I’m just as guilty of it as most other Americans in the new millennium — I want it all, and I’m not willing to compromise, which is why planning an FIT vacation can become particularly complicated. Namely, I’m one of those idealistic travelers who wants the ease, price points and in-depth experience of a packaged tour but without the imposed rigors of having to share my travel experience with a group of people I’ve never met before. But with this sort of attitude toward trip planning nowadays, I’m certainly not an anomaly in the marketplace.
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“The market is changing, and less and less people will go to tour operators to book a bus tour, for example, when they can go to [their destination of choice] and buy a ticket from their hotel concierge instead,” said Ady Gelber, president, CEO and owner of Isramworld. “Travelers are looking for a similar lifestyle to what they have at home. Creating personalized vacations for them is not only a niche but the future for tour operators.”
It seems, in recent years, as if nearly every tour operator has introduced some kind of customizable FIT tour product — from modular vacations with some flexibility to completely customized trips. And agents who have been actively selling these vacations reap the rewards of high commissions, satisfied customers and repeat business. Those who haven’t jumped on the bandwagon yet might have found the product, well, a bit intimidating. And it is.
Customized FIT tours can be difficult to market to clients largely because independent travel packages differ significantly from one purveyor to the next, which means agents have to hunt down the answers to an exhaustive list of questions: Exactly which components of the trip are customizable? Is the client required to depart on a certain date or stay for a set amount of time? What other restrictions, if any, are in play? And how the heck do I go about booking this type of trip in the first place?
To complicate matters further, this emerging vacation style isn’t exactly familiar to the average consumer, let alone easy to define.
“Some agents wonder if this travel product is a tour that acts like FIT or an FIT that acts like a tour. I say, don’t worry about the categories — think of it as independent travel that’s perfect for someone who is a first-timer to a specific destination,” said Steve Born, vice president of marking and customer care for the Globus Family of Brands, whose company created its own brand, Monograms, to fill this niche.
Monograms vacations, like most other packages under the Globus umbrella, require a particular length of stay (from four to 20 days), and the client must choose from one of the tour operator’s selection of preferred hotels. However, once the traveler arrives at an international destination, he/she has on-site support from a Monograms-employed Local Host who can arrange optional full-day sightseeing tours (for an additional price, which is not commissionable at present) and act as a personal resource throughout the duration of the trip. One half-day tour per city is included, and clients get VIP access to major tourist attractions — meaning they won’t waste time in lines.
All Monograms vacations benefit from the same Globus Family of Brands commission structure, so the same healthy revenue that an agent would make on a Globus tour or a river cruise can be made on an independent booking. Presently, Monograms is planning to enhance its commissionable product with pre-purchased, full-day optional tours, available for travel in 2010.
For the clients who have “been there and done that” or want to hit certain destinations in Asia in a limited amount of time, Ritz Tours’ China & Asia City Packages are a good fit — and at the right price. Because Ritz Tours has its own offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, the tour operator can negotiate its own contracts with suppliers and create customized packages at lower price margins.
Although information on its modular city packages can be found on RitzTours.com, the company requires agents to take an additional step to get air-inclusive pricing and to make the booking.
“Let’s say you want to go to Beijing and Bangkok. You can combine our packaged tours [which have a two-night minimum and include sightseeing], and call us up for the air and any extra services, such as tickets to a kung fu show,” said Evan Chan, managing director of Ritz Tours.
Travelers also have the option of adding on extra nights to the packages, but cannot subtract nights. If they are willing to pay a little more, however, they can opt for Ritz Tours’ completely customizable product and stay as little or long as they wish.
“Usually, a travel agent calls for a client who needs to be in a major city, such as Beijing, for business, but the client wants to visit other cities — in this case Xian and Shanghai — and is very restricted in terms of their time. They tell us the dates and what they want to do, and then our reservation agents take care of all the details,” Chan said.
A major advantage for selling the completely customizable product is that agents can build in whatever commission they see fit, while the city tours offer a standard 10 percent commission.
“How much agents make — that’s up to them because they are doing the work to completely cater to their client. If the agent wants to make $200 a head, I’ll make it happen,” Chan said.
Avanti Destinations, which specializes in FIT vacations, offers modular packages in Europe, Central America and South America — such as a seven-night Argentine Food and Wine program with a cooking class, airfare between Mendoza and Buenos Aires, three dinners and tours of local wineries. These “prepackaged suggestions” can be combined with any of Avanti’s FIT products, from rail tickets to contract international airfare and, with Avanti’s new booking and planning system, agents can close the sale or simply plant the seed.
“In just a few minutes, an agent can create an FIT using the new Pro-F.I.T. booking and planning system on AvantiDestinations.com and e-mail the details to a prospective client as a suggestion,” said Harry Dalgaard, president of Avanti Destinations. “It is easy to send out a dozen or more of these customized plans every day, many of which will end up with sales.”
While agents still have the option of calling Avanti’s reservations agents for trip planning, not all travel purveyors still encourage phone bookings.
Products offered by Travel Bound, a longtime purveyor of FIT vacations, are exclusive to its agent-only Web site, BookTravelBound.com. There, agents can build a custom itinerary from the wholesaler’s portfolio of about 30,000 hotels in more than 120 countries.
According to Nico Zenner, Travel Bound general manager, the process is far simpler than it sounds.
“Booking with us is so straight forward that even my 75-year-old mother could do it,” he said.
Agents can select from a drop-down menu of destinations and then choose the star-rating and location of the hotel. An interactive city map will instantly pop up, plotting the position of the hotel in relation to the major sights of the destination. Or, if the client only wants a day tour or a private transfer, agents can skip ahead on the system to book it, as a hotel booking is not required.
“All of our sightseeing tours, hotels and transfers earn the same commission level, and it does add up,” Zenner said. “The important thing is that you are providing to your customers what they really want and making sure that they come back to you.”
Customer retention is also the focal point for boutique tour operators, such as California-based Gindroz and Company Inc. Gindroz has designed tours exclusively for the individual traveler based on his/her interests, budget and number of days abroad since the company’s inception, just five years ago.
Like Ritz Tours, Gindroz wants agents to call for pricing and bookings, and offers the packages at a net price, allowing agents to add the commission they see fit. Gindroz will collect the payment, including the agent’s commission, and send the agent a check along with the clients’ documents.
“We can provide pretty much any services clients want, including train tickets, guides for specific interests like architecture or genealogy, rental cars or event tickets. We even did a tour for a gentleman who designs roller coasters and wanted to tour European amusement parks, and a tour for a celebrity singer who wanted to scout sights for concerts,” said Karen Gindroz, president and owner of Gindroz.
In the same vein, Isramworld’s Elite Travel Collection aims to pamper the most discerning of travelers, typically the high-end client who wants to stay at only the finest hotels and have access to places or events that are usually off-limits, such as meeting with Olympians in China or politicians in Israel.
“If the country lets us have a limousine waiting for your clients outside their aircraft, we will be there,” said Isramworld’s Gelber. “They, of course, get a structured itinerary but, when they arrive at their destination, the travelers can decide to do something completely different.”
While clients are drawn in to the Elite Travel Collection for its flexibility, agents might be lured to the luxury travel brand by its commission structure, which starts at 12 percent. Recently, the company introduced fast-track commission, guaranteeing that commission is mailed out 72 hours after the client departs. And, best of all, agents will always get the extra commission incurred on any tours or add-ons arranged by the client after arrival.
“Just last week, one of our agents booked a tour for two in Latin America at $32,000 per person. He would have had to sell a huge group to have received the same kind of commission with Elite,” Gelber said. “The agents that have stayed afloat are smart enough that they have at least one high-end client. Go after him. I’m providing you with the tools and the opportunity to do so.”
Gelber added that Isramworld will match agents in any Elite Travel Collection marketing promotion up to $1,000.
While it might take a little more work to sell a customizable FIT tour, the outcome of a fat commission check and a satisfied client is well worth the effort. And if that’s not a perfect compromise, I don’t know what is.
At A Glance
While customized FIT tours aren’t aggressively promoted in many cases — they are out there. Chances are that your favorite tour operators and wholesalers are offering this vacation style in some capacity. The trick is matching your client to the right one. Here are a few samples.
Avanti Destinations
Destinations: Western and Eastern Europe, Central America and South America.
What to expect: Modular packages, such as the Tuscany Villa Wine package, can include car rental, a choice of villas, multicourse dinners, wine tastings and daily breakfasts.
Restrictions: Clients must stay a specified number of nights per city.
How to book: The booking and planning feature on Avanti’s Web site allows agents to add agent fees and provides a 24-hour courtesy hold per itinerary.
Commission: Starting at 10 percent
www.avantidestinations.com 800-422-5053
Elite Travel Collection by Isramworld
Destinations: Israel, Greece, Jordan, Egypt, the South Pacific, Central and South America, Morocco, Eastern and Western Europe, China, Dubai and Indochina.
What to expect: A virtual “all-access pass” to the most exclusive locations and events.
Restrictions: Since the client is paying a premium fee to be pampered, the custom-built itineraries can be completely changed at any time, even after the departure date.
How to book: To help determine the client’s interests, Isramworld provides a questionnaire for agents to fill out with their clients. Agents must call Isramworld for pricing and booking.
Commission: Starting at 12 percent
www.elitetravelcollection.com 888-477-2649
Gindroz and Company Inc.
Destinations: Eastern and Western Europe, Scandinavia, Russia and Morocco.
What to expect: Popular trips have included personalized visits to ancestral towns and villages with a genealogy guide and honeymoons in France and Italy.
Restrictions: The client’s budget is virtually the only restriction, as these tailor-made trips can be about as grand as the client’s imagination.
How to book: Suggested itineraries are found on the tour operator’s Web site, but agents must call in for pricing and booking as there is no online booking engine.
Commission: Determined by the agent
www.gindrozandco.com 888-446-3769
Monograms
Destinations: Eastern and Western Europe, North America, South America, the South Pacific and Asia.
What to expect: Travelers stay in the heart of the city, and one half-day tour per city is included. During scheduled hours at the hotel, a Local Host acts as a personal concierge.
Restrictions: Certain departure days, length of stay and hotel choice.
How to book: For efficiency, agents will want to have their clients on the phone and the agent portal on their computer screen. Bookings can be made through the Web site or by phone.
Commission: Starting at 13 percent
www.monogramstravel.comwww.globusfamilypartner.com 800-221-0090
Ritz Tours
Destinations: China, Hong Kong, Asia and Southeast Asia.
What to expect: China & Asia City Packages typically include a full American breakfast daily at the hotel, roundtrip transfers and sightseeing tours (a private car is an extra fee).
Restrictions: A minimum of two passengers is required for the city packages. Clients must stay a minimum of two nights in each city but can add extra nights and combine other packages.
How to book: Call directly for the complete pricing (including air travel) and booking.
Commission: 10 percent for the China & Asia City Packages; for customizable vacations, agents build in their commission.
www.ritztours.com 800-900-2446
Travel Bound
Destinations: Approximately 120 countries, including Australia, the Middle East, Central America, the Caribbean and Africa.
What to expect: Clients can build a complete vacation (air exclusive) from sightseeing tours and other activities to accommodations in all categories. All FIT products are a la carte.
Restrictions: Clients must choose from Travel Bound’s inventory of preferred suppliers.
How to book: Agents can follow the directions on its easy-to-navigate Web site.
Commission: Starting at 10 percent
www.booktravelbound.com 800-808-9541
Web Exclusive
Click here to learn about commissionable museum and attraction tickets that can be added to North American FIT tours with CityPass.
