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CCRA Check-In is distributed
bi-monthly to all of our hotel partners worldwide.
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29219 Canwood St.,
Suite 115
Agoura Hills, CA 91301
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Phone: 818.575.4300
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Fax: 818.889.4547
www.ccra.com
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Director of Supplier Strategies
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Bill Lawrence
Director of Supplier Strategies
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Jolene Volkart
Sales Assistant
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Samuel Jinich
Programmer/Analyst,
RFP Services
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Marketing Coordinator
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CCRA Travel
Agency Partners
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2010 Sales Kit
Don't Take Our Word For It: |
"Our partnership with CCRA is essential to an overall increase in occupancy and revenue. Their professionalism is paramount to our success."
Linda Schilling
Director of Travel Industry Sales
Noble House Hotels and Resorts |
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"The CCRA marketing department is a huge help to us and easy to work with. As a result of their experience with our marketing, Harrah’s is looking forward to
2009 with CCRA!"
Brooke Johnson
Sales Manager
Harrah’s Las Vegas
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"CCRA offers a multitude of affordable opportunities. I continue to support CCRA marketing because of their large distribution channel. The ROI is realistic and achievable. They are cutting-edge in terms of marketing tool development!"
Colleen Kempf
National Director,
Travel Industry Sales
Omni Hotels
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"CCRA provides one of the widest and most economical platforms available to get our messages across to the global travel agency community. We value the relationship and appreciate the positive results
of their efforts."
David Kreindel
National Sales Director
Choice Hotels International
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You Still Have Time
to Put Your 2010 Rates in Front of
23,000 Travel Agencies and
Over 50,000 Individual Agents!
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Message from Mai
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Dear Hoteliers,
We at CCRA wish you, your families and your employees a very joyous Holiday Season and a prosperous New Year.
Enough has been said about the economic conditions of the past year. Indicators now point to a slow but steady recovery in 2010. This is especially good news for the travel industry as both corporate and leisure travel begin to rebound.
Here at CCRA, we have spent the past several months developing programs that will improve the profitability of our travel agent clients as well as our hotel partners. We are particularly proud of COMMISSION/Express, a program that offers agents higher commission on selected inventory (without any cost to our hotel suppliers) and pays agents weekly. “More money, faster” is our tagline, and we believe that any program that helps travel agents helps our hotels as well.
In addition to COMMISSION/Express, a national program that drives more agents to our partner hotels, CCRA is introducing a program tailored specifically to our hotel partners – “CCRx from CCRA”.
CCRx is the prescription for ailing occupancy. These quarterly reports help any hotel target the specific agencies that are coming into its area and understand the price point they are currently paying. Travel agency business is on the rebound as busy travelers become frustrated and overwhelmed by the morass of information on the Net. You can be part of that rebound.
We invite you to join us, along with guest speaker, Bill Todd, for our webinar this January, “How to Get the Most from the Travel Agent Market." At CCRA we are doing more than wishing you a prosperous New Year. We are developing programs and opportunities to help ensure you a prosperous New Year.
Again, SEASONS GREETING, from all of us to all of yours. Here’s to a great 2010.
Sincerely,
Mai Meyaart
Vice President and Managing Director
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Persistence, Persistence, Persistence, Hotels!
Written By: Bill Todd
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 It's official, "persistence, persistence, persistence" has replaced "location, location, location" as the three most important words in business during a slow economic recovery. The most powerful strategy you can employ in pursuit of success during lousy economic times is simply to outsell the competition. No rocket science is required—just good, old fashioned determination.
According to Orvel Ray Wilson, co-author of Guerrilla Selling, “Bad selling, done on a consistent basis, will always outperform brilliant selling done sporadically.”
The average travel industry person works 53 hours a week. Ironically, these same people only spend, on average, eight hours a week face-to-face with clients or prospects. Just by doubling the time you spend communicating directly to customers, you can double your sales performance.
It is also important to become “professionally persistent” when pursuing fist time accounts. Research tells us that you have to approach a prospective customer at least 11 times before he or she decides to buy from you. The good news for you is that the average salesperson gives up after 1.8 sales calls on a new account. In fact, 48% of salespeople quit after they have made the first call. Another 20% call it quits after the second call, and 7% give up after the third call. Unfortunately, 5% quit after they have made the fourth sales call, and another 4% percent quit after they have made the fifth.
Tom Peters says, “Any idiot can come to work with a 25-item to-do list. The brilliance is - never doing 20 of them.” Simply put, we often get sidetracked with unimportant tasks that keep us from doing our primary job—generating revenue.
To combat this tendency, I recommend you place a simple white label on your phone, your computer screen, and the sun visor of your car. On this label, boldly print your revenue target for 2010. Every time you look at any of these labels, ask yourself, "Is what I’m doing now directly contributing to the achievement of this goal?" If the answer is no, stop what you're doing and start doing something that will drive sales.
About Bill
Bill Todd is one of the travel industry’s most sought-after sales and marketing speakers and coaches. He is the co-author of the book Speaking of Success which also features best-selling authors Stephen R. Covey (Seven Habits of Highly Effective People), Ken Blanchard (One Minute Manager) and Jack Canfield (The Secret and Chicken Soup for the Soul). BTodd@BTodd.com | www.BTodd.com | 301.633.5856
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A Print Newsletter for 2010
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As part of the 2010 marketing strategy, CCRA will print and mail a quarterly 8 page newsletter to our top 3,000 agencies. This newsletter will also be distributed at tradeshows throughout the quarter. (The second quarter issue will be distributed at Vacation.com) Newsletters will also be included in our new member kits.
Pricing |
$ 750 Cover |
$ 600 Full page |
$ 400 Half page |
$ 500 Half page |
$ 250 Quarter page |
Here's an example of how the cover page will appear:
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CCRA Travel Solutions' Reservation Center and Hickory Travel Systems' Call Center Services Announced Creation of Travel Fulfillment International
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 Leaders in travel call center management merge their call center operations to create new entity.
CCRA Travel Solutions' Reservation Center (RCI) and Hickory Travel Systems' Call Center Services, two of the travel industry’s leading providers of 24-hour and emergency call center assistance, announced a joint venture that will merge their respective call centers into a single, new entity, TRAVEL FULFILLMENT INTERNATIONAL (TFI).
RCI (operated by CCRA Travel Solutions) and Hickory Travel Systems have each been in the travel call center business for over 30 years, giving the new organization a solid foundation in all aspects of travel call center management.
Said Dic Marxen, president and CEO of CCRA Travel Solutions, the parent company of Reservation Center, “This new venture allows us to implement the best practices from each organization without compromising the quality of service we currently provide our travel agency clients.”
Bill Chiles, chairman and CEO of Hickory, added, “Blending the two call centers ensures that TFI will provide the best, most responsive travel support in the industry.”
While the organizations’ two call centers will merge, both Chiles and Marxen hastened to add that CCRA Travel Solutions and Hickory Travel Systems will remain independent companies.
Stated Chiles, “Hickory and CCRA each offer a unique value proposition as marketing and distribution channels for the travel industry. Both companies will continue to implement their own strategic initiatives.”
Added Marxen, “The spin-off of call center operations to a separate entity means both companies can more effectively refocus resources on our respective marketing and distribution efforts, which will include the pursuit and acquisition of additional call center customers for TFI.”
With over 500 travel agency accounts worldwide, TRAVEL FULFILLMENT INTERNATIONAL is positioned to operate not only as the industry’s leading provider of 24-hour call center services and emergency travel assistance, but also to become a multi-faceted travel fulfillment organization. The new company will aggressively pursue both strategic acquisitions as well as new opportunities in travel technology and fulfillment.
Stated Bill Chiles, “TRAVEL FULFILLMENT INTERNATIONAL will have the experience and the resources to exploit current and future advances in technology, telephony and service, and to do so on a global basis.”
Marxen seconded this viewpoint, “With the creation of TRAVEL FULFILLMENT INTERNATIONAL, we open ourselves to a world of possibilities as a multi-faceted fulfillment center. TFI is one of the few companies in the travel industry currently capable of making the investment and with the necessary vision to pursue such opportunities.”
The new TFI call center will be fully operational by February 1, 2010. Dic Marxen has been named chairman of the new venture, and Bill Chiles will serve as its president. TRAVEL FULFILLMENT INTERNATIONAL will be headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. |
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CCRA Travel Solutions Returned to the
World Religious Travel Association Expo
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 WRTA surpassed the number of expected registrations this year. Although 300 were expected, the final number of registrants topped 550 agents! Due to the partnership of WRTA with the National Tour Operator Association (NTA), numbers attending joint functions were over 2,000.
Suppliers from 15 countries attended WRTA including: Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Jordan, Armenia, Turkey, Bahrain, Canada and the United Kingdom. Approximately 100 suppliers exhibited at WRTA. The agents who attended were truly interested in the products presented and spent time with each vendor to learn and understand their services. During the conference CCRA showed live examples of how to book on CCRAtravel.com. This gave the agents hands-on experience with our portal and a personal connection with CCRA's Director of Global Membership Services, Liz Badras.
During our time at the show, Liz was happy to learn that agents are thrilled CCRA offers a great alternative to the GDS with CCRAtravel.com. Some agents have been afraid to move away from the GDS because they don’t know any other alternative … CCRA to the rescue!
Liz had an opportunity to present in front of the entire audience of agents at the conference, where she reminded agents of our mission, CCRA is committed to the travel industry and especially the travel agents! Liz also shared with agents CCRA’s new 15% commission and upcoming COMMISSION/Express. These new initiatives reminded agents that CCRA continues to put agents first.
We look forward to seeing what 2010 brings to the travel industry, as we continue to strive to make agents’ lives easier!
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You'll Love It When a Plan Comes Together:
A Guide to Developing a Sales Call Strategy
Written By: Mary Wiley
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 In today’s competitive market, knowledgeable buyers have little time for salespeople who are unprepared. Yet it often takes five calls to make the first sale. To be effective, you must be clear about what you want to achieve from each call.
Pre-call planning is simply thinking through the objectives, step-by-step, that will lead to your goal – booking the business.
Begin by developing a call strategy for every account. Think of it as a mini-plan of escalating contacts that move the customer to a decision. Know what you want to accomplish with each contact: qualify account; identify decision maker; get appointment; schedule demonstration; follow-up on requests.
This strategy should include a variety of contact types: phone, face-to-face, email, tradeshows, presentations or demonstrations, etc.
Other call objectives might include:
• Qualify account
• Identify decision maker
• Introduce yourself as the new account manager
• Introduce a new product or service
• Update account information on sales volume, future service needs,
office openings or closings.
• Mail a recent press release
• Invite the client to an open house or tradeshow
• Congratulate the client on a recent award or news article
• Birthday or holiday greetings
• Introduce the client to a third party who might help solve a business problem
• Attend the client’s industry tradeshow
• Unveil a national sales promotion or ad campaign
• Recognize client with award or plaque
• Announce a sale or special rate promotion
• Complete post sale follow-up or survey
• Perform annual account review |
In reality, you may come away from a call having accomplished several objectives (even the sale itself). Do not, however, abandon your strategy. Remember, your best chance for future sales come from your existing customers.
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2010 Travel Trends According to TripAdvisor
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 Americans expect to travel more in 2010 than in 2009. Forty-one percent of U.S. respondents said they plan to spend more on leisure travel in 2010 than they did in 2009 and 92 percent of travelers are planning to take two or more leisure trips in 2010, up from 89 percent last year.
TripAdvisor announced the results of its annual travel trends survey of more than 3,000 U.S. travelers. Americans are not taking the H1N1 warnings lightly, as 88 percent of respondents said they are concerned about germs, bacteria and viruses when traveling, compared to 83 percent last year. Seventy-seven percent of travelers said they are washing their hands more often on the road than they normally do, an increase of 17 percent from one year ago.
Despite the concerns over germs, Americans expect to travel more in 2010 than in 2009. Forty-one percent of U.S. respondents said they plan to spend more on leisure travel in 2010 than they did in 2009 and 92 percent of travelers are planning to take two or more leisure trips in 2010, up from 89 percent last year. Sixty-six percent said the economy will not affect their travel plans for the coming year.
The TripAdvisor TravelCast identifies up-and-coming travel destinations based on site data, including increases in search activity and postings for the past year on TripAdvisor.com.
Click here to see the complete list of trends based on TripAdvisor’s data.
Published on hotelmarketing.com on December 9, 2009.
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You are receiving this newsletter as a benefit of your participation in the CCRA Travel Solutions Hotel program or have requested to receive news from CCRA Travel Solutions independently through our website.
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