For members only

Have you thought about starting a vacation or frequent-user club for some of your favorite clients?

Michael Thiel, founder of Hideaways International in Portsmouth, N.H., is a poster boy for membership clubs.

Thiel, a former management consultant in the oil and gas business, created a club as a central marketplace to store data on vacation home rentals in 1979, then added an agency in 1990 to handle travel to the properties.

Thiel shared some tips for creating vacation clubs on a smaller scale:

"These days, anyone can jump on the Web and book travel, so your value comes from giving guidance and advice that is difficult to get elsewhere," he said.

"There is a certain part of the market that is never going to be interested in the do-it-yourself approach," he said, suggesting that agents target this group.

"It takes a certain amount of purchasing power to do this," he said. Discounts "keep people more loyal," Thiel added.

"Keep clients informed about what may be of interest to them," such as affinity tours and member-only promotions, he said.

Everyone talks about this, but Thiel stressed the importance of staying on top of your area of expertise. "We inspect the properties we work with, and we report on them in our newsletter," he said. Niches around which clubs can be created range from pet travel to gambling, Thiel said.

"If your niche is garden tours, include gardening tips in the newsletter along with information about upcoming tours, for example," he said.

Ask for feedback on properties you've sent clients to, he suggested, and also ask them how they rate your service. Print the results in the newsletter.

The downside of getting involved in dues and yearly enrollments is the membership maintenance, accounting and communication with lapsed members, Thiel said.

"We have massive investments in customized software [to manage] our member lists, but agents certainly could begin with their own database," he said.

Going with the flow

Hideaways International in Portsmouth, N.H., is an example of how a company can succeed by changing with the times.

"We have always been market-responsive," said company founder Michael Thiel.

Originally designed as a matchmaking service for people looking for vacation home rentals, Hideaways has evolved during the years.

The way the firm works is that members pay a fee to join and in return receive information, tips and discounts on selected villas, homes and hotels around the world.

In addition to creating a travel agency over time, Thiel, at the request of clients, also started a publication listing participating properties.

Gradually, he began to add other types of accommodations, again in response to market demand.

"People wanted to know about intimate resorts in the Caribbean and boutique hotels in London and Paris, so one thing led to another," he said.

Thiel also created a Web site about five years ago, which, he said, in Internet years, was ahead of the pack.

As to charging fees, Thiel said, "we meet some resistance on the front end, but members who have used us for a while find the insider information and discounts to offer good value," he said.

But while Thiel has let the market guide the evolution of his company, he said one thing never changes when selling travel: "It's all about marketing."

Redemption for Renaissance?

The word renaissance, from the Latin renasci, means rebirth or revival.

Renaissance Cruises is now urging agents to be open to the possibility that the line will be reborn as a business entity that engages rather than antagonizes the distribution system.

It is not asking us to market its products on faith. Renaissance is not even asking us to take it at its word. It knows we won't -- the anger is too deep. The line is asking us to make judgment based on its actions.

I am comfortable judging Renaissance by what it does -- not by what it says.

But there are a few aspects to this evolving story that have not been given sufficient exposure.

How does Renaissance plan to communicate its change of heart to the hundreds of thousands of past clients who believe that they received favorable pricing by booking direct with Renaissance after being subjected to a party line of anti-agent bile?

In a recent industry ad, Renaissance said it would disable its direct-booking engine and then went on to point out that its new Web site, to be launched Sept. 1, "will enable agents and consumers to research, book and confirm on line."

In other words, the direct-booking mechanism only has been temporarily dismantled. Renaissance fully intends to go after direct bookings again.

Remember, Renaissance, you invited us to watch what you do -- not what you say.

While it is intriguing to see the cruise line's chief executive officers use the Nuremberg defense when explaining past policies toward agents, one wonders if the people now fronting Renaissance's "rebirth" were really just following orders.

The jury is still out on this one. And I think that the folks at Renaissance fully understand why.

Richard Turen is an industry consultant and travel agency president. Contact him at[email protected].