee to the agency to send them their commission. And, if the commission is recalled, another fee is charged. I wonder if the suppliers pay NPC for their services and they in turn charge us. Is this a double dip or a triple dip? And we don’t even get a chance to pick the flavors.

A FLIP to the Florida agent who delivered cruise docs in person. So what’s unusual? New clients had called and booked on the phone. She offered to deliver the docs to their retirement community. She was met at the entry gate by a couple in a golf cart. Only when the husband walked to her car did she realize that it was a nudist colony.
He invited her to come in and look around...no, not that way! He and his wife had other couples who were interested in a cruise. Being a good sport and a dedicated agent, she accepted their offer, took a towel and sat, fully clothed, on their golf cart and met with prospective au naturel clients at the tennis courts. I was laughing so hard at her description, I forgot to ask if she got the order. And if she did — where was their credit card?

A FLIP to the anonymous agent who read a previous FLIP about Spirit flight attendant, Karina. She does a welcome onboard script that not only gets passengers’ attention, but outright laughs and applause.
I told Karina that I was going to write about her and I personally contacted Spirit’s management and marketing, with compliments about Karina and her upbeat attentiveness, and E-mailed them copies. Did they congratulate Karina, or even run anything in their employee newsletter? Nope. But weeks later, Karina contacted me and said that an agent flying, probably out of Florida, gave a copy of Home Based Flips and Flops to the flight staff and asked that they get it to her. Thank you classy agent!

A fun FLOP to the problems with Princess’ POLAR system. I have been registered since the onset. When the old system was being upgraded to OneSource, I couldn’t sign in. Why? The site wouldn’t accept my birthdate, the one I registered with years ago. Helloooo! Does Princess have a camera looking at me? Working at 3 a.m. in a robe, I suddenly made sure I was buttoned up. Do I look younger, or perish the thought, do I look older?
When I later called Princess to work it out, they said it was a glitch. I was told to just make up a different birth date and it would sign me in. What a conundrum! I could make myself 3, 4, or even 5 years younger. That should be the only problem we agents have.

A FLIP to all the companies sending out 2007 brochures now. With up in the air fuel costs, they have somewhat committed to next year’s rates. And people who procrastinated and were shut out on popular Alaska sailings this year, are now booking a year ahead. I guess June is the new October (when brochures were previously sent).

A big FLIP to Costa Cruise Lines. A few issues back, I reported a FLOP for an Italian line that didn’t provide a written list of group amenities for agents to choose from. Everything was verbally offered by an agent, with no changes allowed. Now I, as an agent, received a very nice marketing piece that lists all the amenities and actually outdoes some of the other lines. If you haven’t received one yet, contact Costa and use it for your groups.

A Big Huggy FLIP to Holland America’s Steve Simao. At Travel Trade’s recent CRUISE-A-THON in Vancouver, I posed a question to the panel of cruise line honchos and honcho-ettes, about lack of service from local reps for Home Based agents aligned with Hosts outside of their territories. Reps feel they don’t have to call on agents if they don’t earn money or incentives from their bookings, and agents don’t get invited to local seminars. This is an ongoing problem with Home Basers.
While non-definable answers were being given from the panel, Steve, seated in the back of the room, screamed out — “Les-Lee, I used to call on you when I was your DSM.” Like a TV ad, in slow motion, we ran into each other’s arms with a big (friendly) hug, and much applause from the audience.
Steve was an example of an agent calling on everyone in his geographical area, whether or not it was credited to his territory — all to promote Holland America. He has since been promoted a couple of times already, working his way up to the home office in Seattle, obviously because of his hard work and dedication and loyalty. And he gives good hugs too!