In This Issue

• Notes from Liz
• Over 11,000 Hotels Agree to Offer Travel Agents Rates that are Below BAR
• Build Customer Intimacy with a Blog ...
• 2011 Travel Trends
• Tourism Cares and Travel South USA Plan to Give Back to the Georgia Aquarium

Featured Destinations

• Winter in London at Sanderson & St Martins Lane, Now Offering Rates from £205*

CCRA is pleased to welcome Liz Badras as our new publisher
here at the CCRA travel agent newsletter. 

Liz has been with CCRA for the past 5 years, and has most recently been promoted to Director of Global Membership Services.  Liz works with travel agents every day and will bring great perspective to this publication.  Please join us in welcoming Liz!

Notes from Liz

Happy New Year! I love starting a new year. It is a fresh start – 365 days to make a successful goal – whatever your goal may be. Have you made any commitments to change in this coming year? One thing I have learned is that you just have to take that first step, whether it is committing to wake up a little earlier to get in a work out or changing your eating habits or de-cluttering, it is important to take that first little step. And then taking the next step and the next, concentrating on the next move forward.

For me it is easy to get overwhelmed when looking at the goal in total. I have to break it down to smaller goals and be thankful for each day and the success of that day.

How about with your work? Have you made any commitments to change here? Or will you continue to do business the same as you always have? If you have a successful track record, great! But all of us can and should assess our past and look at new ways to succeed in the future. It could be as simple as calling (or reconnecting) with five new clients or learning about a new destination.

Have you looked at the CCRA online portal lately to see all the hotel offerings and the new 15% commission inventory available? Or checked our CCRA rates in your GDS? The wave season started early for many cruise booking agencies, and it is a pleasure to see the early uptick. Be sure to check out CCRA for pre and post cruise hotels! You will be pleasantly surprised by both the number of hotels and the great rates we offer in port cities.

In the meantime, keep breathing, taking those steps and before you know it, you will have a successful 2011 to look back on!

Sincerely,

Over 11,000 Hotels Agree to Offer Travel Agents Rates that are Below BAR

CCRA Introduces "Better than Best" Rate Program Exclusively for Travel Agents.

For the past several months, CCRA has been working with individual hotels and major chains to help them understand the value that travel agents bring to their properties. The results are in – over 11,000 hotels around the world have agreed to extend discounts off the Best Available Rate (BAR) just to travel agents.

This means that travel agents, like you, now have access to commissionable rates that are still lower than your clients can find on line!

Major hotel chains like Best Western, Choice and Wyndham are now extending a "Better than Best" rate at all their properties around the globe. These chains are joined by thousands of independent hotels ranging from economy to luxury in resorts and destination worldwide.

Booking a "Better than Best" rate couldn't be easier – participating hotels have loaded these rates in all GDS under the CCRA rate code (ccr or ccra). Of course your agency must be linked to access these rates (get linked).

"Better than Best" rates are also available to agents who are registered with CCRAtravel.com.

To see which properties offer "Better than Best" rates in a given destination, simply go to http://www.ccratravel.com/app/pub/BetterThanBest.aspx, then book those hotels in your GDS or at CCRAtravel.com.

CCRA has never lost sight of how important travel agents are to the hospitality industry. It's a message we continued to share during the worst downturn in the industry's history. Now, as the market begins to turnaround, more hotels are working with us ... to support you, our travel agent partners.

Remember, hotels that participate in "Better than Best" value your business and know how to serve your clients. We urge you to always look for B-t-B participating hotels, under the CCR and CCRA rate codes in the GDS or on-line at CCRAtravel.com.

Build Customer Intimacy with a Blog ...
Written by: Bill Todd

While blogs impact search engine ranking and can drive traffic to your website, the least appreciated, yet most profitable reason to blog is it gives you the opportunity to communicate with and to gain quick, honest and affordable feedback from your clients. Nothing beats close customer relationships when it comes to word-of-mouth advertising and strong repeat business.

Blogs are also a cost effective way to keep you clients updated on new offerings and special deals. Sergio Zyman, former chief marketing officer for Coca-Cola said, "If you don't make the effort to tell your clients exactly what you're doing, why you're doing it and why they should continue to buy your product, they will ignore you and take their wallets to someone who will tell them those things."

A blog is nothing more than a web page. The term blog comes from "web log" and was coined by Jorn Barger on December 17, 1997. It describes a basic website where regular entries can be made or read, and is presented in reverse chronological order.

Creating a blog is easy to do and requires no additional marketing or advertising funds. It does require a little time each and every week, but it will help you attract new customers and keep existing clients engaged.

This powerful way of communicating with current customers will allow you to create customer evangelists. In his best selling book, "Blog Marketing," Jeremy Wright tells us that, "... with blogging you're engaging a client who is reading your blog by choice. Every reader is choosing to interact with you and every reader wants to hear from you.

The good news is, launching a professional looking blog can be completed in less than 30 minutes. So what are you waiting for? For easy, step by step instructions on how to launch a blog for free please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnploFsS_tY

Filling your blog with content that is of interest to your clients is easy too. A Google search for "Travel Trends for 2011" or "Great Places to Visit in the Sprint" will get you started. Remember; keep your content a mix of articles of interest and promotions for your tours and services.

Bill Todd is one of 2010's most sought after sales motivational speakers and trainers.
He is the co-author with Stephen Covey of Speaking of Success.

Bill Todd
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 new 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). Todd has served as vice president of sales and industry marketing for the 5000+ franchises and seven global brands of Choice Hotels International, and was vice president of sales and marketing for Marriott International's Corporate Lodging Division. BTodd@BTodd.com | www.BTodd.com | 301.633.5856

2011 Travel Trends
Written by: By ColoradoGal

It's that time of year to predict travel trends for the new year, and I've seen some interesting compilations lately. I love USA Today reporter Laura Bly's smart and thoughtful 11 Travel Trends for 2011. First, I had no idea 2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. I agree with Laura that for travelers fascinated with this era there will be loads of opportunities for historic travel next year. Personally, I couldn't give a flying fig about William and Kate's marriage in London this spring, but surely those enthralled with the British royal family have already made their hotel reservations so they can be blocks away when the heir apparent says "I do."

Who's game for a Mexico beach vacation? This is shot near Puerto Morelos in the Riviera Maya. Serene!

I'm thrilled Laura predicts there will be bargains in travel to Mexico next year. This country is a favorite of mine when it comes to easy, all-inclusive resort vacations. Finally, I, too, think it's a brilliant idea for everyone to take an unplugged vacation once a year — whether it's a long weekend in a cozy B&B without a TV, Internet and cell service, or something a bit more off the grid, like SoCalGal's recent, week-long family voluntourism vacation in Costa Rica, where lodging was rustic at best.

The travel agents for American Express Travel have also released some interesting travel predictions for 2011 based on recent bookings. I'm intrigued that they are seeing an uptick in river-cruise vacations. I can certainly see the appeal of them — unpack only once (as on an ocean-cruise ship), but see many different ports of call in China, Egypt or Europe. The ships are much, much smaller than even mid-size ocean-cruise ships, as river vessels carry only about 200 passengers (with a great staff-to-guest ratio).

Traditionally, river cruises have been popular among retirees and aging baby boomers, but perhaps with new ships, and more marketing toward younger folk, river cruises will truly break into the market of travelers who are under 45 years old? I'd certainly be up for a river cruise, on board an intimate ship and with hotel-style rooms. Travel writer Ken Shapiro even took his son on a Uniworld river cruise and gave it a thumb's up for families! The brand-new ship from Avalon Waterways sounds great: wall-to-wall panoramic windows in the suites, with humongous open-air balconies for watching scenic countryside pass by.

The AMEX agents did note that multigenerational travel continues to grow in popularity, which makes sense, since having Grandma on hand to babysit is the bomb. The AMEX specialists also say that Turks & Caicos is an "emerging destination," which is interesting, because I never realized it wasn't a popular place to vacation (hello, powder-fine white sand and crystal-clear ocean?).

Finally, I'm fascinated that the top 10 domestic destinations for travel so far in 2011, according to AMEX agents, include two of my favorite Colorado ski resorts: Vail (#1) and Aspen (#10). In between are urban favorites and warm-weather locales (in order from #2 to #9): NYC, Miami, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Kahului (Maui), Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

No matter where your travel takes you in 2011 — whether you're following the trends or bucking them completely – we sure hope your trips are filled with tons of fun!

Source: http://thevacationgals.com/2011-travel-trends/

Featured Destinations

From its dazzling location at the hub of Covent Garden, West End theatres and Trafalgar Square, St Martins Lane is a dramatic and daring reinvention of the urban resort. Smart, witty and sophisticated, Philippe Starck's design is a brilliant collision of influences - from the modern to the baroque - that suffuses the hotel with energy, vitality and magic. Entered through improbably tall, luminescent yellow-glass revolving doors, St Martins Lane's lobby is a soaring and theatrical space that offers a provocative manipulation of dimension and proportion. From its acid-etched, double-height yellow glass facade to its unpredictable plays on vivid colour to the dramatic series of columns that appear as shining towers, St Martins Lane's lobby is a triumph of colour and light.

Morgans Hotel Group is reinventing the vending machine. Semi-Automatic is a unique play on the traditional hotel gift store and has taken up residence in the lobby at St Martins Lane. Visitors should expect to find more than just chocolate bars in this 32 slot machine.

A lavish "Urban Spa" in the heart of London's West End, Sanderson offers a retreat from the bustle of the city into a world of fantasy and wellbeing. The landmarked 50s building has been transformed by Philippe Starck into a surreal Cocteau-like dream world, epitomizing a "new luxury" that is smart, pared down, and tempered with a healthy dose of wit and irony. Surrounding an extraordinary landmark Courtyard Garden designed by Philip Hicks, Starck's visionary style mixes baroque and modern, juxtaposing Salvador Dali's curvaceous red lips sofa with classic 60s mosaics and hand-carved African furniture with an oversized Louis XV armoire. The result blends wit, magic and surprise in an elegant balancing act of extravagance and pure simplicity.

Sanderson invites guests to "tumble down the rabbit hole" and enjoy the wonderful world of their Mad Hatter's Afternoon Tea. Sanderson's chefs have toyed with the traditional British afternoon tea in the same way that Lewis Carroll played with logic in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; creating an afternoon tea filled with numerous gastronomic adventures.

A hedonist's delight, the 10,000 square-foot agua spa in London provides pampering, spiritual relief, and tranquility to all who enter. A dazzling array of rejuvenating treatments combining the best of ancient and modern techniques are offered. With its miles of diaphanous white curtains, 14 all-white treatment rooms, chill-out zone and meditation beds, agua has a peaceful, dreamy and almost cloud-like ambiance.

Agua at Sanderson have developed a unique programme for the time starved, health conscious individual, thirsty for an optimum spa experience where internal nutrition supports the benefits of external treatments. With eight carefully crafted packages, all with unique health and beauty focuses, the Inside Out programmes combine two targeted treatments, a menu option and beauty juice, all aimed at getting you the most out of your treatment experience.

* Rates valid until March 31, 2011. Subject to availability. Excludes VAT.

For all the best rates at the Morgans Hotel Group, visit CCRAtravel.com. For the best rates in the GDS, select the CCR rate code in Amadeus, Sabre and Worldspan, or CCRA in Apollo/Galileo.

Tourism Cares and Travel South USA Plan to
Give Back to the Georgia Aquarium

Tourism Cares, the travel industry non-profit dedicated to preserving the travel experience for future generations, will join forces with Travel South USA during the 2011 Travel South USA Showcase, February 22-24, 2011 in Atlanta, GA, to raise money for the Sea Turtles Project of the Georgia Aquarium.

During the Showcase, funds will be raised by selling bracelets and sea turtle plush toys to attending delegates.

"Our efforts to preserve the travel experience for future generations must include preserving our world's natural treasures as well as those of cultural and historic significance,"   stated Bruce Beckham, Executive Director of Tourism Cares.  "Tourism Cares is pleased to help with this important sea turtle conservation project."

The Georgia Aquarium in conjunction with the Georgia Sea Turtle Center will put the grant money raised during the Showcase towards sea turtle conservation and rehabilitation.  Along the southeastern Atlantic Coast and Gulf Coast, sea turtles and their habitats are threatened and endangered.   Last year alone, the Georgia Aquarium and Georgia Sea Turtle Center worked together to successfully rescue, rehabilitate and release more than a dozen animals affected by a single severe cold stun event. Without specialized veterinary care, appropriate facilities and community support, emergencies like this would go without response. 

In conjunction with ongoing efforts to rescue and rehabilitate turtles, both the Georgia Aquarium and the Georgia Sea Turtle Center are committed to educating and inspiring their more than two million combined annual visitors to increase the awareness of sea turtle habitat and wildlife conservation challenges, promote responsibility for ecosystem health, and empower individuals to act locally, regionally, and globally to protect the environment.

"Travel South is excited to once again partner with Tourism Cares in support of Save the Sea Turtles Project," said Kevin Langston, Chairman of Travel South USA and the Deputy Commissioner for Tourism for the Georgia Department of Economic Development.  "Not only are Georgia Aquarium and Georgia Sea Turtle Center some of Georgia's most popular tourism attractions, but they have played a vital role in sea turtle conservation and rehabilitation. It is an honor for Travel South to support this very important initiative taking place right here in Georgia."

Tourism Cares is a non-profit public charity whose mission is to preserve the travel experience for future generations.  It accomplishes this by mobilizing the travel and tourism industry and travelers to give back to society through grants to natural, cultural and historical sites throughout the world; through academic and professional development scholarships for students of hospitality, travel and tourism; and through the organization of volunteer efforts to clean up and restore tourism-related sites in need of care and rejuvenation.  For more information about Tourism Cares, please visit www.TourismCares.org.

Travel South USA is America's oldest and largest regional travel promotion organization, formed in 1965 by resolution presented at the Southern Governor's Conference. The long-standing regional collaboration of the state tourism offices of  Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia provides a foundation to positively position tourism as a vital and dynamic element in the region's economic development.  Tourism ranks throughout the region as one of the top three industries, behind manufacturing and agriculture, and is responsible for $122.6 billion in spending by visitors generating 1,369,900 direct jobs, $29.7 billion in worker paychecks, and almost $16 billion in state and local taxes.  For more information, please visit www.TravelSouthUSA.com for consumer information and www.TravelSouthUSA.org for travel industry information.

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