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earn more commission
Add it up - Every little helps - S
hows, theme parks, airport lounges and excursions all add to the client experience and are good commission earners for agents, says Kathryn Liston
Switched-on travel agents sell an array of holiday extras as part of their high- quality personal service. And they are not just as a money spinner, sometimes adding a free car valet at the airport or an anniversary bottle of wine on arrival works well in building client loyalty too. Financially it makes sense. Annabel Cove, Trade
Development Manager at DoSomethingDifferent (with 3,000 attractions worldwide) says its average sale is £1,200 in Florida and £250 in Europe so good business for agents who pre- book client tours and tickets, as well as helping to differentiate them from the competition. The fact that there are no cancellation fees is
a further plus and clients are always impressed when they fi nd something, such as a gondola ride in Venice, costs £23 pre-booked with DoSomethingDifferent but more than £60 when there. Pre-booking excursions guarantees fast- track entry to popular attractions too such as the Segrada Familia in Barcelona and clients are covered by insurance should anything go wrong. Adding dinner and breakfast at an airport
hotel on top of parking and lounges makes a sale more valuable and is a nice personal touch; while commission on travel insurance can be 'huge', particularly on policies for pre-existing medical conditions, where net rates are marked up 35-50%. Meet and greet parking has also shown growth
and Attraction World says many agents use its Kids Eat Free card in Orlando, or afternoon tea for two package in the UK, to add value and close a sale. Many agents
now prefer to take a net rate so they can then decide their own mark-up and profi t margin.
They can also make these sales a key part of their service, helping to ensure clients don't miss out. Pre-purchasing often ensures access to UK exclusive tickets, discounts off gate rates, and value added offers. Tickets to attractions, such as Alcatraz, need to be booked two months in advance and Broadway shows can sell out. New York-based Broadway Inbound
(
broadwaycollection.com), estimates that 278,000 Brits visited a Broadway show last year – up 28,000 on the previous year – that's £3.8 million in potential commission to be earned. Cruising growth has created more money- making opportunities for selling shore excursions. As well as increasing its commission to 16%,
cruisingexcursions.com, which offers 10,000 tours at 700 ports worldwide, awards points that can be redeemed for gifts through the Ports Points loyalty scheme. Graham Chuter, Business Development Manager says: “The average agent excursion sale is now around £265 - so most agents make over £40 per booking." MSC Cruises (
mscruises.co.uk) has also upped
commission on its shore excursions from fi ve per cent to the travel agency base rate for a trial period. Giles Hawke, Executive Director at MSC Cruises, says: “Agents had told us our excursions were complicated to book and that the payments didn’t refl ect the time it took. Our new trade booking portal, MSC Book (
mscbook.com/ uk) integrates excursions into the sales path, so our partners can now book land-based activities easier and make more money.” Pre-bookable lift passes and equipment hire
sellingtravel.co.uk
ATTRACTION WORLD HAS NEW CHRISTMAS GIFT EXPERIENCES.• DO
SOMETHING DIFFERENT HAS TWO NEW GUIDED SHOPPING TOURS IN NEW YORK AND TICKETS TO SKATE IN CENTRAL PARK • LAGRANGE HOLIDAYS IS OFFERING SKI LIFT PASSES, EQUIPMENT HIRE AND WELCOME HAMPERS • HOLIDAY EXTRAS FEATURES UK AND OVERSEAS LOUNGE PASSES
offer additional revenue too. Lagrange Holidays (
lagrange-holidays.co.uk) is paying fi ve per cent commission on food hampers in selected resorts in addition to equipment hire and lift passes. Ferry crossings, particularly the longer routes
to France and Spain offered by Brittany Ferries (
brittany-ferries.co.uk), and car hire both offer additional revenue-earning potential. Affordable Car Hire (
affordablecarhire.com) pays up to 15% commission on the total price, including insurance and extras, and offers incentive commission of £3 per booking and up to £10 on bookings including insurance.
From left: From theatre tickets to hire car, selling extras means extra commission
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