By Peggy Cope, CTC

Host Agency On A Roll

We've cited a recent report by Credit Suisse/First Boston that estimated there are approximately 20,000 professional travel agents working from their homes in previous stories on this page. But the point bears repeating simply because it is so staggering. The report further projected that the number is expected to grow to nearly 50,000 by 2010. The same report shows that 90 percent of home-based agents belong to a host agency, although a similar survey of OSSN agents in 2004 reported a lower, but still significant percentage.

Joystar, Inc., a provider of syndicated technology, hosting and support services to home-based travel agents, is clearly working hard to capitalize on the growth of the home-based agency trend and provide these agents with everything they need to turn a profit. To that end, it has taken three significant steps in the recent past.

PRO-100 & CRUISE ENGINE
First, there was the new Pro-100 program. Pro-100 offers independent and home-based travel agents all of the benefits of the company's Agent Advantage Pro, including a consumer Web site and agent-only extranet and live toll-free support. The difference between the two programs is that while Agent Advantage is free and agents receive 90 percent of the commissions they generate, agents pay a monthly fee of $199 for Pro-100 and receive 100 percent of the commissions they generate.

Next, and almost concurrently, the company announced its plans to implement a customizable cruise booking engine on more than 1,100 of its travel agents' and online affiliates' Web sites. When implemented, the engine will offer two booking solutions, a consumer view and an "Agents Only" booking tool. This combination blends real-time access to cruise line inventory to deliver the best response times and closing ratios. Joystar's announcement touted a co-branded private label cruise Web site that would be an easy, no-maintenance solution providing cruise content, technology, and fulfillment with no up-front costs. It promises connectivity as well as access to robust cruise content, including cruise descriptions, cabin categories, deck plans, amenities, and more.

In 2005, more than 10 million passengers spent approximately $15 billion on cruises. Importantly, the Credit Suisse report also stated that home-based agents focus on cruises even more than their brick-and-mortar brethren, because cruise vacations offer more attractive commissions than other kinds o f travel, produce higher customer satisfaction levels, and provide strong supplier support. A whopping 84 percent of agents cited in the survey said they specialize in selling cruises.

Joystar is tapping into that trend as fast as it can whip up the technology. The company says that the integration of its cruise booking engine allows both consumers and agents to book cruises at the cabin level in real time. It supports more than 30 cruise lines and provides real-time connectivity to major cruise lines including Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Princess, Holland America and Windstar. The content is robust, including deck plans, cabin info and images, itinerary and pricing information, as well as cruise reviews and announcements.

The MyCruises Section enables consumers to personally manage their individual bookings and registration profile. It also provides the consumer with the option to view their shopping history as well as saved, booked and held cruises. Arguing in favor of the consumer element, Joystar notes that agents who help their customers find the information they need and empower them to arrange their own travel in certain instances will reap the benefits of enhanced relationships with those customers over time.

GETTING HAP*E
Finally, Joystar announced the implementation of Hap*E (host agency program Enterprise). This program was conceived and developed after hundreds of agent implementations at Joystar and by reading OSSN's home-based agent survey. According to CEO William Alverson, "It is amazing how many home-based agents are operating host agencies themselves. So we decided to create a completely branded, turn-key program for them.

"With hap*E, the host agent gets their own private label consumer Web site, and they can in turn create personalized Web sites for their agents. The 'agents only' section will also be branded to the host agent's look and feel. We even created a marketing site for them so they can recruit and sign up agents online," Alverson adds.

"There is a Host Agency Business Plan Builder for the agents, too. It comes with contract examples, compensation plan ideas, and all of the knowledge that Joystar has gained by hosting more than 1,100 agents. We will even process the commission checks for our host agencies if that is their desire."

Joystar has generated a certain amount of controversy in its rapid rise to host agency prominence. But one point remains indisputable: this company is one to watch carefully for future developments. It stands at present poised for further growth, and more is sure to come from Joystar in the not-too-distant future.

TravelAgent Electronic Edition
April 04, 2005
Volume 7, Number 5