Travel

Brent Vanderstelt asked:


Let me start by saying YTB Travel and Travel FHTM are both great home based opportunities. We are former YTB Power Team Leaders and we enjoyed our time with YTB. However; we chose to leave YTB because of all the negative news, blog postings, scam reports etc.

YTB Travel is a legitimate business opportunity that is powered by one of the leading travel booking engines, Travelocity. The problem with YTB Travel or ANY business that has received such a blow to its reputation, business or sales will suffer as a result.

Travelocity is a leading travel booking engine that offers many Features and Benefits to any home based travel agency such as:



Partnership with a strong brand like Travelocity

Tools, data feeds, and products to help you succeed

Reporting and tracking

Competitive commissions with increases for high producers

Merchandising and marketing support

Dedicated team to support your business

Travelocity award-winning customer support



Travel FHTM offers 24/7 customer support, something not offered by similar online travel booking engines, so you can rest assured that you guests will have a worry free vacation with Travel FHTM.

Travel FHTM is a travel website being offered through the Travelocity Partner Network. Through an FHTM Independent Representative’s travel site, you can book travel on 60+ airlines, stay in one of over 55,000 hotels and resorts and rent cars from over 28 rental companies.

Travel FHTM, also a Travelocity partner guarantees that everything about your booking will be right, or we will work with our partners to make it right, right away. The Travel FHTM 24/7 customer support and booking guarantee are two of the reasons we chose to leave YTB Travel for Travel FHT.

Other reasons to compare YTB Travel and Travel FHTM are price comparison. YTB Travel costs $449.00 to join and $49.00 per month vs. Travel FHTM at $299.00 to join and $49.95 per month. By joining Travel FHTM, you save $150.00, so in this rough economic times, cost was an important reason to switch to Travel FHTM.

YTB Travel offers the ability to get the travel booking engine for free, once you recruited and maintained 5 YTB RTA’s, but MOST YTB RTA’s were not able to get the free site because of the initial start up costs.

Travel FHTM does not offer a free travel booking option, but you will earn customer points and earn commissions on your monthly fee, weather you have no reps under you or 100 reps under you.

When you join YTB, you get one product to sell, that’s travel! When you join Fortune Hi Tech Marketing, you currently have 20 ADDITIONAL products and services to sell and each pays a monthly residual income.

Yes, you heard me correctly, 20 ADDITIONAL products and services from Fortune 500 companies, such as Dish Network, Sprint/Nextel, Verizon Wireless, GE Home Security just to name a few. So, for $150.00 less to join Fortune Hi Tech Marketing, you get 20 Additional products and services to sell and earn additional monthly residuals.

Overall, YTB Travel and Travel FHTM are both powered by Travelocity, both offer travel commissions to 70% and all the same great travel trips, destinations, travel providers and weekly travel deals emailed to your prospects, etc.

Both companies offer travel training, but the travel training at YTB will cost you money, travel training at Fortune Hi Tech Marketing is free.

In conclusion, when you compare YTB Travel to Travel FHTM the benefits are clear. With Travel FHTM, you join a company with a positive reputation, you save $150.00 upon signing up, you have Travel FHTM’s 24/7 customer support and travel guarantee, and you have 20 ADDITIONAL products from Fortune 500 companies which to sell and earn residual commissions from, in addition to building business of independent marketing representatives.

To learn more about the benefits of joining Fortune Hi Tech Marketing, vs. YTB Travel visit Fortune Hi Tech Marketing or Call Brent Vanderstelt at 231-206-5333 or Sherri Russell at 616-638-9384. We are Fortune Hi Tech Marketing approved trainers and internet marketing experts and will help you succeed in building a successful home based business.



travel tourist

Ryan Anderson asked:


When you travel, you always want to have the best trip possible. Whether you are taking a vacation or you are traveling for business, it is important for you to make sure that you have a great trip. Booking first class through your travel agent can make or break your entire vacation, so be sure that you book your trip properly.

First of all, remember that first class includes many things. It includes plane tickets, upgrades on car rentals, even train and ferry tickets if necessary. Each time you travel first class, you allow yourself the pleasure of traveling in style. Bigger seats, more comfort, and great amenities await you when you are traveling first class. Be sure that when booking first class travel arrangements your trip includes all of the above.

When booking first class travel arrangements, you should always have greater comfort and satisfaction, as well as a greater selection. However, booking first class tickets on your own is something that can be difficult because there are many facets to a first class ticket. You need to be sure that you have gotten the right type of first class ticket, and you also need to be sure that you are not paying too much for first class when first class might not necessarily mean anything different. For instance, buying first class tickets for some types of passenger trains can mean only that you ride in a slightly different train car. The money that you spend on first class might not be worth it, depending on what first class means according to your particular form of travel.

A travel agent is going to be your best bet when it comes to traveling first class. The agent is going to be able to explain to you exactly what first class means for the planes, trains, or car rentals that you may require. Your travel agent has more information about first class travel than anyone else. This means that you are going to have the benefit of really understanding what first class is all about for this particular trip.

Another reason that it might be important for you to go through a travel agent when you are booking first class is that often you are not going to be able to book first class travel arrangements entirely on your own. Some airlines, for example, are going to have a limited number of first class seats, and only your travel agent will have access to purchasing those seats for you. If you want those first class tickets, it is important to let the travel agent do the work for you. There are certain perks that your travel agent can get for you that you would never be able to get on your own.

Travel agents also have the best rates for first class tickets. When you attempt to buy first class tickets on your own, or when you attempt to upgrade to first class, you will find that you are paying top dollar. There are not too many deals on first class tickets that you will be able to get on your own, because many people who are buying first class tickets are not concerned with deals and low pricing. The airlines know that people will buy first class tickets no matter what, so they don’t bother to cater to you when you are buying these tickets on your own. However, a travel agent has access to deals that you personally don’t have access to. A travel agency knows which airlines will give them a better price for first class tickets, and they know how to get those great deals that will allow you to fly first class at a much cheaper price. The same can be said for other types of first class tickets, like train tickets or car upgrades. Let your travel agent try to work a deal to get you that luxury sedan instead of that little coupe with not much room.

No matter what type of first class traveling you wish to do, a travel agent is going to be your best bet for tickets. They’ll help you figure out what you are looking for when it comes to the tickets, and they will certainly give you the best possible pricing on those tickets. If you are interested in traveling first class – travel agencies are the best place for you to go. Travel agents are there for you, let them do their job and they will help you make sure that you get the best deal.

Their job is to make sure you have the most comfortable, memorable trip you have ever had. With the travel agencies on your side, you will always have the satisfaction of traveling first class in all of your adventures.



travel advantage

Joe Deacon asked:


There are several different types of travel insurance that you can choose when you are looking to protect your travel investment. Two of the most well known travel insurance companies are Access America and Travelsafe Travel Insurance. If you are planning on traveling in the United States or abroad, it is a good idea to get travel insurance to cover the cost of your trip in case something goes wrong.

Both Access America and Travelsafe Travel Insurance offer travel insurance for someone who is traveling in a variety of different methods – by air, sea or train. Access America is more geared towards domestic travel, although it is also used by those who are traveling out of the country. Many of the people who get Access America travel are getting it because they are going on a cruise.

Cruising along with Access America and Travelsafe Travel

Cruises are the number one reason why people get travel insurance. Cruises are subject to many mishaps, especially when due to the weather. One of the best aspects about choosing Access America as your travel insurance is that they will insure a cruise. There are exclusions when it comes to insuring the cruise during hurricane season, but you can still get some type of insurance. This means that if your cruise is cancelled due to a hurricane or other act of nature, you can recoup some of your money.

Medical Coverage with Access America and Travelsafe Travel

Travelsafe Travel Insurance is a good option when you are leaving the country and are worried about medical coverage. Medical coverage is something that many people are concerned about when they visit another country that may have foods that are different than what they are used to in the United States.

Many people who are older also worry about medical coverage when they are out of the country. By getting a policy with Travelsafe Travel Insurance, these worries are alleviated. You can get the coverage that you need when you choose Travelsafe and chose one of their package deals.

Looking for Package Deals?

Both Travelsafe Travel Insurance and Access America offer package deals for travel that you can get for yourself by going online. Both of these insurance companies also procure travel agents when it comes to selling the travel insurance. You can get the travel insurance through the agency itself when you are booking your own trip, or you can purchase the travel insurance when you book a trip through a travel agency.

If you are looking for a good deal on cruise travel insurance, you may want to take a look at the packages that are available through Access America. They have reasonable cruise insurance packages that will even cover acts of nature.

If you are worried about getting sick when you travel outside of the country, you may want to check out Travelsafe Travel Insurance as a form of travel insurance. It is important to note that both of these travel insurance companies offer insurance for cruises, medical attention in other counties, lost baggage and other problems that may occur and cause you a loss when you are on vacation. If you are spending money on a trip, you will want to back it up by making sure that you have travel insurance.



travel deal

exoticjourneys asked:

Barcelona tourist attractions. Visit www.exoticjourneys.eu for our Barcelona travel guide.

women travel

Neha Ashani asked:


Tourists

The origin of the word “tourist” date back to 1292 AD. It has come from the word ‘tour’. A number of experts have defined the term:

“Tourists are the voluntary temporary travelers, traveling in the expectations of pleasure from the novelty and change experienced on a relatively and non-current round-trip”.

“Tourist is a person who makes a journey for the sake of curiosity for the fun of traveling”.

Tourists are:

-Persons traveling for pleasure, health and domestic reason.

-Persons arriving in the sea of sea cruise.

-Persons traveling for convention.

Tourism – the first commercial venture.

A religious Englishman called Thomas Cook in 1841 arranged, for a fee, a one –day rail excursion from Leicester to Loughborough for 540 members of a temperance league. Thus the first bona fide travel agent was Thomas Cook.

While Cook himself did not make a profit on this first venture, he was a man of vision and was convinced that there was a need for a skilled “travel arranger”. So by 1845 he had become the first full-time travel agent, operating train excursions from Leicester. The next year he chartered a train and steamer for an excursion to Scotland for 330 people. In 1851 Cook arranged ocean steamship travel and accommodations for more than 1,50,000 visitors to the World Exposition in London and in 1856 he operated the first escorted “grand tour” of Europe. Tours to Europe and Middle East were also conducted and, in 1872, the first around the world tour was conducted.

Tourism as a Service Industry

Tourism as a service industry comprises of several allied activities which together produce the tourism product. Involved in the tourism product are three major sub-industries. They are: -

1. Tour operators and travel agents.

2. Accommodation sector (hoteling and catering) and

3. Passenger accommodation.

According to international estimates, a tourist spends 35% of his total expenditure on transportation, about 40% on lodging and food and the balance 25% on entertainment, shopping and incidentals.

The product in this case is not confirmed to travel and accommodation but includes a large array of auxiliary services ranging from insurance and entertainment and shopping, demand generation, in addition to the consumer motivation, is also heavily dependent upon powerful persuasive communication both at the macro (country) level and the micro (enterprise) level. The participants in the process of this service business can be illustrated by the figure below.

Some of the pointers to nature of tourism as a Service Industry

1. Tourism accounts for nearly 6% of world trade.

2. Bulk of tourism business is located in Europe and North America., with 1/8 of the market being shared between the other regions.

3. The highest growth rate in tourism in recent years has been in the third world.

4. Tourism, like most pure services, because of the character of inseparability, exemplifies a product, which cannot be sampled before purchase; the prospective consumers have to travel to a foreign destination in order to consume the product.

5. The major players in the tourism market include a number of intermediary companies. Some of them transnational in character, some of them exhibit

vertical integration, both backward and forward, acquiring interests in all major sectors of this service industry.

The Tourism Product- Factors Governing Demand.

Because of the unique nature of the nature of tourism product- it being an amalgam of the characteristics of a destination and the infrastructural as well as managerial efforts of the promoter, the determinants of tourists demand emanate from both individual tourist motivations and the economic, social, technological factors. Some of these are:

• Income Levels

In the last 30 years, disposable incomes around the world have shown upward trends, thus allowing more money for activities like leisure travel. Smaller families have meant higher allocations per person in the family. More and more women are entering the workforce and in real terms the cost of travel has fallen. The dramatic rise of tourism in the last 50 years can be attributed in a large measure to the combined effect of more leisure time and rise in both real and disposable incomes.

• More Leisure time:

Increasing unionization of labour right from 1930 onwards has reduced the number of working hours per week. Changing managerial orientations towards human resources have increased the levels of pay and paid vacation time in most developed countries. Now people have longer periods of leisure, which could be allocated to travel.

• Mobility

Better transportation and communication services have made the world a smaller place, and have brought both exposure and awareness of distant lands to larger sections of potential tourists across the world. Faster modes of transport have cut down on travel time, making it easier for people to economically plan and execute trips abroad.

• Growth in Government Security Programmes and Employment Benefits:

The growth in government security programmes and well entrenched policies of employee benefits mean that quite a large number of families may have long term financial security and may be more willing to spend money for vacations.

Tourist Classification:-

Tourists can be classified into the following seven demand categories:-

1. Explorer: – Very limited in number, these tourists are looking for discovery and involvement with local people.

2. Elite: – People who favour special, individually trips to exotic places.

3. Offbeat: – These are filled with a desire to get away from the usual humdrum life.

4. Unusual: – Visitors who are looking forward to trips with peculiar objectives such as physical danger or isolation.

5. Incipient mass: – A steady flow, traveling alone or in small-organized groups using some shared services.

6. Mass: – The general packaged tour market, leading to tourist enclaves abroad.

7. Charter: – Mass travel to relaxation destinations, which incorporate as many as standardized, developed world facilities as possible.

The Travel Decision:-

The average tourist is faced with considerable uncertainty regarding the decision and may have only scanty ideas about distant destinations. His evaluation of alternatives is also limited to the extent of this awareness about possible destinations. The stages of travel decision can be described as: -

1. Travel Desire:-

The first step where the need to travel is felt and the pros and cons are thought about.

2. Information Collection and Evaluation:-

This stage involves the process of finding out the trip from travel agents, books and acquaintances .information so collected is evaluated against criteria of cost and time constraints, alternative possibilities, relative attractiveness of destinations, perceived ‘safety’ o the alternative destinations etc.

3. Travel Decision:-

This is the decision phase involving selection of destination, travel, mode of accommodation and activities to be undertaken.

4. Travel Preparation and Experience:-

This involves tickets, bookings, travel, money and documents arrangement, clothing and undertaking of the travel.

5. Travel Satisfaction Evaluation:-

The whole tourism expenditure is constantly evaluated before, during and after the experience is used to influence future decisions.

The marketing concept for the travel and tourism industry is profit driven and customer centric (unlike sales which are volume driven and target centric).

Service Marketing Triangle

Service marketing is unique in many ways in the travel and tourism industry. There are 3 players in the transaction process:-

- Company: A travel and tourism company listens to the customers and evolves/develops the travel/tour package and it communicates the attractiveness and the utility of that very tour package directly to the customers. Here it (the company) performs external marketing. The company makes promises to the customers.

- Providers: They are a travel company’s internal customers constituting employees and agents. The company does internal marketing with the providers educating and motivating them about the idea of the particular tour package which they can offer to their customers. This is done to enable the providers to effectively carry out the service transaction process. The providers make provisions for office space, accessibility and connectivity. The company enables promises to be kept by this infrastructural association.

- Customers (Travelers): The customers are the reasons that the travel company exists and for whom the company has designed the traveling and touring package as well as set up the infrastructural facilities and spent money on employee development programmes. Here the providers are the only ones who interact with the customers, like the travel agents interact with the customers and not the company. The agents perform interactive marketing which is on-time, all-time, every-time. This is the most crucial aspect of service marketing in the travel and tourism sector. Those agents have the responsibility of ‘keeping promises’ made and enabled by the company. The providers (agents) are responsible for the perceived quality level of the service transaction. This underlines the uniqueness of service marketing.

Tourism Products:

1. Accommodation

• Hotels

• Motels

• Boatels

• Flotels

2. Destination

• Natural Scenes

• Historic Excellence

• Artificial Beauties

• Social Cultural Excellence

3. Transportation

• Infrastructural

i. Airways

ii. Railways

iii. Roadways

iv. Waterways

• Local

i. Local transport

4. Tour operators

• Travel companies

• Travel agents

• Guides

5. Shopping

• Handicrafts

• Handloom

• Books

Marketing mix for tourism product:

The designing of the marketing mix variables in case of tourism is significant as it helps the marketer in conceiving the right ideas, particularly to raise the acceptability of the tourist product by stimulating and penetrating the demand. Framing of a proper marketing mix is significant because it helps the tourist organization in accomplishing the objective and projecting a fair image.

Product Mix:

Tourism is a composite product with components like attraction facilities and transportation. Attraction deserves an intensive care. It includes natural site, places of historic interest, events and cultural attraction.

The facilities compliment attraction. The facilities include accommodation, food, transportation and recreational facilities. The transportation component includes the vehicles and infrastructure. Innovation in the tourism product helps raising the sensitivity. The users of the service are looking forward to better and improved product.

The provider of the tourist is a travel agent or the package tour. A well conceived and designed package tour, covering a wide range of tourist attraction at an economic price, helps in attracting the potential tourist.

The travel agent performs numerous activities such as hotel arrangement and accommodation, site seeing arrangement, domestic transport arrangement, air travel arrangement etc.

In a true sense the tour agents and the travel agents are the vehicles who can give a fillip to the tourism industry, provided they are well trained.

Pricing:

Pricing of the tourist product is complex. Geographical location of the destination, seasonality and varying demand affects the pricing decision.

In India the pricing strategies become important for promoting or contracting the tourism industry, since more than 40% of the total population are below the poverty line. In order to develop the tourism industry more and more potential users are to be transformed into actual users.

When a tourist proposes to visit a particular place, the total cost of his traveling also include the expenses incurred on transportation, accommodation and communication.

Liberal pricing strategy is found to be a productive pricing decision, particularly in case of tourism industry. The pricing strategy which includes low income group people, student and retired persons can be more effective. This is possible if the government concessional and subsidized infrastructural facilities to the potential tourist below the average income.

The different pricing methods generally used are cost based pricing, demand based pricing and competition based pricing.

Promotions:

The promotion mix includes advertising, publicity, sales support and public relations.

The purpose of promotion is to make available the information to the user. Advertising the sales promotion can be effective when supplemented by publicity and personal selling.

Radio, TV, newspapers, cinema and printings are some of the important vehicles for traveling of messages. Effective slogans raises the effectiveness of advertisement.

Another important component of the promotion mix is public relation. It helps in projecting the image of an organization. Public relation and publicity include regular articles and photographs of tour attraction, use of TV and travel journalists to promote editorial comment.

Public relation officer plays an important role. He should be efficient, active, impressive, intelligent and well-behaved.

Good image projection can be made if the PRO manages the affair like a professional. It is said that word of mouth is the best form of publicity. The word of mouth promotion is an important tool in tourism marketing.

Place:

The tourist centers should be located at suitable points if the tourists spots are natural there is no question of selection. In a vast country like India with a divergent socioeconomic and cultural patterns, the promotion of domestic tourism encourages unity in diversity.

Infrastructural facilities, transport and communication are important for development of tourist centres. The site selected should have natural surroundings, increased accessibility and improved amenities. At the same time it is also important that the ecological balance is not disturbed. Since growing ecological imbalances leads to pollution, some important steps like promoting afforestation, promotion and beautification may be undertaken in countering the side effects of atmospheric pollution and maintaining ecological balance.



travel specials

Mr. Selick asked:


Have you heard Ravel’s opera, L’Enfant et les sortilèges?

WOW! I had never heard an opera so sexual.

A couple questions. Why did Ravel end his operas without voice?
Why does the opera have an Oriental aura?
Why do their accents tend to sound so Asian?

Just tell me what you think of it please.
I know it’s not about anything sexual but it ‘sounds’ very sexual.
The ‘ding ding ding’ part sounds Asian.
I listened to the whole thing again. I don’t hear any voices at the end.
A Chinese teapot! You’re right.

I LOVE RAVEL! So creative.
Scot, how did you know it was me?
SACRE, RAVEL’S MY ALTIME FAVOURITE TOO!

Can I add you to my contacts?
OH! The part with the cats is sexual! It reminds me of a couple making love.

direct travel