What Travel Agency Owners Are Saying About Vacation.com^® Programs, Benefits and Tools

Gerry Blanchard, Global Tours & Travel

"Clients walk in with a vague notion of what they want, such as a cruise to somewhere in the Caribbean, which forces us to call one cruise line after another, sitting on hold and making the client wonder if they came to the right place. Now the whole process takes seconds with EZguider. This tool wows our agents, and it wows our clients."

Donna Zabel, World Travel Management

"EZguider is the tool agents have been dreaming about for years! No more wasting time on the phone or hopping from site to site. It’s all there—tours, cruises, air and insurance from all the best suppliers—in one place…just search, compare and book. This is the future of leisure sales—a real game-changer that makes me feel like a super-agent in front of clients. I’m never going back to the old ways."

Toby Nash, Cruise & Travel Masters

"Vacation.com helps me earn more doing what I love. Whether it’s quickly comparing and buying high-commission river cruises through EZguider, sending my clients tons of great reasons to call my agency, getting top dollar from the suppliers I use every day or just learning some cool new business strategies—they deliver every time."

Eric Ardolino, A & S Travel Center

"I don’t know what impresses me the most about Vacation.com’s Engagement program—how professional the direct mailers and emails look, the great offers you guys get from the suppliers, getting thousands of free pieces to send to my clients every year, how easy the ordering system is, or the fact that my agency is to sole call to action on every promotion. It’s clearly the best for my business."

Sherrie Funk, Just Cruisin’ Plus

“Thank you for being the only real industry leader to stand up to the cruise lines about NCFs. I am only one voice, and my protests are seldom heard. But you, speaking up for all agents, are making a difference. Keep up the great work! It is through actions like this that I am a proud member of Vacation.com.”

Kate Murphy, Uniglobe Wings Travel

"Thank you, Vacation.com, for providing training when I need it! Whether it’s a Webinar or eLearning tutorial on your Agent Advancement Center, a visit from an EZguider Implementation specialist, a Mobile Training Unit demonstration right inside my agency, or a training session at Conference, you’re always there to help me improve and grow my business."

Susan Helfrich, director, Cruise Events LLC

“We signed up for Vacation.com’s Engagement™ program two months ago and the response from our clients and incremental income has been incredible,” said Susan Helfrich, director, Cruise Events LLC.

“We’ve been averaging about 15 sales a week from clients we haven’t heard from in three years or more and these are all extra unexpected sales on top of our usual numbers,” added Helfrich.

“With wave season and all the usual clients booking vacations, we are busy confirming vacations, taking deposits, checking fax confirmations, etc.  It’s difficult to find the time to be pro-active and e-mail clients that we haven't heard from in a while,” said Helfrich.  “Vacation.com does it for you!”

“The reason for all of these new sales from clients we haven’t heard from in over three years is Vacation.com’s Engagement program,” she added.

Gary Davis, President , All About Travel, Inc., Mission, KS

“With the rush of the Internet into the travel segment, it’s more important than ever to keep ‘touching’ your clients and getting your name in front of prospects,” said Gary Davis, president of All About Travel, Inc., Mission, KS, a multi-million dollar leisure agency.

“For current and prospective clients, it is very important that the proper filtering techniques be applied to databases to ensure the integrity of matching the offer to the right client.  The Vacation.com Engagement program resolves this issue by utilizing the latest techniques available,” added Davis.

“We were thoroughly impressed with the professional attitude conveyed by Vacation.com personnel.  Their effort to understand our issues and work together to find solutions fits right in with our culture of developing long term relationships,” said Davis, adding: “Vacation.com gives agencies the ‘Mega-Agency’ relationship with suppliers. Offers such as onboard credit, upgrades and gift cards allow us to compete with the largest of the leisure companies.  AgentNet has provided a single source ‘desktop’ for our agents to access these special offers and push them out to clients.”

Mary Jo Slabaugh, president, Hudson Reserve Travel, Hudson, OH

“We joined Vacation.com for the multitude of member benefits including superior overrides, the ease of Amadeus Cruise, and the ever so helpful support desk which has made the transition a breeze,” said Mary Jo Slabaugh, president of Hudson Reserve Travel, Hudson, OH.

“We are also really excited about the Engagement marketing program and are currently in the process of sending our customer list to Vacation.com,” added Slabaugh.

Jeff Sonenstein, Globe Travel Service- Bristol, CT

"Engagement...We have found Engagement programs an easy and affordable way to do direct mail advertising...

Annual Conference...The Annual Vacation.com conference last year in Las Vegas was incredible. The content of the seminars and caliber of the speakers could not have been better. The networking with companies across the country was invaluable.

Preferred Suppliers...Vacation.com has put together the cream of the crop when it comes to preferred suppliers."

"Engagement… Best direct mail program that I've used, and it's getting even better.

Marketing Materials… Priceless, Vcom does all the work and we get all the sales.

Annual Conference… Best working conference that I attend each year.

Preferred Suppliers… Most complete list of suppliers to increase my agency's bottom line.

Membership Services… These folks have their act together to support the member agency.

Being a Vcom member agency…Best investment an agency can make to insure a successful future in travel. Vcom's resources are second to none."

“We booked 4 cabins off the (Princess Cruises) Engagement mail piece today. On one of them, we found a mini-suite deal that was better than the engagement deal. Main point - it made the phone ring and my SALES people got the money.

Susanne Cash, Any Seasons Travel, Bulverde, TX

I love Community. Learning from other agents about everything from new marketing ideas, to destinations and technical solutions is fantastic. Because these agents you meet aren’t necessarily in your own backyard, there’s no competition. You have everything to gain by networking in AgentNet.

Wendy Chaput, A.L.& S Travel Services Inc – Pembroke, ON

Our agency has been a member of Vacation.com for many years. Not only did our commissions increase, there were also many opportunities to upgrade my skills. This year when I experienced difficulties with a Preferred Supplier involving various problems I contacted my Vacation.com representative and in each instance the situation was resolved immediately!!

Owen Shortt, Winchester Travel – Winchester, ON

Being new to the travel industry – we have utilized the Vacation.com team to introduce us to our Preferred Suppliers and assist in building stronger relationships with key suppliers. The Annual Conference and Trade Show and the Regional Round Tables are excellent sales-teaching tools and AgentNet has become our home page when we open to the Internet.

Roberta King, Concord Travel & Tours – Halifax, NS

Vacation.com has shown commitment to providing members with many of the industry’s leading suppliers which provides us with the opportunity to earn better commissions than a small independent agency could expect on its own. Also, Vacation.com has definitely been working hard to provide members with educational and business opportunities to enhance agency business in these always changing times.