Partnerships take two
Rising online bookings mean agents must find new ways to compete in the marketplace, suggested Bill LaMacchia Jr., chief operating officer for The Mark Travel Corporation.
“If you help us, we will continue to help you,” said Mr LaMacchia, who has repeatedly emphasized his company’s commitment to agents. “Partnerships take two. With your help, we can succeed together.
He said his own family’s companies, which include Trisept Solutions, have invested heavily in providing vacation products and technology tools for travel agents.
Trisept Solutions is the technology behind VAX VacationAccess.com, a web-based booking portal for vacation packages that has more than 60,000 registered agents and nearly 25,000 agencies.
In the past year, more than 50% of those registered have made bookings on the system, according to Mr LaMacchia.
Mark Travel has also provided agents with tools to compete directly with online retailers with fully commissionable booking links such as GoFunjet.com, GoTransGlobal.com and SellUSV.com. Mr LaMacchia said these are all offered free to travel agencies and allow agency customers to book online.
In the past year, he said, Mark Travel invested over $100 million to support travel agents in commissions and marketing expenses.
“This year, we expect to pay upwards of $100 million in commissions alone,” he said.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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