North Of Boston: Tourism Conference

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North Of Boston Tourism Conference January 30,
2009
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The FIT Market A Hoteliers Perspective versus
A Receptive Tour Operators Perspective
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The United States vs. Key Markets Where do
we fit in? Receptive Operator vs. Tour
Operator Whos who? City Break vs. Fly Drive
Where do I fit in? How the Process Works
What can I do to get my fair share?
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United States vs. Key Markets Where do we
fit in?
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Top Five In-Bound Continents Canada Europe Asia
South America Latin America
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Top Five European Countries UK/Ireland Germany F
rance Italy Netherlands/Scandinavia
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Top Five Asian Countries Japan South
Korea Taiwan China/Hong Kong Vietnam
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Top Five South American Countries Brazil Venezue
la Colombia Argentina Chile
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Top Ten Visited States (As of 2003) Excluding
Canada Mexico New York Florida California Hawai
i Nevada Guam Illinois Massachusetts Texas New
Jersey
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Top Ten Visited Cities (As of 2003) Excluding
Canada Mexico New York Los Angeles Miami Orland
o San Francisco Honolulu Las Vegas Metro
DC Chicago Boston
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The Receptive Operator vs. The Tour Operator
Whos who?
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Tour Operators are based in a given country or
region package world wide product to be sold
directly to consumers via catalogues, the
internet or both. UK Thomas Cook - Page and
Moy TUI - Premier Holidays Virgin Holidays - BA
Holidays Germany DER Tours - Kuoni FTI
Aeroplan Japan JHC - Asahi Travel Rakuten
Travel Scandinavia WRC Reizen - Travel
Trend Iceland Air
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Receptive Operators-for our purposes-are mostly
based in the U.S. and are packaging/bundling US
product that is then sold to the operators in
various countries.
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Key U.S. Receptive Operators Their Major
Markets AlliedTpro UK, Germany,
France American Tours International (ATI)
Germany, UK, China Gullivers Travel Assoc.
(GTA) UK, Germany/East Europe, Scandinavia,
Israel Hotelbeds UK, Germany New World Travel
Germany Gastaldi Italy Travalco Italy
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Key U.S. Receptive Operators Their Major
Markets (cont) JTB Japan JalPak
Japan H.I.S. Intl Japan FM Tours
Scandinavia Key Local Receptive Operators Tour
Mappers of New England Europe TOURCO
Europe Total Travel Excursions Asia
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By working with a receptive operator your
product is offered and sold to a wide variety of
countries and tour operators large and small.
In this way your product has greater exposure
and potentially better sales. A Receptive Tour
Operator is able to package your product (hotel,
inn, attraction etc) into-for example- a fly
drive itinerary. Hence, offering the tour
operator a complete vacation which can then be
marketed and sold to the consumer without having
to contract multiple vendors, thus reducing
associated costs and destination research.
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City Breaks vs. Fly Drives Where do I fit
in?
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City Breaks, the most popular-short term travel
option-focuses on a specific city or destination
over a period of two to three days. This is
short-haul travel. Top City Breaks NYC,
Vegas, L.A., Orlando, Boston -------------------
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Fly Drive programs are more long-haul covering
a larger geographical area and usually spanning
seven to fourteen days. Top Long Haul Fly
Drives South East, South West, Grand
Canyon/Central Plans, New England
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For a Receptive Operator a city break is also
known as a simple FIT. This means that the
product is offered as a stand alone product
rather than a component of a product such as a
flydrive. FITs are often featured by Tour
Operators who offer custom made itineraries.
IE The consumer can work their own routing and
chose appropriate hotels for each destination.
A Fly-Drive is a set itinerary using
predetermined hotels and is packaged to offer
one overall price. Fly Drives are the most
frequently offered product.
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Remember Tour Operators and even some
Receptive Operators are selling the world-not
just the U.S. ----------------------------- GTA
for example packages Globally, with the U.S.
comprising only 11 of their world wide
business. ---------------------------------- The
U.S., New England, and all of us compete on the
world stage when marketing to this audience. We
and the New England region compete against the
rest of the U.S. as well!
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How the Process Works What can I do to get my
fair share?
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How the Process Works What can I do to get my
fair share? Co-op with your DMOs Attend trade
shows and sales missions. Trade Shows Discover
New England (DNE) Summit April Travel
Industry Assoc. (TIA)/POW-WOW May DNE Sales
Missions to Germany or UK June/Sept.
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Remember that a Receptive Tour Operator will
probably be attending all these shows as well as
conducting their own sales calls in different
countries they work with. Co-oping with your
Receptive Operator is a great way to cover more
territory and maximize a limited sales
marketing budget.
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Additional Shows Holiday Travel Show/Dublin and
Manchester January Ontario Motor Coach Assoc.
(OMCA)/Toronto October World Travel Market
(WTM)/London November Mid-Atlantic
Conference/Reykjavik February International
Travel Bureau (ITB)/Berlin March --------------
--------------------- Send brochures. Follow-up
on leads.
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Be prepared to work with the operators Learn
to work with vouchers and Direct
Billing. Training of front desk staff is
essential. Remember if you work with a
Receptive Operator or direct with a Tour
Operator the rates are confidential and should
never be divulged to the guests.
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Additionally vouchers show who the invoice needs
to be sent to. A voucher may have a Thomas Cook
logo and address, but may say booked and payable
through TourMappers. Dont send the invoice
then to Thomas Cook! It will greatly delay the
payment and you would have disclosed the
Receptive Tour Operators confidential rates to
the Tour Operator. .
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Pay attention to rates. Try to give the operators
what they need. When working with a Receptive
Tour Operator you must realize that the
Receptive needs to make money too, so they will
mark up the rate by 10. Therefore, the
Receptive Operators rates need to be 15 below
the Tour Operators. In turn the Tour Operator
will mark up the rates received from the
Receptive by 15 so they can make money and
cover their marketing expenses as well. Do the
math and make sure the end sell price to the
consumer is not higher than your rack rate! In
return you will receive volume bookings
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Offer specials in your low season REVPAR vs.
ADR! React well enough in advance to need
periods so the Receptive Operator has time to
sell them!
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Keep rates at paritytry to create a level
playing field, within each category, when ever
possible. Understand the difference between a
Receptive Tour Operator a Tour Operator, and
the need to differentiate the rates offered.
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Follow up quickly on all customer related
issues keep in mind International Travel
Laws protect your partners. Get your rates set
for the following year by the DNE Summit.
Have contracts done by POW-WOW for established
accounts, and shortly after for new
ones. Receptives request rates be ready by the
DNE Summit.
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Dont take on more than you can chew, just more
than you can handle! Lower Rates do NOT mean
Discounted Rates. Your FIT Rates should be
slightly higher than Group. About 25-30 off
rack. Is this not close to Corporate? While many
hotels will look to the Corporate Market as
their primary base, unless the property is
running at 100 occupancy, there should be rooms
to bare.
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If you allocate roughly 10 of your daily
inventory to the FIT market, at the end of the
year you will have gained versus displaced
revenue. Black Out Dates are crucial! State them
up front and on your contract, whenever possible.
Keep in mind-Black Out Dates shouldnt
necessarily mean NO rooms-just higher rates!
Better to give them something to sell rather than
nothing at all. .
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If blackout dates are agreed upon at contracting,
offer a higher rate so we can still feature the
high demand dates. Operators hate additional
blackout dates. Once an allocation has been
agreed upon it should never be blacked out.
Remember that the operator has gone to great
expense and effort to publish your product
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Room Allocations are even more crucial! Average
two rooms per over-seas operator and up to five
per Receptive for contracted allocations. Spread
your allocations over several accounts! This
will increase your odds of selling what you
want, and need for a healthy ROI. Remember
allocations cannot be touched and should be
taken out of sellable inventory, unless the
operator agrees to release space back to hotel.
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In the case of most Receptive Tour Operators they
will have a booking engine. Therefore in
TourMappers case, we would load your rates,
allotment and cut off dates into our system.
Our clients can then book through our web site.
This provides instant availability and booking
so the reservation agent can close the sale
immediately. Our software then takes the room
out of our allotment and the hotel is informed of
the booking. Allotments are essential.
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Free-Sell is even better! Let one or two key
accounts function on a Report and Sell basis,
without a given allocation. This will give the
operator more freedom, and you a clearer picture
of where your stand on any given day. NOTE You
can request a Report and Sell status on all of
your contractsbut it may bog you down and it is
not necessary for allocations with cut-offsit is
crucial however for Free-Sells.
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Cut-Offs are important Ask yourself, What is
the closest I can go on any given date, before
pulling back my un-sold rooms? The average is
seven daysbut during lean times, and tighter
markets three is better. Remember, the longer
you can give themthe more they can sell. This
can be seasonal if you would like.
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Stop-Sells are a necessary evil Watch your
dates 90-60-30 and 14 days out! Do not get
caught with fewer rooms in inventory, then you
have allocated! Stop sales are okay but should
be kept to a minimum and the operator should be
informed of the reason. If you are over booked
and in trouble ask the operator to release back
to you the allotted rooms relationships are so
important here.
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Stop Sells are different than Black Outs Black
Outs may still give the operators rooms to sell,
but at a higher rate. Stop Sells mean NO rooms
are available PLEASE STOP SELLING ME! You can
issue Stop Sells at any time-prior to your
cut-off period. Remember If an operator cant
sell you MOST of the time - they will be less
likely to sell you ANY of the time. DONT GET
CARRIED AWAY!
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Operators have long memories! The relationship
has to be mutually beneficial, we help you when
you require business, and you help us by
providing appropriate rates and allotments when
we need you during high seasons.
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Cater to your audience Prepare group meals,
especially breakfast, with the European or Asian
pallet in mind. --------------------------------
---- Everyone wants the Full American Breakfast,
but. English like tea and jams, French like
croissants, Italians like bread, Asians like
fruit, and the Germans like ????
------------------------------------- Add
real tea to the guest room coffee packets. NOT
Salada!
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Offer coupons and inclusive rates. Have
electrical adapters available. Front Desk staff
could be bi-lingual and scheduled during
check-ins. Be prepared to cash Travelers
Checks, frequently.
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Get creative with marketing A good rate can
buy great marketing! Promos give-aways can
give you added exposure ------------------------
------------------------------ Stay three nights
get the fourth night FREE! Book now until May
31st and get an additional 20 off the
rate! -------------------------------------------
------------------
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Need a decent lead in time. Although consumers
are booking less in advance due to the economy,
long haul travel is still booking 6-9 months
out. Offer the specials at contracting!
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Catalogues may be disappearing, but travelers are
still holding on to them. Affiliate yourself
with thewinners, and be a winner too.
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Always remember and never forget. A room
un-sold tonight, is revenue lost forever!