Dear Tripologists,

In an effort to continuously enhance our travel specialist portal, www.tripology.com/agent, we’ve recently made a change that could potentially affect the delivery of your travel leads.

In order to ensure uninterrupted lead delivery, please add the domain address tripology@mail.tripology.com to your “safe-list”, “white-list”, or address book to ensure our emails do not “bounce” off any filters in place by your Internet Service Provider. For instructions specific to your Internet Service Provider please read the easy instructions below:

MSN/HOTMAIL:
1. Click “Options”
2. Click “Safe List”
3. Add the domain address tripology@mail.tripology.com to your Safe List
4. Click OKYAHOO:
Safe List:
1. Open the email from your Bulk Mail box
2. Click on “Send to Yahoo for Review”. Yahoo’s system administrator will make the change so messages from Tripology will be delivered to your Inbox.
Address Book:
1. On Yahoo Email, there will be a blue link that says “Add to Address Book”.
2. Check off the addresses you would like added.
3. Click the Add Checked button to add to your address book.AOL:
1. Go to Keyword Mail Controls.
2. Click Customize Mail Controls For This Screen Name.
For AOL version 7.0: In the section for “exclusion and inclusion parameters”, include this domain:
tripology@mail.tripology.com

For AOL version 8.0: Select Allow email from all AOL members, email addresses and domains.
Click Next until the Save button shows up at the bottom. Click Save.OUTLOOK/OUTLOOK EXPRESS:
1. Right click (control-click) on the message in your inbox.
2. Select the option “Add to Address Book”EUDORA:
1. Select/Highlight message
2. Under the “Special” menu, choose “Make Address Book Entry”NETZERO/JUNO:
1. Click on the “Options” button within the email on the web
2. From there, click on the “Safe Lists” link
3. Safe List screen will appear and display your current Safe ListEARTHLINK:
1. On the “Email” screen, click on the spamBlocker plus sign so all its folders are shown
2. Click on the Suspect Email folder
3. Check the box next to the sender you wish to receive email from
4. Click on the button to “Add to Address Book & Forward to Inbox”
5. Subsequent messages will now go to your InboxNETSCAPE MAIL:
1. Open the Email
2. Go to the email window’s “File” menu and select “Add to Address Book”

Thank you for your continued support,

Team Tripology

There are two things I know for sure:

1) In 2009, travel is going to be more affordable than ever.  I’m seeing discounts on everything and my friends in the “last minute” and “distressed travel” sectors are telling me they’re getting more deals and more inventory than they have in over a decade. Below, I’ve listed a link to a very interesting article in the NY Times about luxury hotel prices.

2) 2009 is actually starting off quite well for us.  More and more consumers are visiting our site and trip requests (and sales) continue to climb.

I know, I know, the economic news is bad.  Thousands of people are losing jobs.  Plants are closing, companies are merging and occasionally, some money manager walks off with a couple of hundred million dollars.

With all of this, it is obvious the traveling public is looking for value and looking for deals.  The deals are out there to be sure.  I just had a breakfast meeting in a hotel here in NYC and I asked a guest if they liked the hotel. Her response? “I love this place, especially at the rate I’m paying.”

What better place to get deals than a travel professional?  Sure, consumers can find deals online but as a professional, you know there are “marketing” deals and real values.  I just found two “deals” online for London, both from reputable tour companies.  They both include air, hotel and breakfast.  One is $699 and one is $499.  The $699 package includes a 4-star hotel for four nights, transfers and theatre tickets.  The $499 includes 2-star hotels for three nights, no transfers and no theatre tickets.  If you’ve been to London, you know the extra $200 is well worth it because you’re going to spend it anyway, if not more. Plus, your clients need the transfers unless they plan on walking to the hotel.

As a travel specialist, you help customers navigate through the myriad of offers to determine the best one for them. You’d better be doing your reading though to keep abreast of all the special offers out there.  If you don’t find them, I promise your customers will. 

Do you log into the OTAs regularly to see what they’re offering?  Have you signed up for travel deals newsletters?  If you have, great. If you haven’t, you should.  This is not a time to quote rack rates on anything.  This year is all about the deal. Your clients want them. You need to be the deal maker. Happy selling! –> A very interesting article in the NY Times about luxury hotel prices. (http://tinyurl.com/blkvfm)

The Chinese year 4707 begins today! The year of the ox. 

Chinese months are decided using the lunar calendar, with each month starting on the darkest day. Festivities traditionally start on the 1st day of the month and continue until the 15th of the month, when the moon is brightest. Did you know in China, people may take weeks (yes weeks) of vacation from work to prepare for and celebrate the New Year?  And you thought staying up until 2:00am was something special.

This year is said to be an obstinate one.  Hmm. You think?

Legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came (I guess the others were too busy), and Buddha named a year after each one. It is said that he decided people born in each animal’s year would have some of that animal’s personality. I was born in the year of the snake. No comments please. Those born in ox years tend to be painters, engineers, and architects. They are stable, fearless, obstinate, hard-working and friendly.  These would all be good characteristics for a travel specialist, don’t you think?

So, while you may not be an ox (your chances are only one in twelve) why don’t you act like one for the year? Be stable; keep your course. Be fearless; stop worrying about that which you cannot change. Be obstinate; you’re in travel so you’ve likely got this one covered. Be hard-working; keep pushing and don’t stop. Be friendly; as my mom says, be nice to people and they’ll be nice to you. Again, Kung Hey Fat Choy!

Our site will be down tonight, for maintenance and upgrades, at 12am EST for approximately two hours. 

Thank you for your continued support.

Okay, I’m a news junkie, especially as it pertains to good news for travel. CourierPostOnline recently featured an article about Americans making spending cuts on cars, clothes, electronics, etc. but NOT eliminating vacations.

Specifically, it reads “In a survey by CheapTickets.com and SmartMoney.com, people ranked travel second only to dining out as the leisure activity they are trying to afford. While two-thirds of those surveyed say they will lower their travel expenses, they’re more likely to cut back on other areas first, including cars, clothes, electronics and gadgets.”

It goes on to say (here’s the good part) “To save money, those surveyed plan to book a packaged vacation, comparison shop on the Internet…”  See? This is another reason some people are looking to Tripology; they’re “comparison” shopping on the internet and that’s how they’ll find you, our Tripologists. Think about it; these people would otherwise not have found you.  This is your chance to show them the value a travel specialist offers.  Sure, some of them are checking prices. That’s what some consumers do you know. Don’t you look for deals too? Many however, will appreciate your service and expertise and opt to buy from you because they want to deal with a human, not an inflexible booking engine.  Sell them on how good you are.  Sell them on the benefits of using a travel agent.  Wow them with your expertise and special information they’ll never find online. 

Here’s the article from CourierPostOnline:  http://tinyurl.com/azamcg

Rob Lovitt of MSNBC.com is a favorite journalist of mine. He recently wrote a letter to Pres. Obama on how he can fix travel now. It’s worth a read for sure. See http://tinyurl.com/9jxpzy and come back and let me know what you think.

For me, 2009 started off as one big flu I just couldn’t shake. Honestly, I don’t think I’m 100% yet.  But as our new President said “we must pick oursleves up and dust ourselves off…” so that’s what I’m doing.  I’m excited about 2009, especially since our sales numbers continue to grow and more and more Tripologists tell us their success stories.

As such, one of the first shows happening this time of year is the New York Times Travel show. The show takes places at the Jacob K. Javitz convention center in New York City and takes place FEBRUARY 6 – 8.

Are you going? If you’re in the area, I can’t imagine skipping the event.  The show promoters are top notch and always put together a great event.  

I will be speaking on a panel on Friday, February 6 at 10:15am.  If you come to hear the panel and stop by afterwards and mention this post, I’ll add $25 in credits to your Tripology account. Bribery? Well, yes, but it works.  

The panel is entitled “Delivering The 1-2 Punch” - Learn how new technologies like Tripology help agents get leads, while Triton helps agents close the sale through competitive pricing.  It’s being moderated by Kate Rice, Executive Editor, Performance Media Group.  If you’ve seen Kate moderate before, you know she does a wonderful job. There are also other panels taking place at 8:30am, 11:30am and there’s a great keynote lunch taking place at 12:45.  After that, you can walk the trade show floor.

New York Time Travel Show

TRADE REGISTRATION details for the New York Times Travel Show are as follows:

SHOW DATES: February 6 - 8, 2009

LOCATION: Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, NYC

TRAVEL TRADE-ONLY DAY: Friday, February 6th

CONFERENCE ADMISSION: $20 if you register in advance ($30 at the door)

CONFERENCE TIMES: 8:30am - 5:00pm | Friday, February 6th
EXPO-ONLY ADMISSION: Complementary (with valid travel-related business card)
EXPO-ONLY TIMES: Friday 2-5pm  |  Saturday 10am-6pm  |  Sunday 10am-4pm 

From 5 to 7 PM, get to know your industry colleagues over food and wine at the trade reception on the show floor.

- Schedule: www.nyttravelshow.com/trade_attendees/conference_schedule.html

- To Register: www.nyttravelshow.com/trade_attendees/trade_registration.html

I’ll see you there!

John

As many of you have seen in the press for the last couple of days, Tripology is excited to announce a new alliance with Vacation.com to offer its travel lead program to Vacation.com member agents.

Team Tripology wants to extend a warm welcome to new Vacation.com Travel Specialists and to thank its current Vacation.com Tripologists for their continued support.