Group Sales:

Follow the Money

It’s purely mathematical: if you’re selling only FITs, you’re missing the boat. Selling groups is where the profits are — and there’s really no complicated mystique involved.
Home Based Trade asked a number of home based-friendly suppliers for their comments and policies regarding group sales. And, on page 44, several host agencies tell how they help their members multiply their profits by selling groups.

Carnival Cruise Lines:
Affinity Groups to Pursue
Where can you find groups who will be receptive to a great vacation idea? Bob Dickinson, Carnival Cruise Lines president and CEO, said that the company’s research shows that groups with the highest likelihood of delivering include affinity groups such as church groups and those organized around a particular theme — music, knitting, scrapbooking, fitness, etc. Strong family reunions, fundraising groups, radio “come-alongs,” meetings at sea, continuing education groups and incentive sales are also excellent avenues to pursue. He said that 30% of Carnival’s inventory is sold as group business. Carnival continually evaluates the performance of all travel agents — including home based, online and brick-and-mortar — in an effort to enhance the “stick” rate of group bookings, which are an increasingly important part of the company’s business. Ideally, the company would like to see the group “stick” rate exceed 80%, Dickinson said.

CIE Tours:
‘Serious Dollars’ on Group Sales
According to Brian Stack, president of CIE Tours International and chairman of USTOA, close to every travel agent’s home or office exists a group that wishes to travel — the only problem is they don’t know it yet.
“This is where travel agents can make serious dollars — to be specific, selling a group on a CIE tour can generate over $17,000 profit for a travel agent — and we do all the work,” said Stack. “CIE Tours International has an eight person group travel department that specializes in assisting groups.
“We arrange custom programs to Ireland, England, Scotland and now Italy, in addition to booking groups on our scheduled tours to these areas.”
Places of worship, pubs, clubs (Rotary, etc.), senior centers, community centers, are the source of many groups. Ideally a travel agent needs to identify a pied piper, who in return for a complimentary place, would organize the group, he said.
“This is excellent business and we are there to assist with promotion, local knowledge, and 74 years of experience.”

City Escapes:
Exciting Cities and Special Events
As for a popular group destination, what could be more enticing than to offer the opportunity to visit a fascinating city or a high-profile special event?
According to Bo Adams, president, City Escapes handles groups of any size to North America’s most exciting cities and special events. Included are New York, Washington DC, Boston, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Nashville, Branson, Memphis, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City and Niagara Falls. Special events feature the Super Bowl, Rose Parade, Rose Bowl, Kentucky Derby, Indy 500, Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest and Essence Music Festival.
“We consider a group to be 15 guests or more. Rates are quoted retail and 13% commission applies,” he said. Group requests should be faxed to: (310) 827-5575, Attn- Group Department, City Escape Holidays, 13470 Washington Blvd. #101, Marina del Rey, CA 90292. City Escapes is a member of ASTA, TOP, NTA, CLIA and the BBB.

Destination Europe:
Expands Group Dept.
Destination Europe, the tour division of Auto Europe, has expanded its group department to handle the increased demand for group travel to Europe. “Destination Europe’s group department is unique due to its flexible approach, purchasing power and the ability to accommodate groups up to the last minute,” said Torunn Reynisdottir, vice president, sales and marketing.
“In addition to negotiating discounted rates for group travel, our staff has been trained to provide personal service and flexibility to accommodate group requests.
“Combine 10% commission, our commitment to the agency community to give them the tools, such as last minute availability, personal service and the flexibility to close the sale and group travel is made simple.”
Auto Europe offers worldwide car rental services, including prestige and sports car rentals, chauffeur drive and motor home rentals. Its tour division, Destination Europe offers hotel services at over 2,500 3-, 4- and 5-star European properties and scheduled air departures, including business class, from all major U.S. cities to Europe. For more information, contact (800) 835-5555 or visit its Web site at www.skydrive.com.

International Vacations, Inc.:
‘A Valuable Revenue Stream’
“The business model for International Vacations, Inc. has been constructed around four main elements: groups, international first and business class travel, packages and luxury hotels,” said John Przywara, CEO. Group travel is one of the few products that does not lend itself easily to the automated booking process and thus is somewhat insulated from incursion by the major online companies or the airlines themselves. Group travel is one of the few valuable revenue streams remaining in the industry that should stay intact for the foreseeable future and that an agent can plan a more secure career around. Just as in other fields of employment, the group specialist commands a higher premium simply by being a specialist rather than a generalist.
“Selling groups is a very knowledge intense endeavor and one that all of the details must be considered and great attention paid to all phases of group operations. While the profit opportunity for booking groups is exponential over individual travel, the downside of mistakes is magnified by the number of travelers in the group. The five phases of group travel includes: information on the group request, pricing and securing the space, administering the group prior to departure, the actual travel and the follow up. A well-run group operation will convert a customer to a client and thus a following can be built that will sustain the agents business well into the future.
“Within the realm of group travel, several arenas can be further specialized, such as student groups, senior groups, affinity groups, adventure groups, religious groups, missionary groups, educational groups and luxury groups. If you are looking for group specialists, some companies with a wealth of experience to different parts of the world are Discovery Travel and Tours to Israel, (972) 517-8802, ask for Rita; C&H International, Dallas to Europe, (866) 675-2288 ext 108, ask for Mike; Creative Leisure to Hawaii, (800) 976-9402, ask for Lynn; International Vacations to Latin America, (800) 727-0352 ext. 2849, ask for Jim.”

Globus:
Hot Products for Home Based Agents
“Globus has always been very strong in the group market, but in the last three years, a strong effort has been made to become the group tour operator of choice among agents and home based agents specifically,” said Mike Schields, director of group sales and emerging markets for Globus and Cosmos.
“One of our strongest incentives has been our group rebate policy that begins at eight passengers. Our group business overall has enjoyed very healthy increases year by year as we have added group-oriented product, such as river cruises, religious pilgrimages and our custom group department, which has seen booming demand.
“Home based agents can benefit from Globus’ diverse product offering and generous group policies,” he added. “The river cruises on our Avalon Waterways brand are our hottest product right now, and have been driving a good amount of group traffic. “Home based agents need to move quickly to secure space on these brand new vessels,” said Schields.
“As we continue to grow our sales with home based agents, we feel it is essential for them to take advantage of selling group business with the Globus family of brands. There is no better time than 2006 as we have expanded our product portfolio to truly offer something for everyone,” said Alleigh Grieder, business development manager, home based channel.
Grieder stressed that Globus fully supports home based agents and their value-added efforts to their clients.
“We have over 40 sales professionals dedicated to assisting the home based agent market and sell our products to their groups. We will customize sales collateral free of charge and will work with home based agents to set up group nights in their hometowns to assist them sell the space.
“By working together, we can assist home based agents in increasing their sales and commission levels with the Globus family of brands making their time very worthwhile,” said Grieder.

Trafalgar Tours:
‘Look Within Your Agency’
“If agents have done groups in the past to any destination in any format, e.g. cruise, they should be thinking about doing an escorted vacation group,” said John Severini, president, Trafalgar Tours, who offered agents a unique way to “mine” for groups.
“We are telling agents that the majority of them have the possibility of doing a group if they just look within their own agency,” he said. “Which of their employees have friends or relatives who belong to groups or organizations? This is a great way to get an agents’ employees to suggest to their friends and relatives that Trafalgar provides free trips for pied pipers of groups and organizations.”
Trafalgar Tours’ policy is 18% for groups for 2006 if blocked by year end 2005, he said.
“Also, don’t forget that with Trafalgar, you only need a group of five or more people to qualify for 5% discounts. Just check out our brochure for details.”