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by George

Larry Pimentel pushes Azamara Cruises

August 5, 2009 in George's Observations by George


Make no mistake. New Azamara Cruise Line President, Larry Pimentel is a creative maverick in the travel industry. This is an industry that for the most part simply follows the leader in a race to the bottom. In an era when airlines, hotels and cruise lines are finding new ways to nickel and dime customers while reducing quality, look for Luxury Cruise Line Azamara to stand out under Pimentel.

Pimentel is currently conducting a top to bottom “swot” analysis of the lines strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. At the travel agency selling level he asked every front-line agent to fill out a perception survey of the line. He and his team are looking at every aspect of the line to make improvements.

When he finishes, look for Azamara to set a new standard of quality. Let’s hope the impact will be felt wide and far in the travel industry. With the airlines leading the charge, the travel industry has been very satisfied with “good enough.” At some point, and let’s hope that point is now, “good enough won’t be good enough anymore.”

George

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by George

Travel Agent Booking Trends – Knowledge & Expertise

August 1, 2009 in George's Observations by George

Review Resorts User-Generated Vacation Reviews

In a recent Travel Weekly survey, 62% of the respondents said they book through a Travel Agent because of the agent’s destination or product knowledge and experitise. This number in the aggregate can probably be broken down further by the type of trip booked. Simple trips are probably booked more so on the web, while more complex trips are more than likely booked at a higher percentage with Travel Agents.

One of the goals of www.ReviewResorts.com is to provide a forum for Travel Agents to post resort and vacation reviews. When an agent posts a hotel or cruise review, we publish their name, web address and e-mail if they want. Hopefully, a reader will look them up to get help booking their vacation. As a former travel agency owner for 20+ years, I understand the difficulty in getting the message out. For this reason, we gladly accept Travel Agent posted resort and cruise reviews.

Take a look at this Caribbean Resort Review posted by MyVacationLady, Mindy Gilbert: Grotto Bay Resort   Mindy get’s it. She has a wide web presence and frankly I have no doubt plenty of clients that want her expertise when planning their vacation.

So Travel Agents – Post away!
George