Continuous training is a must for every home-based travel agent desiring to
be successful in the travel industry. To believe otherwise is just plain
ridiculous. Training is mandatory, whether you are just starting out as a travel
agent, working from home or you are a 30 year veteran working in a professional
office. Today's travel professional is expected to know something about the kind
of travel they are attempting to sell to their clients. The more you know, the
better chance you have of booking and maintaining that client. The face of the
travel agent is rapidly changing. Are you going to have what it takes and the
knowledge to be successful?
Training and education are plentiful these days. It runs the gamut from
learning about an individual vendor or supplier to the more sophisticated
courses offered by such 3rd parties as Sharon Emerson, Nancy Kist and Kelly
Monaghan. The important thing to remember is that there is no such thing as the
travel agent with all the answers. That is why, in today's world, you must
specialize. Whatever your specialty, you will never be successful until you know
every aspect of that niche and continue to keep abreast by taking courses as
they become available.
Most new or experienced travel agents don't realize the benefits of
participating in or taking advantage of many of the industry training, FAMS or
virtual/live conferences and trade shows. While your online training is usually
more economical you are not going to get the interaction of a live event. You
can find much of it for free while others will ask for a nominal fee or larger
amount if it's a full course of subjects.
The virtual online conferences and trade shows, for the most part, have
solved the financial problem of attending a national type conference. The
conferences are free and you can attend the activities at your own leisure as
the show is recorded. The virtual shows are here to stay and I'm sure they will
get even better as the technology improves. The only sad part is the fact that
the Shrimp Lady (www.theshrimplady.com) has been shut out until the shows are
able to produce smells from the show itself, and in this case, the smell of
freshly steamed shrimp.
The following organizations as well as most of the mainstream media and
suppliers offer training in various forms. Here are a few of my favorites.
Cruises:
The obvious first choice is CLIA, www.cruising.org. CLIA has many of the
online courses, regional and national seminars, Seminars at Sea, videos, printed
matter and just about everything you need in cruise training. CLIA also offers
the various designations such as ACC, MCC and ECC which are a must to obtain if
you want to specialize in cruises. I would obtain their Photo ID card for easier
acceptance to the FAMs or Seminars at Sea.
Seminars at Sea conducted by Cruise and Travel University would be the best
and most serious of the many organizations, outside CLIA, that do provide cruise
training as well as an all around training program. What is unique about the
University of Travel (www.cruiseandtraveluniversity.com) is they also have well
known industry instructors as well as other training topics other than just
cruises. All of their training programs have been developed with the assistance
of industry leading trainer Dr. Marc Mancini. The University of Travel also
offers an exclusive curriculum that guarantees there will be an instructor and
classes on every Seminar at Sea no matter how many agents attend. I don't
believe anyone else provides this guarantee.
I would recommend Platinum Seminars located at www.platinumseminars.com for
the upscale seller of cruises. They offer seminars on such ships as Regent,
Seaborne Crystal and Oceania as well as the usual RCL and NCL style ships.
Don't just go on any Seminar at Sea sponsored by an organization as sometimes
the training is just not good and sometimes even non-existent. Those who try and
sell many of these seminars are really just in the business of selling reduced
price cruises to travel agents. It pays to check out who is presenting your
seminar,who may be the instructor and what is the subject matter.
Of course, all of the cruise lines themselves have some great training for
their product and itineraries.
Hotels and Resorts:
All of the major resorts such as Disney, Universal, Sandals, SuperClubs,
ClubMed, etc have excellent training courses about their products. Disney of
course, is the most comprehensive. Both Marriott and Starwood Pro offer agents
excellent training along with reward programs.
The best hotel course online is still Marriott's "Hotel Excellence" course.
Unfortunately, you must possess the IATAN photo ID card.
Land Destinations:
The Travel Institute is the guru of land destination training. They,
like CLIA, have the most extensive collection of training tools, including many
"niche" or specialty courses available in one place. Contact them at
www.thetravelinstitute.org. They also have their designations such as the CTA
and CTC, a must for the professional travel agent.
Individual Suppliers:
Yes, all mainstream suppliers have product training courses and webinars
available either directly or through your favorite organization and the travel
media online websites. You can't possibly take all these courses. I would
recommend you take those that apply to your own "niche."
Media publications, destination tourist boards and travel agent organizations
also offer excellent product and destination courses and they are all generally
free. Keep in mind that you don't need to join any travel agent organization to
receive training, education and FAMs. Most of it is all free or at nominal
prices.
If I was entering the travel industry for the first time my training and
education agenda may look like the following.
1) Joining CLIA as a member or an associate member.
2) Joining the Travel Institute.
3) Take the Marriott Hotel Excellence course as it can cover most hotels even
if you don't have an IATAN card.
4) Take the Disney course, "College of Knowledge." I mention items 1 through
4 above because you will need access to cruise and major land products because
they are musts in the travel business.
5) Attend The University of Travel because of the wide spectrum of cruise,
land and self improvement courses.
6) Join the websites of those suppliers, etc that will provide the training
for your specialty.
7) Join a travel agent community forum such as Tom and Joanne Ogg's Home
Based Travel Agent Network.
8) Subscribe to online and printed publications such as Agent@Home,
Vacation@Home, Travel Weekly , Travel Pulse, Travel Agent, Recommend, JaxFax and
TRO. It's important you also keep up with industry news.
I would recommend you clipping this article for future reference.
Peter Stilphen, ECC
This is great information for all our travel insurance friends - we will definitely pass these ideas along!
Posted by: MH Ross | September 21, 2012 at 12:19 PM
Training is one of the best way to be an professional and benefits of it is really high i don't why some of them don't know about it,as an traveler i travel a lot places including Finland country,in i am going to be in a travel agencies i will refer it as a good place and without training well i can say i cannot do it.
Posted by: Kalle Ahlberg | October 05, 2012 at 08:40 AM