Every travel agent wants to sell more honeymoons and destination weddings. Agents, suppliers and destinations all see the value in this high-yield customer base. Done right, the sale of honeymoon and destination wedding travel leads to a trusted relationship that pays dividends for years to come. Here’s the rub—how do ...

In our September survey of our home-based travel agent readers, you told us about your top niche specialties. It just so happens that honeymoon and romance travel came in as the second top category (at 17.4 percent), following family travel (at 20.2 percent). Indeed, honeymoon and romance travel, as well ...

How you can meet the emotional needs of today’s travelers

You can buy a date flowers, wear your best clothes and use your best grammar, but even Godiva chocolates won’t be good enough without that certain chemistry. If you can’t relate to your customers, then you may find them ...

Make sure to heed your own expert advice for your own travel

It recently occurred to me while processing a travel insurance policy for clients embarking on a $25,000 trip to South Africa that I’m really good at preparing my clients for their travels—but not always for my own! ...

How to protect yourself when booking destination weddings

Many home-based travel agents have successfully enhanced their revenues by selling different types of group travel, including destination weddings. In my experience, these groups can range from as few as 10 or 12 people to 100 or more. Destinations can be ...

How to effectively communicate with today’s high-end traveler

Last month I wrote about today’s affluent consumers and emphasized how important it is to avoid pigeonholing them. Affluent consumers today are buying vertically. They may choose a luxury line for a romantic getaway one season and a mass-market product ...

Use good times and bad to plan, prepare and practice for whatever may come

I’m sure I won’t be revered for conveying any great insight when I say this has been a tough year for travel retailers. While next year should be much better (could it get much worse?), ...

How to decide whether to conserve/save or consume/spend in your business

We’re coming to the close of a very difficult year for many businesses, not just travel agencies. Hundreds of companies have gone bankrupt or scaled back their operations. Many other companies have come under tremendous scrutiny and criticism. ...

Solutions to your data storage and transfer needs, plus a mini-projector

Do you have questions about technology? Are you looking for information on hardware or gadgets? Have you learned about a new software program that could help others? This column is where you can ask questions and share information ...

Take Travel Agent Academy’s Honeymoon & Destination Wedding program

Next month is not just the holiday season, but the engagement season. The question “Will you marry me?” is asked more often in December than any other month. And along with choosing the dress, the flowers, the photographer and more, ...

Virtual Vacation Expo is still available through the end of the year

Have you visited Virtual Vacation Expo yet? On Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 the doors opened for the show that tops the travel events calendar with “live” events, and it remains available on demand through the end ...

Three agents discover that romance travel can be lucrative

Romance travel—honeymoons and destination weddings—is one style of travel that seems virtually recession-proof. Couples are going to get married and go on honeymoons no matter what’s happening with the economy. They may downscale a trip, choosing less expensive accommodations ...

How to create the perfect onboard romantic experience

You just sold a couple on a cruise for their wedding and honeymoon. Now what? How do you ensure that they have their dream trip at sea while you add to your bottom line? With so many cruise lines offering their ...

While Princess Cruises, Celebrity Cruises (except the Celebrity Xpedition) and Azamara Cruises offer weddings at sea, most other lines offer shipboard and land ceremonies in the departure port or a port of call. The nuptials range from intimate weddings with cake and champagne to large, elaborate affairs.

As couples ...

Top wholesalers offer tips on how to book the perfect romance package

The honeymoon and romance travel market has distinct advantages. No recession or economic downturn is ever going to stop people from getting married and wanting to go on honeymoons and romantic trips. While tough economic conditions have ...

Booking the ideal honeymoon is easy with these strategies

More than four million men and women marry every year, according to The Travel Institute’s (www.tia.org) Honeymoons and Destination Weddings Lifestyle Course, citing data from the 2003 National Center for Health Statistics and the U.S. Census “Statistical Abstract 2001 Honeymoon ...

Great weather and plenty of packages make Hawaii an ideal place for destination weddings

Destination weddings are on the rise, with spending in that travel segment jumping from $3 billion in 2001 to a projected $16 billion in 2009, and with a forecasted annual growth rate of ...

This seductive region invites romance clients to rediscover the islands and each other

The Caribbean Tourism Organization should consider giving Cupid a lifetime achievement award, because nothing drives travelers to the Caribbean more consistently than romance. Throughout the region, hotels and marketing organizations are perpetually re-feathering their ...

These all-inclusive resorts on Mexico’s Riviera Maya are made for romance bookings

If ever there were a beach destination that’s easy to fall in love with, it’s surely Mexico’s Riviera Maya. Its approximate 100 miles of coastline—hugged by the turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea—invite travelers to ...

These 10 luxury hotels can provide the perfect refuge for couples 

With history, culture, tradition, vast green parks, fascinating museums, theater, great dining, superb shopping and spectacular architecture, London remains one of the world’s great cities for romance. Even better, it has a vast collection of some ...

Royal Caribbean’s Oasis is not just big, it’s innovative

With seven themed neighborhoods, from an open-air Central Park of live plants and trees to a Boardwalk with an old-fashioned carousel, Oasis of the Seas is more than the world’s biggest cruise ship. It sports a range of exciting, ...

Virtuoso’s new Composer offers help for frontline travel consultants

With more sophisticated Internet search technology as well as social media websites, developing travel technology for frontline agents has gotten a lot more complicated. You need systems that can keep up with the increasingly advanced tools used by your clients. ...

Going fee-based can fatten your bottom line and build client loyalty

Tim Richmond, owner of Craig’s Travel, Garden Grove, Calif., represents the future for retail travel agents. He’s close to his goal of having 200 clients who pay him a $500-a-year retainer for him to book all their travel ...

The giant CityCenter resort complex gets ready to make its debut 

This December Las Vegas will see the largest and most expensive resort development in its history finally open in the very heart of the famed Strip. At a time when other resort projects in Vegas are ...

Hotel32 offers an upscale boutique experience within the Monte Carlo

Private limousine transfers, in-room check-in, concierge service and spacious, high-tech suites. These are elements of five-star luxury that aren’t always found in many Las Vegas resorts. But these days there’s a new breed of property in Vegas—the ...

Jerusalem continues to yield new treasures attracting repeat visitors

Jerusalem remains a destination steeped in antiquity. Indeed, the many layers of civilization in this 3,000-year-old city continue to yield discoveries that provide new perspectives on history. Nearly every month a new find emerges that provides insight into Israel’s ...

Asia boasts some of the world’s best romantic retreats

It wasn’t very long ago that American travelers to Asia were either business people or visitors exploring the region’s history, cultures and arts. Asia seemed so exotic until very recently that it was perceived narrowly as either an intellectual ...

Macau offers a rich colonial history behind its massive gaming palaces 

Macau, China, is widely known as the “Las Vegas of the East,” Asia’s No. 1 gambling center with mega-casino resorts and the continent’s first permanent Cirque du Soleil. What few know about Macau, however, is the ...

Suppliers wishing to submit fam information for publication in Agent@Home must submit the information to Mimi Kmet at mimik@pmgemail.com at least three months prior to the departure date of a fam tour or the expiration date of a fam rate.

Ala Moana Hotel

The Ala Moana Hotel in ...